Review Summary: One the main epitome's of what modern hip hop needs. Original but still nostalgic.
Run The Jewels, My Name Is My Name, Old, Nostalgic 64 were just a few of the praised albums of 2013. To put it short 2013 was a great year for hip hop. In a sea of incredible discography, some are reeled up and praised, while others are left at the bottom of the sea. Most of the records at the bottom of the sea are hidden gems, and Clear Soul Forces "Gold PP7's" is one I just recently reeled up.
Without even getting into the technicalities of this album, you can admire it's sound. There's not a long time of sitting around waiting for your ear to adjust. The album just has a generally appealing sound. Now getting into the actual aspects of the sound. The sound is a mix of old-school and electronica. Boom-bap beats are often accompanied by synths like on the opening track "Continue". Blending the two sounds give an alternative sound to old-school. It's very unique and executed perfectly. Clear Soul Forces, however do not forget their roots. Some influences I heard were Wu-Tang, The Roots, Nas, and Jay-Z. In fact "Ninja Rap" samples Wu-Tang and then go into a rapping style that could of easily been on 36 Chambers.
A 2013 hip-hop record that remind you of 36 Chambers? ***ing brilliant. They take all these influences however and put their own twist on it. Mainly with their production, and the four unique rapping styles of all the members. Speaking on the rapping styles they range from spitting to slowly flowing. Whether they're spitting or not, every instrumental is fine tuned to the rapping style of that specific song. All the songs are very distinctive, all of them aren't even in a 4/4 tempo. Clear Soul Forces is a lot of things but formulaic is not one of them. Some songs reach around 10 quick verses, and don't drop a hook. A hook not to sing a long to?! Are you kidding?! Of course there are hooks, the song just isn't centered around them or recognized by them. You'll find yourself admiring the actual rapping, and you'll probably completely forget about the hook. Not that the hooks are bad, the rapping just outshines it, in fact the hook in "Beats Rhymes and Life" is catchy, melodic, and rhythmic.
These rappers are all clearly talented flow-wise, but lyrically they're ***ing brilliant as well. One thing people might not like is all the references to video games,comics,cartoons,etc. , but they are part of what give the album character. Some lines are straight-forward (more often on spitting tracks) , but other times they have to be thought about, and when you understand it you realize how awesome that line was. Another thing I noticed about this album is that there wasn't a single trap song. Trap is an art form of rap that is generally hit or miss, and is pretty popular in the mainstream. Trap is also the most common form of rap, so it was a breath of fresh air to not hear a single trap track on this record.
Gold PP7's is something I'm just checking out, and shout out to Dead End Hip Hop for introducing me to this. Like I said this is a hidden gem, do whatever you can to popularize this album. It's truly if not one of the best hip-hop releases of 2013.
