Customer Reviews

The Lonely Ones

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Aceyalone does it again! True fans of Aceyalone have always appreciated the risks he's taken and his innovative vision. This album continues on the list of great Aceyalone albums. Here he takes us back to the times of swing, soul, and big band and puts his funky signature on it. Songs that will make you want to get up and swing your partner round and round. Time for a party with positive vibes. We need to get up and dance! From Book of Human Language, Love & Hate, and Magnificent City, this album ranks with Aceyalone's best efforts and will make you feel good in these difficult times!

Celebrated L.A. underground rapper Aceyalone takes the faux-retro game (think Raphael Saadiq, Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson, and "808s") to the next level by faking even the band. Hardcore Project Blowed fans might hate it, but to my ears there hasn't been hip hop this dense that swung this good since the glory days of Terminator X. What that means to me is that the real nostalgia here is not for the mushy 70s R&B that is suddenly popping up all over the place like mushrooms, or for the 50s doo-wop the promos talk about, but for East Coast rap c.1990 (think Native Tongues). Only the song about the girl in the broken down car is so California it could have been by the Beach Boys. Album of the year, so far. Of course it's only March....

Aceyalone rarely fails to impress and maintains quality with experimentation on this album. "...The Lonely Ones" is a refreshing break from what I've come to expect lately regarding what is sold as Hip Hop. If I had to complain about something on this album, it's that it's just too short. The doo wop and Motown vibe works perfectly with Acey's countless lyrical styles and didn't feel inclined to push the skip button once. Further proof that an emcee doesn't have to utilize foul language and can be positive without sounding corny. Safe for the kids and grandparents to listen to, too, and when was the last time you listened to something Hip Hop like that?

Given this work, I'm curious to see Aceyalone do something with a musical genre like punk rock or country.

If you've listened to Lightning Strikes/Love And Hate and you never listened to any of Aceyalone's other stuff and you don't like him, then you really bought the worst of his material, and I can guarantee you that this album is far better than either of those albums. In all honesty, I like both of those albums, but they are the two that I've seen that get so much criticism, so please, stay away from those two if you are new to Ace-1.

I can honestly, and with absolutely no bias, give this a five star review. It is without cursing (which never bothered me one way or another), it genuinely feels like a 1950s album. It has music instead of a beat, it has singing (Bionik, Treasure Davis) and rapping (Aceyalone) to give the album more variety. Bionik really steps up his vocals in this go around, because in Lightning Strikes his sounds were incredibly disturbing, but his production in both of the albums he's been with Aceyalone is fantastic.

Aceyalone touches on some new subjects, like the stresses of work (Workin' Man's Blues) and racial issues (Power to the People), and he does go back to his usual niche in talking about women (Lonely Ones), but there's really no stand-out tracks. All of them are just great, and they all belong with the theme. I think this is why the album is so short. If he added more songs to the list, they probably wouldn't be there in terms of sounding like doo-wop, so these 9 songs will have to do.

Pros:
-A unique idea for blending old music with Hip Hop
-A real change in Aceyalone's flow between his other albums and this one, and its not better or worse, but his lyricism is still on point
-Bionik's vocals are vastly improved and fits better with the music

Cons:
-It is a short-lived album. Only 11 tracks, 9 of which are songs, and one is a remix

If you like this album, and want some more current music from people like Aceyalone, I'd say to check out Myka 9-1969. Another 5 star album I just haven't got around to reviewing yet.

Big-bandy, jivin' & swingin' hip-hop from Aceyalone - one of hip-hop's smoothest (and most-overlooked) MCs. This album is stellar from start to finish, lacking the filler cuts and cheesy skits so often found in modern hip-hop & rap. Drawing on doo-wop, swing & big band, and classc R&B/soul, The Lonely Ones is a retro breath of fresh air - infectious in a familiar way, but NOT travel ling a path so well-tread that it tires quickly. Quite the opposite: the more you listen, the more you'll want to listen more. For me the allure is trying to trace the influences in this album back to their sources. "Did I just hear a nod to the Supremes?" "Dude, that totally sounded like Gift of Gab." My only complaint is that at 29:46, The Lone Ones is criminally short.