LA underground legend, Aceyalone, has constantly reinvented himself with each release. His classic debut, All Balls Don’t Bounce found him rhyming over jazz breaks in the early 90′s, while it’s follow-up, A Book Of Human Language took him to the depths of the concept album underground. Later we saw him collaborate with RJD2 for Magnificent City, an album from which Mad Men would pull it’s opening theme, followed by a dancehall LP (Lightning Strikes) and his last album, Aceyalone & The Lonely Ones, which would pay homage to the Motown sound of the 60′s.

For his latest LP, Leanin’ On Slick, Aceyalone makes the most natural progression yet, again teaming with producer Bionik, to explore the funk and soul sound of the 70′s. With popularity of parties like The Do Over in LA and The Get Back in Las Vegas, Acey’s homage to music found mostly on 45′s could be his most relevant album in years, even if only in select demographics.

The tone of the album is set perfectly on it’s opening track, “30 & Up”, which targets it’s audience through both it’s lyrical message, as well as through an interpolation of Marvin Gaye’s “Inner City Blues”. While the song eventually extends the olive branch to the 20-somethings, 40-somethings, and 50-somethings, it’s clear that this generation, rules his nation.

Once the title track, “Leanin’ On Slick”, comes in on track two, it’s evident that this is far beyond a one-song gimmick, and that these cats really did their homework, in aims of producing a classic sounding, funky soul record. Songs like “Show Me Them Shoes” and “Cold Piece” could have very easily been found on some dusty 7″ somewhere, in an alternate universe where rap was discovered just a few years earlier.

While great in theory, the execution is not quite all it’s cracked up to be. Leanin’ On Slick is a very well done record, and should be commended as such, however truthfully there aren’t many songs here that will find you going back for more, like the records it was inspired by. “Workin’ Man’s Blues” begins to wear down the Cee-Lo Green throwback schtick a bit, while the Daniel Merriweather featured “Things Get Better” seems more fitting for Acey’s last album. And the album’s closing track, a cover of “Hit The Road (Jack)” seems a bit tacked on. While these might be the record’s most “commercial” (in the loosest sense of the word) selections, they don’t really fit with the rest of the LP.

It’s unclear if Acey is backed by a live band, or if this is simply Bionik’s studio wizardry, but in all in, Leanin’ On Slick is an incredibly put together LP, and the perfect homage to a time period that inspired hip-hop’s greatest era. While it’s not completely bulletproof in execution, it can easily be named the most honest, integral rap album of the year.

“Pass the Hint” produced by BIONIK. Video directed by Jared Soule. From the album, Leanin’ On Slick, which we’l be reviewing here in the next 24 hours.

From Aceyalone’s new album, Leanin’ On Slick, available now.

Aceyalone, the legendary emcee and founding member of seminal rap groups Freestyle Fellowship, Haiku D’Etat and Project Blowed, has announced the follow-up to 2009′s Aceyalone & The Lonely Ones, titled Leanin’ on Slick, set to drop May 28 on Decon. Since his formative days of battling at the Good Life Cafe circa 1989, Aceyalone is a forefather of the West Coast underground rap scene that spawned the emergence and success of groups like The Pharcyde, Jurassic 5 and his own Freestyle Fellowship, whose 1993 record Innercity Griots is an undeniable classic of the genre.

Leanin’ moves on from the doo-wop tones of Lonely Ones in favor of soulful, funky beats to support his signature tight rhymes and bouncing-ball flow. The album features 13 dynamic tracks with frequent collaborator BIONIK, as well as Daniel Merriweather, Treasure Davis and, perhaps most notably, singer Cee Lo Green.

LEANIN’ ON SLICK TRACKLISTING:
1. 30 And Up
2. Leanin’ On Slick
3. I Can Get It Myself feat. BIONIK
4. What You Gone Do With That
5. One Cup, Two Cup
6. Cold Piece
7. Pass The Hint
8. I’m No Cassanova
9. Show Me Them Shoes
10. Workin’ Man’s Blues feat. Cee Lo Green
11. Boss
12. Things Get Better feat. Daniel Merriweather
13. Hit The Road feat. Treasure Davis and BIONIK

Video animated by Johnerick Lawson. Directed by Isaac Gabaeff. From the album “This Is Not A Hotel” by Yeti Beats.

Freestyle Fellowship’s The Promise is in stores now on Decon Records. Here, Acey spits a verse from “Dart”.
]]> http://www.hiphopsite.com/2011/10/19/freestyle-fellowship-aceyalone-dart-acapella-video/feed/ 1 http://www.hiphopsite.com/2011/09/08/luckyiam-for-you-feat-aceyalone-slug/ http://www.hiphopsite.com/2011/09/08/luckyiam-for-you-feat-aceyalone-slug/#comments Fri, 09 Sep 2011 01:06:15 +0000 http://www.hiphopsite.com/?p=38096

First video from Luckyiam’s album, I Love Haters. Available on digital outlets on Sept. 13, 2011. Beat produced by Kruse.
]]> http://www.hiphopsite.com/2011/09/08/luckyiam-for-you-feat-aceyalone-slug/feed/ 1 http://www.hiphopsite.com/2011/03/26/decon-never-not-fresh-sxsw-recap/ http://www.hiphopsite.com/2011/03/26/decon-never-not-fresh-sxsw-recap/#comments Sat, 26 Mar 2011 07:42:59 +0000 http://www.hiphopsite.com/?p=32005

2011 Decon Never Not Fresh SXSW Recap video with Freddie Gibbs, Rakaa, Aceyalone, Gangrene, Classified, Shad, DJ Babu and more. Shoutout to HipHopDX.

Freestyle Fellowship is back together, courtesy of Decon. Download this new single for free via Bandcamp, taken from their forthcoming LP, The Promise. Trivia for old school heads: What does the album title refer to? Think about it, it’s easy…..

Here’s something Aceyalone and RJD2 did for EA’s The Sims 3 soundtrack. Dun Fact: Back when Acey and RJ were recording their first LP together, the name of the group was going to be ACD2, but RJ did not want to use the name because of his dislike of the “mash-up” fad. Check it out below – then download both versions – English and “Simlish.”

LISTEN: Aceyalone + RJD2 – “Ever Seen This” (MP3)

Aceyalone + RJD2 – “Ever Seen This” English + Simlish Versions (MP3)

Acey-de-uno and Decon celebrate the holidaze in style.

Aceyalone – “Ganja Girl” (MP3)

Dope video, dope track. Nice to see these guys are still pushing the boooundaaariieees. Taken from Ab-Rude’s new Rhymesayers LP, Rejuvenation. – DJ Pizzo

With the emergence of artists like Amy Winehouse and Gnarls Barkley, it’s easy to see why Acey took this route for his latest LP. As an indie rapper without many crossover hits, you have to imagine it’s probably hard to perform songs like “The Grandfather Clock”, as even the most rabid Project Blowed fan would be caught nodding off in the audience. Like Lightning Strikes before it, Acey taps an outside genre to make more “performance friendly” tracks, as pretty much anyone can latch on to a reggae beat or funky soul music. Teaming again with producer Bionik, Aceyalone and The Lonely Ones reinvent the hip-hop concept album.

It’s hard to say how this album will go over with the audience, however. Longtime fans of the Freestyle Fellowship frontman that have Mear One murals in their homes might be scratching their heads as to what Acey’s motivations are behind this record. B-Boys and girls however will have no problem adapting to the uptempo, skull snapping drums of “Can’t Hold Back” or “One On One”, as these tracks would mix right in with any classic 115 BPM hip-hop set (or classic breaks set, for that matter). Yet Acey goes beyond that, by emulating the more poppy aspects of the genre, channeling the early foundations of black rock & roll of the 1950′s, on songs like sock-hopish “What It Is” and the boot camp inspired “Take It To The Top”. Both are very catchy and easy to dance to, but also evoke memories of Will Smith’s “Switch”, which is probably not the comparison Acey was looking for.

But Acey makes no apologies for the brand of music found on this album, going in full force, without holding back. This statement couldn’t be more truthful when he decides to take it back to the barbershop quartet sound on songs like the opener, “Lonely Ones” or “Step Up”, with out-of-time vocalist Treasure Davis, who plays her part perfectly as a sort of Chi-Lites’-esque singer.

While this project doesn’t quite hit it out of the park, it’s different and interesting enough to check out and enjoy. Some fans will absolutely love the end result, but others may receive it with a collective “ho-hum”. It’s obvious he is having a great time, mixing the two genres together, and fans can rest assured that this isn’t a permanent change (shit, unless it goes platinum), as Acey is just exploring different musical genres, much like he did on his last album. Producer Bionik captures the sound perfectly, and it will be interesting to see what they come up with next time around. But please, no country. – D.T. Swinga

Inevitably, we see our favorite classically trained rappers resort to making club-friendly jams, usually with lousy results. No deejays embrace the record, it doesn’t get played in the club, and the end result is the rapper is labeled a sellout by his fanbase, and he slowly disappears, never to be heard from again.

Aceyalone may have found a way to beat the system. Dancehall! Ah yes, the lifeblood of any closing deejay set. Sure, DJ’s can beat the crowd over the head with Timbaland and Beyonce jams all night for packed floors, but play something they don’t know, and most times they stand there looking confused. Not so with reggae (or house) music however. And that seems to be what Acey is banking on with the release of Lightning Strikes – a full LP of dancehall reggae tracks, complete with the body movin’ riddims as well as thought provoking lyrics.

The lead single – and it’s colorful accompanying video – “Eazy” – is a great modern dancehall song that would fit nicely sandwhiched in between some Sean Paul and Rihanna. Here, Acey, along with Jurassic 5′s Chali 2na and reggae vocalist / album producer Bionik rock the spot with an uptempo weed-up, pills-down anthem that works perfectly as backpack rap song and dancefloor mover. Both “Suicide” and “Pose” also work, thanks to the (dancehall beat + Acey raps + Bionik vocals) formula.

At the risk of sounding redudant, Acey and the crew change things up a bit, but with mixed results. “Shango” sounds a bit too tribal, with a beat more tailored for M.I.A. than Aceyalone, with over the top drums, whistles, and chants. Sticking out like a sore thumb is the downright awful “To The Top”, which interpolates the overdone “sound-off” Army bootcamp song, over a sock-hop beat that has no business on the record.

Thankfully, towards the end of the record, we get some of the deeper Aceyalone we are used to. “Master” keeps things in the “Eazy” formula, but spreads more of a militant political message than the rest of the record, fitting in with the dancehall sound of the record. Things slow down on “Help Us”, where Acey examines the world’s political state over a dark dub beat. Things close out on perhaps the album’s crown jewel, “Jungle Music”, a mellow head-nodder where Bionik’s murky river water riddim helps animate Acey’s dissent with the music industry.

While Aceyalone reinventing himself as a dancehall rapper continues to add to his legacy of accepted eclecticness, it may not be what the longtime fan of the artist is looking for. Thankfully he’s still rapping in his regular voice, and not trying to fake a Jamaican accent.  Bionik’s no slouch in the production department, he definitely has a great grasp on the genre and probably makes a good reggae solo artist, but whether or not this is the right move for Aceyalone remains to be seen. All in all, the heavy rasta influence on this album can’t keep it from sounding redundant, but nevertheless, Lightning Strikes successfully from time to time. - D.T. Swinga

     The album jumps off with the captivating “All For You”, which pits Aceyalone versus RJD2′s rolling basslines, a latin horn section, and commands from Frankie Cutlass. It follows into the groovy “Fire”, which seemingly takes Acey back to his All Balls Don’t Bounce roots, tinged with a Love and Hate edge. While these cuts find Ace riding the beat with typical emcee flare, he shines brightest when taking things in a more experimental direction, especially the more daring RJ’s production gets. “Moore” for instance is classic Aceyalone, finding the emcee delving deep into the topic of gluttony, while ridiculous production eggs him on. The same can be said for “Supahero”, a beautifully produced, moving track that finds Acey wooing Annhililia, Makeeba, or any one of his other dirty birdies. 

     However while Magnificent City has brushes with greatness, other times it doesn’t seem to deliver. It’s hard to place blame on either party, but it seems when the beats are uninspiring, the lyrics are as well. Tracks like the abrasive “Cornbread, Eddie, and Me” and the repetitive “Disconnected” unfortunately drag down this album from being “great”, to just “pretty good.” While redemption is found on the interesting narrative selections for “Solomon Jones”, “Heaven”, and “Junior”, things again wander off into stranger directions with “A Beautiful Mine” and “Here and Now”. 

     While this album does have its moments, we’ve seen better results in the past with both artists, using this same formula. First on Aceyalone’s Book of Human Language where he teamed with one producer, Mumbles; and then later on Soul Position’s 8 Million Stories, where RJ teamed with one emcee, Blueprint. But these records both seemed to go in a uniform, focused direction, while Magnificent City travels several different paths in both sound and style. Perhaps it’s because there are so many points of reference for these two artists, that this thing has been built up too big in our heads, with no way to all of the people, all of the time. Meaning, that if every fan out there expected something different - some wanting this to be All Balls Don’t Bounce, others wanting Dead Ringer, and others still, expecting, maybe, Book of Human Language - there was no way to cover every base and satisfy every fan. Don’t get it twisted, you’ll definitely find some joints on this record that are get the formula down perfectly. But with so much built up expectation, this city just falls short of being truly magnificent.