No Regrets - Intro - Lorisoul

              I recently mentioned I had been exposed to the underground. Well this is one of my favorite albums since the instrumental dig I had earlier in the fall. Lorisoul is a very interesting rapper to me, and I love him and this album for many reasons. I said A Tribe Called Quest had taught me to appreciate everything in music, and Lorisoul brought me the next step up. At first since he was underground, I had my doubts and worries. However, he didn't fail me in any way. Here's why.
               What I love about Lorisoul is that he is so real and down to earth, and in every track he brings more and more inspirational lines that connect to me on a personal level that I had never reached before hand. They are just more direct than other messages in the deep emotional tracks I have listened to. While I at first thought his actual rhyme skills were half decent, he is on point all the time! You just gotta stop comparing everybody to your number one rapper. Which after the message I get, means the song will have even more value. He flows nice and ride with the beats, never feels off to me, and his rhymes can be simple or complex, but much like the Tribe he keeps it light and never comes off with swag rap, which is something I never hope to hear in my continued mining of the hip-hop that is underground.
                The album brings a lot but I'll get to that in the closing. The beats are always amazing, produced by Fellowship contributor, Rythmatical! A lot of sick beats that are jazzed up and mellowed down, perfect for Lorisoul's style, and the keys! My god this guy is a sick nasty motherfucker on the keys. He can do any simple loop tune it right with the drums and Lorisoul is ready to go. Truly inspiring stuff for a young guy like me to listen to, seeing as how these guys are around 20 by now, or so I believe.

No Regrets (Intro)

               

                  And for the intro track we get a nice feeling for Lorisoul. Rythmatical catches my ear with the keys and that boom bip beat you can really feel. From there I am hooked, and I love every second of it. Lorisoul introduces himself, his album, and Rythmatical, and all his friends. And I am proud to say I am now a reporter.

                   

Jazz, Doo-wops, Soul

And from there we are kicking it. Lorisoul explains what he is about. He has been focusing on his techniques, trying to finally "work on being dope now". And be resurrected as a "Lorisoul", and perhaps my favorite line.

We got the realness, everybody bump this

Like Jay-Z in his prime, they be feelin' it

Pure bliss right there. Of course they have the realness! And that comment about Jay-Z was 100% truth. Lorisoul continues to explain his story and where he has come, how he finally found his flow, which is a message of hope to others who aspire for greatness. As Lorisoul may have been in the game 5 years, he just found his sound, finding himself, "call it finding nemo". It shows that not everyone can chase there dreams so quickly and not have persistence. As I know that if I want to chase something it could be years before it goes anywhere, and Lorisoul shows proof in perseverance which gives us all a beam of hope into the skies. It tells us to stick with it. Who knows, that one bar may have saved thousands of dreams.

                  And Rythmatical kills it with this simple tune. Changing it up at the very end, with that high strings of notes at the very end. Gives it a feel of class, jazz, and oh such great soul. He brings simplicity in music to a higher elevation in beauty, one such height I have never witnessed with my own to ears. Simply amazing right here, at this point I was excited to hear the rest of the album.

Get to Know: Revolutionary Rhythm

           After Fellowship I started exploring the producers work, and Rythmatical really led me in many directions. From the works of Lorisoul, to Rhyme Crusaders, as well as the cast of Behind the People. Revolutionary Rhythm was one of those featured on the BtP project. And the opening track of the album, "1 Step Ahead" really got my attention once I became familiar with the album. So I watched there video on YouTube, and what do you know! They possessed a Bandcamp page, and kept checking out there work, till I was convinced to download "Just Listen" there big mixtape. I have really loved it, so now they I have explained how I discovered them, let me give you a little of what they are about.

         Being part of the underground these two MCs, out of Cali, they make one hell of a duo. Using the tight production that Rhythmatical used to spark my interest in all these artists, I already knew I would be digging the style of R2. Several things I love about these guys. They really pay respect to the golden age of hip-hop, and are representers of that old-school style. But keeping it unique at the same time. There are tracks like, "Only a Song" where they just master a deep track that is very smooth. Another track, "Burning Tongue", showcases Pre-Dom's skills and his flexibility in styles, where he came hard on a raw beat, classic old style! The rap was reminiscent of say, Jaz-o and Jay-z back when they were both starting out. When it was just that rush of words comin' at yeah. While not only referencing these old school folks, "we listenin' to Tribe and some Gang Starr", but they bring something totally unique. These guys are quite modest and are very respectful of women, which is always nice when bumpin' shit with a lady friend. But they really do make those good love tracks, without any corny or otherwise disrespectful lyrics. Certainly you will see this on tracks like, "There She Goes Again", "Smooth" and funkier tracks like, "She Said". Just good tracks where they just spill there soul about girls, not bad at all. And when you wanna play a track to your friends and impress them, you can blast jams like "Return" and "Raw Rhythm", the latter showcasing there skills to just bounce off one another ripping up a beat. Also using great techniques in production: sampling movies/songs, and bringing the scratches back. Then there is just smooth tracks. My favorite being "Los Angeles Times". Mind you, I have just this one mixtape, and I only hope they make more. And of course I'll be doing some in-depth reviews of the tracks as well.

There bandcamp page:
http://revolutionaryrhythm.bandcamp.com/
Here you can get all there music. Only so much now, but Kid Abstrakt has released his own album just a month back. So I have hopes of more music in the near future.

Also Rhythmatical's Bandcamp:
http://rythmatical.bandcamp.com/
Start where all my exploration began, pretty soon you will be listening to like 8 other artists. Here Lorisoul's work is hosted, as well as Fellowship, and some other projects. Remember City Lights Beat Tape 12/24/11.

Happy music hunting!

ALBUM REVIEW: Fellowship - Ascience, Aud. One, Illoquence, Rythmatical

          As I mentioned a while back, I really got into 9th Wonder, still love his stuff. So much I created another grouping on instrumentals, that was strictly from searching YouTube. Under this process, I stumbled upon some guy called "Rythmatical" and this album called "Fellowship. Well let me tell you I had no idea what I was about to get into. I eventually looked him up and discovered his Band-camp page, which I had also just discovered existed, and have since used to find other artists.
       
As for Fellowship itself:
          It is basically a beat tape made by a group of dope producers, simply beautiful music, and the instrumentals are absolutely amazing. Because it was made by them, you could really tell they put a lot of heart into the beats. Unlike alot of beat tapes you might get from famous producers, or just instrumentals, they aren't drawn from albums and then put up on YouTube. So they sound quite amazing, and there is really a nice progression throughout each beat, which really helps to keep my attention and the beats don't feel like some never ending loops. There is a good 28 tracks, 7 from each producer. Each artist kinda brings there own sound to it, to the point where you can kinda separate their tracks on the album.
          The sounds are very refined and clear, and they make beats just as good as anyone else would. You could safely say this was my first experience with the underground hip-hop scene. So I was really surprised when I found guys in their teens were producing and rapping, to some amazing level of realness that I hadn't really seen before. That is what makes these guys stand out to me, quality music on such an obscure level in the world of music. Makes me question why they aren't more famous. Regardless, the tape really has everything on it.
Included on this most amazing package:

• Unique samples that really catch you, and have a lot of soul.
• Some real jazz qualities that add a lot of class to this album, really putting it up there for me!
• As I stated, the beats really have progression and don't really bore me at all. Which included the awesome transitions, and other breaks that really made it a cool experience.
• A wide range of beats that go from:  A happy catchy tune with sick vocal samples, tracks that bring a laid back jazz feel to it (Piano pieces ahead!), others are more triumphant and sorta boast brass instruments, then you have more serious tracks with some of the most perfect sampling of speeches from various sources. 
• A great idea of what is going on in the underground. And that there is some seriously amazing stuff out there. 

So yeah check out there BandCamp pages, as well as their Facebook Pages. I am sure they would appreciate some more listeners. Also Ascience told me there will be a beat tape coming on Christmas Eve. Called City Lights, needless to say I am very excited. And of course as is typical for me, chasing the older works that everyone has already heard. Should be posting more on Fellowship and associated works.