Debut album for New York hip-hop duo Ill Al Skratch aka Brooklyn / Uptown Connection, consisting of Brooklyn rapper Lorenzo "Big Ill" Glooms and Uptown, Harlem rapper Alphonso "Al Skratch" Constant. The production is entirely made by LoRider & The LG Experience, which also deal with live instrumentation: LoRider plays bass, guitar and keyboards, The LG Experience plays bass and percussion, Mike Tyler plays guitar, and Loris Holland plays organ. Guests are LRC, Mark Sparks, Zoundwavez and Brian McKnight, as well as several backing singers.
The whole project firmly rests its foundation on the two singles that Big Ill & Al Skratch released earlier in the same year: "Where My Homiez? (Come Around My Way)" and "I'll Take Her". The former managed to rank among rnb / hip-hop singles, while the latter, boasting the featuring of rnb singer Brian McKnight, also managed to enter the Hot 100. As Pete T. argued for "RapReviews" and, previously, Diction on "RYM", the album resembles a maxi-single: "Where My Homiez? (Come Around My Way)" is repeated and resumed again and again over the course of the listen, is remixed twice and sampled in two other tracks, while the other single is resumed for the final cut, where ample space is left for singer Brian McKnight on a lush rhythm quite similar to the original.
There's a lot of nostalgia on this LP. A lot of nostalgia. There are many similarities with early and mid-1980s hip-hop studio albums: the lack of imagination and inspiration, the continual execution of their singles, and a scant lyricism, among the poorest performed by East Coast acts in this period. Unlike most of those primal rap records, two elements play in the duo's favor: the vocals of both are fantastic and the production is flawless, performed by professionals. The rhythms of LoRider and The LG Experience are the real strength of the project and allow the listener to overcome its simplistic structure (intro, single, remix, single, single, remix, three songs, one solo each, remix) and the elementary lyricism of the performers, making these 55 minutes pass very quickly.
The soundscape is immaculate: jazzy boom bap with light, dirty, dusty, perfect drums and fantastic loops extracted from classic samples — Barry White, Bootsy Collins, Curtis Mayfield, Jeffrey Osbourne, The Isley Brothers, The JB's, Tyrone Davis, as well as several hip-hop and other genre tributes, for example, "Chill With That" honors Bob Marley, Admiral Bailey and Buju Banton — with g-funk infections and relaxed vibes, which make the beats sound like they're a blessing and allow you to completely ignore Ill Al Skratch bars, delivered with a slow, regular, velvety flow.
Distributed by Mercury Records, the album achieves some commercial success, stopping far in the pop chart and climbing the rap one to the top 25. Recommended, the production deserves it, LoRider & The LG Experience deserve their props for doing an excellent job, and the two rappers flow very well.
Highlights: "Where My Homiez? (Come Around My Way)", "This Is for My Homiez", "I'll Take Her", "Summertime (It's All Good)".
Rating: 7/10.
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