Review Summary: Masters of the Universe was like a solar eclipse, epic in every way, whereas Binary Star EP is more like a lunar eclipse, still well worth watching, but not comparable to a solar eclipse.
The year is 2013, and while astronomy has progressed immensely in the last 15 years, the genre of hip hop has slowly been devouring itself like a black hole. From the darkness of this black hole comes a brief flash of light: it is the
Binary Star EP. Binary Star’s first album,
Masters of the Universe, was essentially a masterpiece, and you would think that after fifteen orbits around the sun in between albums, there is no way Binary Star could replicate their past success.
Masters of the Universe was like a solar eclipse, epic in every way, whereas
Binary Star EP is more like a lunar eclipse, still well worth watching, but not comparable to a solar eclipse. Some of the tracks on this EP replicate
Masters of the Universe’s success, where above-average electronic boom bap beats, and a duo of emcees with impeccable flows and visual lyricism, all combine to create a successful outer spacey atmosphere, that is rarely achieved in hip hop. The only major downside to this EP is it is short and is more a collection of random tracks rather than a cohesive full album.
On
The Binary Star EP Binary Star continues with their topics about living respectably and worshiping Islam, topics that lend themselves well to space metaphors and beats. The best track on the EP is “Love is Love” the beat is addictive and is a throw back to old school’s repetitive style, but uses futuristic space-sounds to stay modern, which suits this band and albums purpose perfectly. The whistle that comes in as the beat drops sounds like an alarm going off in a space station and gives the song huge amounts of energy and soul, plus perfect rhythm. The song “Wait” probably has the best lyrics of the six tracks, but the beat pales in comparison to “Love is Love”. All six tracks are well worth listening to, none would receive a lower rating than 3.5/5 because they are immediately catchy and also improve with more and more listens. Being able to combine a nearly perfect flow without sacrificing brilliant lyricism is something so rarely seen in hip hop today, and the fact that Binary Star can achieve this while also making their production on point, makes for an excellent, bordering on superb, final product.
What appealed to so many people on Sputnik on
Masters of the Universe was that the excellent lyrics could be digested after multiple listens because the flow and production was so well done on every track. In that respect, Binary Star EP is a sequel to their first album, and while it may not be as cohesive or as substantial as their first album, it gives listeners some much-needed space food after a 15 year period in orbit without sight of anything resembling a binary star.
Binary Star EP is an excellent and fitting 15 year reunion album with quality songs that could have blended in on their first album, had they not been made by wiser artists making deeper music 15 years in the future.Thank Neptune that this binary star has stayed held together by its mutual force of gravity and didn’t let a binary eclipse occur, whereby one of the stars blocked the other and made him invisible, thus causing the duo to collapse into the mediocrity of a dwarf. By staying true to themselves, they stayed true to each other, and in the end they didn’t just make another hip hop EP, they saved the earth from what will be remembered as the Meteor Shower of Wack Hip Hop of 2013.
