Crownsdown

Themselves | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 3, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Anticon
• ASIN: B002N5KVCC
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #259,189 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Seven months after the release of theFREEhoudini--the celebrated mixtape that announced Themselves' return--Doseone and Jel drop CrownsDown, a careful and vicious exhibition of mastered rap tactics and sampling ethics. Themselves' third album proper has been gestating in the gut of this seminal group for some time. It's both a return to form and a honing of what's come before (Subtle, cLOUDDEAD, Deep Puddle)--both the opus that these lionhearted two were always meant to make, and the album that their hip-hop-obsessed teenaged selves always hoped to hear.
On CrownsDown, Themselves weld brute skill to a concrete set of tracks that represents an essential ten commandments of rap. In preparation, Doseone and Jel revisited their beloved hip-hop collections (e.g. Gang Starr, Ultramagnetic MCs, Public Enemy, Saafir) and whittled down the recurring themes that made their favorite records so sturdy. Each song on CrownsDown represents one of these archetypes--there's the don't bite song, the diss track, the story rap, the bootleggers beware song, and the don't f with my DJ jam, and more. In this way, Themselves revisit something classic in order to invent their own future-school entry to the annals.
Naturally, things kick off with Back II Burn, a guess who's back track (co-written by Pedestrian) that bangs forth on good ol' fashioned synth hits and heavy thump. Oversleeping follows with a Bomb Squad-style sampler salvo and a whirlwind of rhyme that reference-checks lyrics from both Nas and Subtle. Next up is The Mark, wherein Dose cautions would-be style thieves, while borrowing his own cadence from Ultramag-era Kool Keith.
Gangster of Disbelief finds Dose dropping science (the fourth archetype) in a rich baritone atop eerie production that harkens back to his and Jel's debut. Daxstrong takes on the spread-love model, paying proper tribute to Subtle founder Dax Pierson, left paraplegic after the sextet's 2005 tour accident. Bandmates Jordan Dalrymple and Markus Acher (13 & God, The Notwist) join Dose for an end-song sing-along. You Ain't It features an auto-tuned guest spot from Pierson himself, playing the melodic foil to Dose's jagged and rapid fire words.
On Gold Teeth Will Roll, crux of CrownsDown, Dose casts Themselves in the final archetype: righteous defenders of the culture. This sentiment cuts to the core of the album. In carving out their own classic, Doseone and Jel not only aim to topple those wrongly kinged, but lay down their own sweat-and-blood-made crowns at the feet of that which they admire most.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars hmn, March 30, 2010

By 

Jason Harrington "Trucker Hater Magazine" (Little Rock, AR) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crownsdown (Audio CD)

This was supposed to be so cool, and sometimes it really is, but after a few listens I get tired of some parts way faster than the parts I like. I feel like I have to float out to sea to get to the next awesome part. I give this four stars though, because even though it's not my favorite Dose One album, he's still an artist who's work feels very important to me. I feel most strongly about the 13&God album and Subtle's "A New White." On those albums Dose really feels like he is exploring uncharted territories, but this effort to do his own version of "actual rap music" can tend to go awry here and there with trite ideas like T-Pain clique vocal effects and constant little lyrical jabs at "traditional rap themes" to sort of respond to the rap community. I am sure I'm reading into it too much, but that's kind of what the Anticon sound is made for; it's dense, thick, requires some extra digestion, and occasionally comes with a slathering of cheese.

This work speaks well when laid alongside Busdriver's "Jhelli Beam" or Sole & Skyrider, but besides that I'm struggling to put anything else in the league of what Dose One is doing here. I can say that perhaps more so than ever before, I feel like I can hear the kind of live drum machine techniques Jel demonstrates at length on Youtube, in this album. It feels like material that will walk well on stage.

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth it..., January 26, 2010

By 

EDWIN (Los Angeles, California, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crownsdown (MP3 Download)

Pretty much every track on here is solid. Everyone I played this for liked it.

5.0 out of 5 stars HELLO!, January 17, 2010

By 

John Jilly Wilkinson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crownsdown (Audio CD)

ok i cant believe no one has done a review for this album. it should be filled with them.

i was waiting for this album to come out way back when i heard they were doing a second part with theFREEhoudini.

being away for so long and then coming back with theFREEhoudini and CrownsDown.... the wait was SO worth it i dont even know how to describe it.

to me not like the old Themselves aka Them and The No Music but it is definitely something new. Doseone and Jel are such geniuses i am so jealous. if anybody reading this has a brain and has not yet heard this yet, you would do everything in your power to get ahold of this album. i simply CANNOT get enough of this album and theFREEhoudini.

just when you think these 2 have run out of ideas they throw out another new curve ball that takes me by surprise every single time.

highlight tracks: THE ALBUM! (seriously though) listen to it right now. gritty beautifulllllneeesssss!!!!!!! ah!