Re:Release

RELEASE
February 25, 2003
LABEL
Third Earth Music
GENRES
Rap, Underground Rap, East Coast Rap

Album Review

After seven years, the vinyl-only Clear Blue Skies EP was finally released on CD. Third Earth Music added ten additional tracks and a remix of "Clear Blue Skies" to expand the group's nine-song EP to a 20-track album (the original version of "Clear Blue Skies" is the unlisted final track). Not surprisingly, the album has a 1990s feel. It also seems a bit too much of a hodgepodge, although some may appreciate the combination of braggadocio, humor, and social commentary. Furthermore, the additional tracks tend to be rather short (eight of the album's 20 tracks are under two minutes long). But with its thick, low-end heavy beats, some good scratches, and Breezly Brewin's deft flow, this album is generally appealing. "Epiphany" offers goofy rhymes like "fungus among us," "Loosifa" takes a darker turn with a hellish narrative tale set against an Eddie Harris loop accompanied by live guitar and violin, and "Luvamaxim" is more relaxing and sample free. The album ends with some freestyling by Breezly Brewin on WKCR and his dual performance on the album's highlight, the original version of "Clear Blue Skies." Brewin plays both sides in an argument in which a white father rages at his son for dating a black woman (for the father's role, Brewin's voice was recorded at a higher speed and then replayed normally to get it an octave lower). Although unlisted due to legal reasons, the original version is better than the remix, which is also included on the album.
Todd Kristel, Rovi

Track Listing

  1. The Hunt Is On
  2. Trouble Man
  3. Jivetalk
  4. Watch Ya Head [Remix]
  5. Epiphany
  6. The Circle, Pt. 2
  7. The Circle, Pt. 1
  8. Who Makes It Hot
  9. Romper Room
  10. Come Along
  11. Loosifa
  12. A Rainy Saturday
  13. Sex Type Thang
  14. You Gotta Do One of These Songs
  15. Projections
  16. I'm Gonna Kill You
  17. Luvamaxin
  18. Clear Blue Skies [Remix]
  19. Up at the Stretch Arrmstrong WKCR Radio Show
  20. Clear Blue Skies [*]
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