Review Summary: "Ain't nothing quite as beautiful as Music"
Well, Eyedea was known for his freestyle abilities - see scribble jam and blaze battle. Back in the day, he was doing his debut and best work with DJ Abilities, "First Born". It's a classic in any genre. 2001 was a good year for the underground, but I'm pretty sure this is my favorite album, and I'm going to tell you why.
One This track it's a self introduction. It's the beginning of the abstraction... It starts with Eyedea rhyming vacantly, so we don't understand. "It's time to clean MTV outta your ears" starts the rhyming and the beat drops. It's a pretty cool introduction, the first beat is very confortable, and the second one is ok.
3.5/5
Music Music Is the best track. Eyedea at his finest lyrics, talking about the only thing that matters: music. "But to live forever, all you gotta do is learn to sing". Abilities doesn't disappoint either. The piano notes are pretty awesome and the drums serve Eyedea's flow.
5/5
Birth of a Fish This track it's like a fantasy. Eyedea talks to a "fish" about how its life is better than his. This can look like nonsense, but it's not the point at all. I don't know if Eyedea used to read James Joyce or someone related, but in this song he has an epiphany. "You didn't know it but you where the fish all along". Yeah, the fish talks to him, but it's all inside his mind and then he realized what's his life and thoughts were all about.
4.5/5
Powdered Water Too Pt. 1 Outstanding. Eyedea show his basic knowledge of philosophy, starting with Plato and his "cubicle", the cave, theory. The emcee examines the mind of a person inside the cubicle and the possibilities of world knowledge from the cubicle. Really nice production, following the fast flow of the lyrics.
5/5
Powdered Water Too Pt. 2 This is just a nice track. The production is kind of poor, with a too simple bassline. The rhymes are disconnected, but well written and deserves attention. He talks about humans feelings in general, but there is some nice quotes.
4/5
Color My World Mine This song could say: "It was I, the Abstract". Alright, cutting the jokes, this is abstraction at its best. One of my favorites. "I once met a man who trained himself not to dream". The beat is haunted and perfect for the content of the lyrics. Eyedea talks about a feeling not known by the Average Joe. Just trust him on this one, it's his storytelling and imagination at their finest. The end could be even as funny as can be tricky.
5/5
Liquid Sovereignty One of their worst tracks on the album. I mean, it's a good track, but it doesn't have a chance with the others. It starts with a nice rainy sound, but it gets a little repetitive, and the beat doesn't help at all. But still a good track.
3.5/5
A Murder of Memories Another standout. He talks about a man that left the war, but the consequences of it are still haunting him. "Sometimes gunfire is brighter than the sunshine". After 25 years and 50 years the man still finds out some mysteries of the event. The beat is fantastic. It fits completely with the lyrics. Such a simple, and yet, amazing piano note and frightful strings.
5/5
Blindly Firing The intro beat characterizes the song. Great beat. The content of the lyrics is not that interesting. This is close to "E&A Day" from E&A, their 2004 album. He is talking about how the duo represents hip-hop and stuffs like that. There's a little interlude by DJ Abilities in the middle of the song, which is pretty dope.
4/5
Big Shots The funny song (yes). This is what a call a nice bassline! The first verse goes for the fine girls, in his funny and ironic way. The second one is for the "boys", yeah, the arrogant and meddlesome "boys". The last verse is dedicated to the "rappers, the egotistical bastards", and he finishes the last chorus talking about himself on his own way: "I'm a big shot".
4.5/5
Void (Internal Theory) Such a great track, too bad it only have 2 minutes. The piano is so soft and fits perfectly with the message. He talks about people's angst, on finding out what is life all about. Here we find Eyedea as a teacher. "And if you don't ride in the carriage right, you would swear that life's a bitch".
4.5/5
The Dive Incredible. Incredible song. Eyedea at his finest. Rhyming about something we can't escape from - the doubts of life. "It starts out with a question. How much of it is real?". This is a must love track. He start talking about insecurity in terms of our mind. How our mind can trick us and let us alone completely insane and full of doubts. Outstanding production with a super haunting bassline. So dark and so interesting. "You wish you were dreaming".
5/5
Well Being This one is like a part 2 of the previous track, that's why some people have this called "The Dive pt. 2". But still can't beat the part 1. Nice little horn at the beginning and the voice sample during the verse is fantastic too. This time he is talking to us about that madness, but in another way, in a friendly way, like he had already pass through it. If in "Void (Internal Theory)" he was the teacher, here he is the teacher and the friend, talking about his experiences. Can't forget the nice outro at the end! "The best thing I ever did was let go".
5/5
DJ Abilities The producer's track. As far as we saw, the production isn't the main character on the album. And in this track DJ Abilities doesn't find something cool for the album. He will found his way 3 years later on "Two Men and a Lady" in the "E&A" album.
3/5
Read Wiped in Blue I really don't know if this story is true, if it's about Eyedea or if it's a metaphor. Well, I know this song is sad and fantastic. The story goes about a man that never knew his mother. He only knows her by his father point of view - that she was a "monster". The beat goes hard while he talks how he hate his father and how bad he influences him. The song flows very well, specially on the chorus. "Daddy don't think that I forgot".
5/5
Void (External Theory) This track is quite interesting. It's kind of a introduction for the next song. He rhymes about disconnected things, but most of them have in commom a contrary metamorphosis - "Love becomes hate". Well, it's our job to connect those things and give it them a meaning. The beat is very shy, but brand presence.
4/5
On This I Stand Another standout. The guitar riff at the beginning is beautiful and very melodic. Eyedea talks about a lot of things, especially people's feelings and his abstract lines, most about himself. The beat varies during the song to a more dark sound, but the riff comes back in and Eyedea finishes his rhyming repeting "on this I stand", which flows so well that you don't even know already passed 3 minutes. The end of the song is a great outro by Abilities with some nice piano notes. "Metal rusts, leaves turn into dust/As the difference between love and lust clarifies as trust".
5/5
Before and After Hm this is not a great end for this album. Blueprint is here as the only rapper invited on this album, but the content of the lyrics doesn't get better. It's close to "Blindly Firing", confronting rappers and talking how good they are on the mic. It's an ok song, but the production is pretty good.
3.5/5
Sorry for my grammar mistakes, actually English is not my main language.
Rest in peace Eyedea!
