| Listener, of Labklik and Deepspace5 fame, is the latest release on Mush, the same label that's dropped albums by Awol One and Daddy Kev as well as Busdriver, Radioinactive, and Daedelus. This Atlantian drops an album here that isn't gonna get people out on the dancefloor, but it will get them hitting the rewind button to catch one of the many witty remarks and observances that Listener drops throughout the album. "FYI" is like an all-star posse cut, as it's got Dust (Mars.Ill) on the beat, and cats like Manchild (Mars.Ill), Playdough, and Sev coming through to drop a verse. "You're So Underground" is a real tight track with a deep chorus: "If you don't make a lot of money then you don't make sense / If you can't push units then you're not worth the expense / If you're not writing singles then you're not worth their lead / If you don't dance to their tune they'll get someone else to instead." Listener drops a lot of dope lyrics about the hip-hop game here, without condemning or judging cats, just saying what he sees. "Train Song" is one of the deepest songs on the album, and it really stuck with me after I heard it. This is a song that has Listener waiting for a train and he is talking to a bum, and then he disrespects the bum. To hear the rest is crazy, the way this story goes, but it wouldn't do any good if I just give it away. "Behind These Doors" has Listener looking for the truth over a Dust beat. This is another good song that you have to really pay attention to. "To think that I'm young again would just be so much better / My mind tells me I'm tired / Tired of waiting tired of dreaming." It's lyrics like these that make me listen and think, because this is more of an album about life and what's going on in Listener's mind. This isn't your typical hip-hop album, Mush is definitely on some different shit than the rest of the industry, and they're consistent with it too. Every time I get a Mush release, I know what to expect: something I probably have never heard before. To me, this is a refreshing album, because there are a lot of dope lyrics on here. Dust does his job as a producer as well. He's not gonna make any off-the-wall Dre or Timbaland beats, he's gonna make the beats that make Mars.Ill one of the dopest groups out there, and his beats go real well with Listener's flow. If you check this album, expect the unexpected, because this isn't your ordinary album. - Hip-Hop Game |
2XLP/Out Of Print