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| Every Playa! Worldwide's Doc J reviews: Slug & Murs – “Felt 3: A Tribute to Rosie Perez |
| Written by Administrator | Published Sat, 6 February 2010 |
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Doc J, Slug, Murs, Felt 3, Atmosphere, Aesop Rock |
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Doc J's exclusive interview with AListRadio.net's next big DJ, A-Smooth as he shares tips, experiences & gets personal!
It’s Tuesday, June 8th…This is Doc J, representing Hear My Voice Ent, and I’m in the building with DJ A-Smooth, and we bringing you this audio interview straight from EP WORLDWIDE…Every Playa! Worldw
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Doc J's Music Insider Guide: ADVICE FROM MAJORS TO INDIES! - Part 2
SUGGESTIONS ABOUT THE BUSINESS SIDE. Whattup kiddos? During the last segment I covered advice from major label artists speaking on the type of mentality an artist should strive for, when trying to be successful. Once you get your mind right, an artist t
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Doc J's Music Insider Guide: ADVICE FROM MAJORS TO INDIES! - Part 1
A Profound Rationalization of Jesse Gissen’s April 2010 XXL article. This month XXL journalist, Jesse Gissen (who also shares my first name), briefly tou
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Every Playa! Worldwide's Doc J reviews: SLASH - SLASH
4.5 Stars out of 6: Above-Average Album, a good CD that while still containing a few flaws, it surprisingly has a lot of quality material and replay value.
While claiming to be a Hip-Hop collector and aficionado, Rock music is something I enjoy as well. While I’m not an avid Rock lis
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Beware fading B-list actresses, underground staples Murs (of the Living Legends) and Slug (of Atmosphere) have returned with their long-awaited, FELT 3: A TRIBUTE TO ROSIE PEREZ. This time around the high-strung, high-pitched, 1990’s definition of female Puerto Rican attitude, Rosie Perez, is the fantasy object of their desire. For those not familiar with this acclaimed side-project series
4.5 Stars out of 6: 
Above-Average Album, a good CD that while still containing a few flaws, it surprisingly has a lot of quality material and replay value.
Beware fading B-list actresses, underground staples Murs (of the Living Legends) and Slug (of Atmosphere) have returned with their long-awaited, FELT 3: A TRIBUTE TO ROSIE PEREZ. This time around the high-strung, high-pitched, 1990’s definition of female Puerto Rican attitude, Rosie Perez, is the fantasy object of their desire. For those not familiar with this acclaimed side-project series; these two emcees did the first, FELT: A TRIBUTE TO CHRISTINA RICCI in 2002, which was completely produced by Grouch (of the Living Legends). The second installment, FELT Vol. 2: A TRIBUTE TO LISA BONET released in summer 2005, and was completely produced by Ant (of Atmosphere). For entirety of FELT 3, we find Def Jux’s rapper/producer Aesop Rock, showcasing his signature grit, dirty drums, and hard-hitting staccato bass. Pretty much starting as a joke - the Felt project is Murs/Slug simply recording raw, fun-filled, informal, rap sessions; while obsessing over sleeping with a fading actress of their dreams - during the off-time of working with their respective groups and touring. I’m admittedly a fan of both earlier releases for their “good times” factor, but yet this new installment steams with as much lyrical attitude, as the actress it is named after, mixed with the potential of a darker, schizophrenic, and more dense soundscape provided by Aesop Rock. Let’s see if I feel this release as much as the others.
We start with a rampage on “Protagonists”, where dusty boom bap drums, cymbal clashes, and heavy guitar-grinding, are nod-inducing - even complete with the “Listen to Me!!” KRS-sample from “Tell The Devil Ha!” Both Murs [“Everything you love about rap on one disk/ These internet rappers just beef over dumb shit”] and Slug [“I put that on my honor & my politics/ Honest it, makes me wanna dip to where my mama lives/And ponder my accomplishments in between the ganja hits”] prove they’re still lyrically fierce, weaving in lyrics about their current career status; the point of this CD, and bragging to battle rappers. Fittingly, Murs sums up the entire album’s aim with one bar - “We aiming for the hearts/ Your favorite group that wasn’t even a group to start”, which probably helps place this track up as one of my favorite songs from the whole Felt series. Another standout is the storytelling “Permanent Standby”, which has Murs and Slug sharing two tales of a woman’s depressing descent into drug use, addiction, and eventually prostitution. Murs steals the show with lines like: “Rescued by two dudes who were suspect/ but she was so goddamn gone she didn’t object/ They messed around, she was down for the fun and the games /it doesn’t count when she can’t remember none of their names”. Elsewhere, this duo shares aggressive rhymes, on a great example of underground fight-music in “MurderDeathMayhem”. Aesop supplies a precise composition of harmonicas, faint violins, and tin-pan snares; while still making the song hard enough to be boxer-entrance-theme-worthy. FELT 3 boasts some successful experimentation on tracks like – the hauntingly jazzy “Ghost Dance Deluxe” which combines muffled trumpets, spooky swirling distortion, and a mix of Metroid Prime and Fat Boys samples; “Felt Chewed Up“ which is a funky rhymefest over what feels like the love-child of Jay-Z’s “Jigga What, Jigga Who” and War’s “Low Rider”; and even the gangsta-feel of “Bass In Your Truck” sounds authentic with mean lyrics over slowed guitar riffs, springy percussion, sub-woofer rattle, a catchy chopped chorus, and the remarkable scratching of DJ Big Whiz. Aesop Rock even joins in on the buzzing, cymbal-heavy “Give It Up” for a memorable hook, and Slug headlines with a rare smooth rhyme pattern and lyrics like: “Put the asterisk by your name/ with a footnote, explaining the shattered glass frame/The crash came, the smile was afflicted/ They call it fame – highly addictive”.
While this album had very few dull spots to complain about, I personally am not a fan of the three instrumental interludes: “The Clap” (with its vocal samples about herpes and gonorrhea), “Kevin Spacey”, and especially “Get Cake” were unnecessary breaks in the transition. Sticking out from the raw/informal-feel meant on this CD, is a modest attempt of a concept track, “G.I. Josephine” - intended to be their ode to finding the type of woman that men respect. By no means horrible, but a dreary beat and lack of lyrical chemistry turn this into a forgettable song. Elsewhere, there were a couple less effective experiments such as the fast-paced, space-sounding “Revisting The Styletron” which suffers from mediocre swagger lyrics from both emcees, too many siren effects, and too much of the “Go!” adlibs. Probably my least favorite song on this album is “Like You” where Murs and Slug both noticeably struggle trying to rhyme to this strange beat. Production-wise, it is just too abstract for my taste, lacking catchiness, and sounding over-composed. This track feels pretty dated – as if it could have been a throw-away track from Aesop Rock’s album BazookaTooth.
Interestingly, I’m impressed with how well the artists involved compromised to fit each other’s sound. Although Murs and Slug have experience working together, Aesop Rock soundscapes can usually be abstract and awkward, yet this was surprisingly some of the smoothest production of his career. A majority of the beats were cohesive, fresh, and stunning – and still contained an essence of darkness and experimentation. Additional credit goes to DJ Big Whiz as well, for providing expert scratch skill at key moments of this album. FELT 3 doesn’t disappoint lyrically either; providing us with numerous quotables from both emcees, as they have done throughout their solo careers. I appreciate that Murs and Slug “felt” inclined to listen to their fans’ critique about earlier Felt projects being too short, and have provided us with 21 tracks for this 3rd installment. While not perfect and possibly too long, it is worth mentioning that this album had more content and offered more diversity than seen on prior Felt releases. Ignoring my objection to the interludes and the fact that Rosie Perez is not even mentioned once on this CD - this is a solid above-average album, and it can definitely be “felt” and enjoyed by many fans alike. |
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Best Female Rappers Alive - Part 2 (New Skool) |
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First and foremost we have to pay homage to all the great women that have been leaders and ground breakers in the industry; from writers, MCs, producers, stylists and many more. They opened up
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