RJD2 – The Colossus Review
The first review of the decade, and I find myself listening to one the most experimental DJs on the Hip-Hop scene; RJD2. His previous work with Blueprint on Things Go Better with RJ and AL and the release of The Third Hand, saw him dealing with two different aspects of music; soulful hip-hop with Blueprint, and toned down indie in the later. So sitting down to listen to this album I wasn’t sure what to expect for this effort.
The first song Let There Be Horns, starts off the album with heavy beat brass based song which the next few songs build itself off, however with The Glow the album takes a twist into 60s pop-rock, with a song which could of be picked straight out of The Beatles repertoire. The structure of the album consequently begins to fall apart; with darker songs popping up here and there, yet others referring back to the introduction. RJD2 also travels down the path of R’N’B in his collaboration with Phonte Coleman: there is definitely something to these songs, the two certainly complement one another, and the song sounds quite pretty, however personally I wouldn’t bother with these songs.
RJD2 lays some vocals down on some of the tracks, 3 in total, and they are a bit lackluster for me. His voice seems to struggle with some of the more difficult aspects of his own production; once again these are songs I won’t be listening to these songs again.
On the other hand, the production on the album is crisp. Without much outside influence on this album, since the album is released off the back of RJD2’s own production company, we see an album produced with a definite sense of purpose. Unfortunately in saying that, I also have to say that the album lends itself to small bit of over-indulgence, where songs should have been cut, they have been left on the album, and this detracts from some stellar songs.
In summary, I don’t know how to feel about this album. RJD2 puts some wonderfully epic songs at the end of the album, there also some very danceable tunes at the beginning, and the middle, which is filled with collaborators, lags in places, and in just enough ways to detract from the over all tone of the album. Yet I know I will return to this album for another listen.
Rating: 4/5
