Okayplayer: True Note 1

Okayplayer (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 18, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Okayplayer
• ASIN: B00022353A
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #342,803 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. ?uestlove - Intro

2. Aceyalone & Madlib - K.O. Player

3. Little Brother - On And On

4. Dilated Peoples - Okay

5. Skillz - Take It Back

6. Jean Grae - Keep Livin'

7. Hieroglyphics - Respect Deez

8. Dice Raw - I Do What I like

9. Nicolay & Supastition - The Williams

10. The Roots - Y'all Know Who

11. Little Brother - Shake It

12. Blackalicious - Just What Can Happen

13. Truck And Mac - Bang Bang

14. Skillz - Pastor Skillz

15. Baby Blak & Adam Bomb - Can't Help Them With That

16. Jean Grae - Fall Back

17. The Chapter - For The Wreckord

18. Rjd2 - Act 2

19. ?uestlove - Outro

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Skippable Is The Word That Comes To Mind (3.5 Stars), August 28, 2004

By 

Norfeest "Yes Yes Y'all" (Washington DC USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Okayplayer: True Note 1 (Audio CD)

This is a good album. You've probably heard better work from just about every artist on this album though (with the exception of Skillz, Little Brother, and Nicolay & Supastition). Most of the material comes off as throw away tracks from the artists' albums. Want an example? Just listen to the 5 year old track from The Roots or listen to "Keep Livin" from Jean Grae (which is actually on one of HER albums). And Dilated Peoples are slowly fading off of my radar. If you own a Dilated Peoples LP or single, then you've heard EVERYTHING Evidence has to say because he never improves. The Dilated track could've been left off of the album and no one would've missed it. And I'm not even gonna get into the wackness that Dice Raw (yes, THAT Dice Raw) brought to the table. Remember that dude that ripped "Clones" on the Illadelph Halflife album? Where is he? Anyway....Heiro and Aceyalone & Madlib come through to drop joints that are good, but they don't stand out at all and they come off as skippable joints. There are strong points on the album that outshine the bad things though. Skillz stands out the most because he has two bangers on the album. "Take It Back" is a typical Skillz track, but hot nonetheless. And "Pastor Skillz" (a parody of a church sermon) is just plain sick. Little Brother (you gotta love these cats) drops two joints with "Shake It" being the stronger of the two. But "On & On" is a strong track too. Blackalicious drops a tight joint that shows Gift Of Gab at the top of his game (as usual). Baby Blak has always been a favorite of mine and he drops more heat over an Adam bomb track. Jean Grae also drops two joints, but "Fall Back" is the only one worth talking about because it's a tight joint while the other one isn't. The track that shines the brightest on the album is called "The Williams" which is performed by Nicolay & Supastition. It's not a lyrical masterpiece, but it's a perfect blend of Nicolay's production and Supastition's lyrics. Truck & Mac drop a good joint, but the hook is suspect. The Chapter also drop a hot joint, but it could've been longer. The album ends on a high note as RJD2 blesses the album with more of his genius.

Overall the album is solid, but if the material was as strong as the lineup was it would've been a great album. Too many of the tracks border on average and the fact that there's a 5 year old Roots track (from the 1999 movie soundtrack "The Wood") really hurts things. As a Roots junkie, I'll buy just about anything with their name on it, so I was expecting some new material. So as you can imagine, I was a little irked when I heard it. I love everything The Roots do and I want to support Okayplayer in any way possible, but I would reccomend that you listen to it before you buy it. There are some gems on the album that make it worth the money, but a large portion of it is skippable. Proceed with caution.

Standout Tracks: On And On, Pastor Skillz, The Williams (My Favorite), K.O. Player, Take It Back, Shake It, Act 2, & Just What Can Happen

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty Good... Not what I expected, December 31, 2004

By 

Justin Smith (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Okayplayer: True Note 1 (Audio CD)

Seeing the Okayplayer label made my heart skip a beat. "An album masterminded by ?uestlove? A lineup including Hiero, LB GoG AND the Roots!?" After listening to it, I came out satisfied, but not amazed as I expected. While the tracks by the aformentioned artists as well as the madlib produced second track and RJD2's instrumental are superb a lot were skippable including the old Roots track. Still worth buying.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Support OkayPlayer and buy this album but...., July 16, 2004

By 

David Forrest - See all my reviews

This review is from: Okayplayer: True Note 1 (Audio CD)

True Notes Vol. 1 really isnt nearly as good as it could have been. I wanted the album to succeed, and I bought True Notes to support Okay Player, as I respect them more than any other crew in Hip-Hop, but there are simply too many tracks that fall short for this album to be a classic. While Little Brother's The Listening was a fantastic album, and their track on Pete Rock's Soul Survivor II was tremendous, the track they serve on True Notes is bland. The Roots track is actually old, and the Dialated People's track I could do without completely. The Jean Grae and Skillz tracks are gems, but other than that, I cant really say Im impressed with the album as a whole. If you want a banger from Okayplayer, get The new Roots album.