Born Kenneth Johnson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Omillio Sparks began his rapping career as a member of local group State Property, run by Jay-Z's label Roc-A-Fella, with which the group signs a contract. As part of the group, Sparks is part of some films of the same name such as "State Property" (2002) and "State Property 2" (2005), collaborating on the soundtrack of the films and later also on the albums of the group. Sparks takes part as a guest on several albums, managing to release his debut album only in 2006 with "The Pay Back".
The Philadelphia rapper is the latest from the State Property group to debut with an album, excluding Oschino, with whom Sparks is also part of a duo within the group as "Oschino & Sparks" (aka "O & Sparks") who only released a couple of singles, "Want Me Back", also featured on the album "Chain Gang", and "Gangsta Fuck", however, the songs didn't receive particular responses from the public and the duo never started their own career. Omillio Sparks deals with the independent Colossal Entertainment and somehow manages to release the album with Koch Records, who distribute it. The rapper's budget is very cheap, and there are no notable producers or high-profile guests to support the project. The cover of the disc is minimal, in the upper left corner there is the name of the artist in black with bold white, below is the title in gold, alongside the image of the author dressed in gray against a background of houses and sky on a gray filter.
The disc is opened by "For the Love of Money", boom bap with thin and skeletal drum, melodic rhythm created by Ruggedness with the help of Flemuel Brown III and Randy Bowland, who provide a decent guitar, good bass and smooth keyboards. Over this beat, Omillio Sparks, one of Jay-Z's forgotten Roc-A-Fella guys, delivers bars with an average regular rap in an average track. The plaintive chorus in the background is almost annoying and also acts as a hook. The second choice features a beat by producer MoSS stealing from the chipmunk soul sound with a mediocre sample that is a bit too weak, sparse and underdeveloped in the background. An almost rocking beat emerges, in which Sparks delivers with little personality.
"DJ Turn It Up" is a track for the club devised with a synthesized beat by Dilemma and Versatile that is as simple as possible, the rapper opens with a direct quote to ODB's "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" but he's never at that level. Track number four has a mainstream beat provided by Bubbie Sanchez and Mike Hype for a pop rap track where Sparks isn't too inspired. Black Key, former producer of DMX, Jadakiss, Ludacris, State Property and Freeway, also provides Omillio with a beat for this effort: unfortunately, the beat is poor and weak with a bad drum and doesn't fully support the rapper's style. "I See U Watchin Me" is the second beat of Black Key: good musical carpet, warm, enveloping, funky, with great instrumental support provided by co-producers Flemuel Brown III and Randy Bowland, this soundscape is the best on the album and Sparks is more at home here than in the previous five beats, in a song that is also the first to have a featuring, that of J.I.
"Don't Break" is produced by K.P. and it's a pop rap track with a sparse rnb hook where Sparks spits faster without impressing. Blizz and William Brock Jr create a mainstream beat for the following choice, with poor production and really badly done, tasteless track with two guests, A.R. & Nina Ross. The title track is produced by Doc Stone with a beat that sounds glossy, like a throwback from the Hitmen beats for Puff Daddy from the late nineties, it seems a production that imitates Myrick, some synths fall randomly, the sample isn't bad, but the whole song is to be reviewed behind the keyboards, while Omillio Sparks delivers effortlessly rapping and the beat almost fights it instead of taking the guy to the next level.
"Ain't My Fault (Remix)" features outrageous and mainstream production by K.P., it sounds like a lost beat from DJ Khaled for his compilations, and also boasts State Property's only guest, Peedi Crakk. "Walk Right" is yet another cheap, element-poor production on the album, made by K.P., Sparks delivers with sparse style. His rapping sounds better on the next two tracks, "Clear" boasts an honest beat produced by Black Key, while "Came From Nothin" is an almost decent JIMMS production. "This is the Life" is K.P.'s latest production, the beat is good but overly cheap, Sparks is fine, the track is rounded off with a decent female rnb hook. A couple of bonus tracks follow, "In the Ghetto" ft. Jah Selah, melodic, honest production, with country vibes, sung hook and decent rapping, and "Bonus Track", with a poor and bad beat, poor drum, bad hook and bad rap.
Overall, the effort isn't too different from other State Property members' solo records, Omillio Sparks focuses on street themes and bravado songs also trying to carve out a commercial success through improbable tracks intended for the club. The album gets a positive response from the public and gets to enter the number 80 hip-hop records, but the Philadelphia rapper's career is struggling to take off and after a second attempt at an album in 2008, he retires to focus on acting.
Rating: 5/10.
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