Moonlighting [Explicit Lyrics]

Tanya Morgan | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 4, 2006)
• Original Release Date: April 4, 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics
• Label: Loud Minority Music
• ASIN: B000FHYYJG
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #186,297 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. The Record Spot (Intro)

2. The Warm Up

3. Paper Thin ft. Jermiside

4. We Be

5. Skit #1

6. Take The L

7. Ode To Tanya

8. Ha Ha Ha

9. Skit #2

10. We Right Here

11. Just cause I Got Locs

12. Rough U Up

13. Skit #3

14. Pretty

15. Hooks

16. Want You To Want Me

17. We Bad

18. Skit #4

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist

Who is Tanya Morgan? Although the name evokes something of a neo-soul songstress, the music is overtly hip hop. Making matters even more complicated, this woman's name is actually the pseudonym for a group of three male MCs. Not confused yet? Well try this on for size: Tanya Morgan is a group comprised of Von Pea and Ilwil (Ilyas and Donwill) - two totally separate acts. Now, relax that furrowed brow while I get you up to speed on the future of the culture. Tanya Morgan was born in 2003 when MC/Producer Von Pea and MC Donwill decided to bloat their collaborative efforts into a full length album. With Ilyas locked in and along for the ride, the trio leaned on the production talent of Brickbeats (also known as Dave or Brick) to round out the other half of the album's production. They began shuffling demos of songs back and forth as wav and mp3 files via AOL Instant Messenger© and email between takes on their other projects. Oh right. I forgot to mention that Von Pea lives in Brooklyn while both Ilwil and Brickbeats call Cincinnati home. They actually met online originally and didn't meet in person until halfway through the album's completion. There goes that brow again. I hope I'm not moving too fast for you. Within the span of a year, the collective of four recorded all the material that would become their debut, Moonlighting. The tightly knit 13-song set is bound together by the story of a misled record shopper and his unwanted purchase. The album's title is a nod to the fact that Tanya Morgan is really two acts in a group together who are, in a sense, moonlighting on their respective 'jobs' by working with each other. In promotion for this grand opening, the group has readied and released two projects: Sunlighting and the Sunset EP. The bandwidth busting download that is Sunlighting plays like a mixtape in a sense yet still showcases the group's personality and presence while the Sunset EP boasts original production by Von Pea and Brickbeats, giving the listener a clearer view of what to expect with Moonlighting. And what sound should one expect from three men who named their group after a fictitious woman? Expect the unexpected. There are no neo-soul, rap/r

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Roots+, January 25, 2008

By 

C. W. Hall "http://www.chriscospins.com" (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Moonlighting (Audio CD)

Tanya Morgan is one of those internet spawned projects that makes an old cat like me cringe just a little bit. You could call it a Fed Ex project. Brooklynite Von Pea meets Cincinnati residents Ilyas and Donwill on Okayplayer and a group is born. I'm naturally inclined to hate this. But I don't and I didn't hate Foreign Exchange either. An old head might be coming around to this internet stuff.

Von Pea is an incredible production talent. He makes classic hip-hop tracks. Nothing fancy, extra pretty, or overtly progressive. Just hard-hitting, throw-back boom-bap that any MC worth his baggy jeans and Tims should salivate to rock over. Cincinnati-based producer Brickbeats takes the tracks Von doesn't do and while he's not nearly as consistent as Von, he has some noteworthy joints here as well.

There's something about MCs who don't take themselves too seriously that makes everything they do sound better. Think Pharcyde, Little Brother, and any other crew whose music sounds like it was fun to make. By way of example, check out "Ode to Tanya" where the crew takes turns bad-mouthing each other to the fictional Ms. Morgan. Something makes me love a crew that's cool enough that one MC can say about the producer "I ain't sayin' dude is wack, but he couldn't pawn a beat."

The most ironic thing about Moonlighting is that it's a project spawned on The Roots web-site that outshines anything the Philly group has put out in years. While ?uest, Black Thought, and company have transformed to a jam band, groups like Tanya Morgan are picking up their legacy and surpassing them.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth It's Weight in Platinum, September 24, 2007

By 

J. Johnson "Hip Hop Head" (Milwaukee, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Moonlighting (Audio CD)

Real quick. I must admit that I recently just bought this album about two days ago, and all I can say is: "Rapp music may be dead, but hip-hop lives forever." I listen to a lot of underground and unknowns in the industry, and by far, this is one of the tightest albums of 2006. No diss at all to my brother Donwill, but if you want to hear those fire lyrics, you all better ask somebody about Von Pea. I first heard him on the Nicolay Mixtape (1st Date), but I didn't know that he was in a group. Now, I want everything that got this brother on it. I haven't stopped listening to this album since I bought it. Buy it. Trust me, it's worth every penny. It's a shame that this is another tight group that will probably sit on the shelf because people want to listen to garbage and keep up with who's going to sell more albums between 50 cent and Kanye. Donwill and Von Pea will serve all these suckas. Peace.

5.0 out of 5 stars Gr8!!!, March 24, 2010

By 

Dawn Blackshear "Anime Geek" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Moonlighting (Audio CD)

All you people are sleeping on this album. I found out following Don on Twitter, that that is a real mixtape still being passed around. That is too dope. Whole LP hot, but personal favs is Paper Thin and Hooks. You guys are the best and don't ever change!