Customer Reviews

Temptations [Vinyl]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

All right, this album is not Inner City Griots. If you expect it to be another Inner City Griots, you are bound to be disappointed.

Mikah Nine and Self Jupiter make the album worth it. The music is great too--Josef Leimberg's production is tight as always. The track "Ghetto Youth" is classic, one of the greatest Fellowship songs in my opinion, with Myka, Acey & Jupiter spitting the most autobiographical rhymes of their career -- especially Myka's rhyme, probably the tightest rhyme on the entire album, which describes his childhood as an orphan raised by foster family--"Nobody in my family has my last name."

Aceyalone's tracks are kind of weak and smack of old school roots. Mikah 9's tracks "Every Reason Why" and "Seasons" shine, and Jupiter's "Best Rapper in the World" is sweet too--"I would get naked up in here but I'm on probation."

Despite its inconsistencies, this album is definitely worth owning. Freestyle Fellowship originated the new school of rhyming, and Mikah 9 and Aceyalone rank among the greatest MCs of all time. Freestyle Fellowship are the innovators--they are the "Crew that Started It All." Buy this album, it's probably a lot better than the hiphop you're currently listening to, and a lot better than your friends tell you it is...

Check out this album, but make sure you get their other albums first -- To Whom it May Concern, Inner City Griots, and Shockadoom. If you love Griots & Shockadoom, Temptations might be for you.

All respect to the mighty mighty Freestyle Fellowship!

peace.

First off, if somebody can honestly say about Freestyle Fellowship, "I was surprised to hear these guys have been around for awhile," their opinion can be immediately discounted. Someone who hasn't even heard of such groundbreaking hiphop classics as "To Whom It May Concern," "Innercity Griots," and "Shockadoom" is not fit to accurately judge what is good hip hop. In the immortal words of 2mex (from his great album "B-Boys in Occupied Mexico"), "If you are not feeling Freestyle Fellowship your opinion on LA hip hop is irrelevant..."

After listening to the recently released "Shockadoom" (Freestyle Fellowship's 98 Sessions produced by OD and Nobody), I realized that "Temptations" is really missing Peace's influence. I don't know if this album was put together during part of the time that Peace was in the hospital or if he just didnt have much to contribute to it or what, but it's definitely missing something without his input.

Freestyle Fellowship works best as a synergy, when all 4 members are working hard to match each other's skill and also incorporating aspects of each other's styles into their own styles. With even one person missing, the group is not as strong.

In a way, you can say this album only has 2 Fellowship songs: "Temptations" and "Sex and the City."

I wish Freestyle Fellowship would decide to stop putting out solo albums, and rededicate themselves as a GROUP. If they put all of their energy and all of their sick lyrics together on another album, I think it could be as great as their first 3 albums (To whom it may concern, Innercity Griots, and Shockadoom).

Buy To whom it may concern, buy Innercity Griots, buy Project Blowed, buy Shockadoom, buy Beneath the Surface, buy Time Table, and buy Temptations. Freestyle Fellowship are the true innovators of new school 1990s hiphop: No one has come close to the styles they laid down in 1993. That's almost 10 years ago and MCs are still struggling to catch up.

Anything these cats put out is classic and should be purchased right away. PROJECT BLOWED!

Read the first review. This dude Patrick Parker is dead on. The album gets props simply because IT GOT DONE! These emcees came together and put it down. It's out there in the world and I for one am happy about that. BUT it's not the legendary rhymes and off-the-charts styles that we have all come to know, love and damn near worship. But hey, I'll take one milligram of FF's talent over ten Ja Rules any day of the week. Ya heard?

Also, definitely check out other former 'Lifers. Abstract, CVE, Hip Hop Klan, Fygures of Speech, OMD, and Busdriver are all must haves. And if you don't already have the Project Blowed Compilation, then I have know idea why you're even reading this.

EVEOG

temptations is just as classic as 'inner city griots' or 'to whom it may concern'. real diverse piece of work. slammin big beat tracks with aceys amazing raps as well as others with more melodic flows. poetic tracks like 'Fragrance' and 'best rapper in the world' could be too much for some to handle. production and lyrics always perfectly matched. FF is one of the few groups around who make real songs and not just raps over beats

Having all 4 of their albums I'd have to say this is my personal favourite. I think Josef Leimberg did a fantastic job on the production. Like another reviewer said, its not the kind of album that grips you immediately but after afew spins you'll notice more and more that you enjoy about this album. Whether its the beautiful subtle horn playing in the background on "Fragrance" or the bone crunching beats on "Ghetto Youth" theres a perfect balance throughout the album. All 4 mcs are tight as a m.f. and are rightfully referred to as legends. Their chemistry is flawless and they all compliment each others styles by sounding 100% different. The reason I enjoy this album more is b'cuz I think its more consistent overall than the others to a certain degree. Although this is definitely not for every hiphop fan I really dug it. Standouts were "Ghetto Youth", "No Hooks, No Chorus", "Temptations", "Seasons", Every Reason Why", "Watch What You Do" and "Sex In The City".

This was a different take on Hiphop for the fellowship. They totally changed there style and got a new DJ to do the beats. Upon first listen I thought why oh why have you forsaken us F.F. I honestly thought that this was the worst album I had ever heard but one day I was on my lunch break at work and for one reason or other decided to give it another chance and as I started to listen it began to click. Now this is not the best Hiphop album of all time but after about a hundred listens I really enjoyed this and have to say that this is an album that is well worth your time while not for everybody F.F. have got some serious lyrical skills and while the music is an aquired taste I think that all of there albums are that way in short another dope release from the fellowship.

When I first saw this in the store i was so excited. Freestyle just dropped a new album with out me knowing? I bought it with out any thought thinking it would be really dope. Its ok. If you are a big fan of freestyle i would get this or like meaningful lyrics. Acey asusual rips it up. Its a ok after a few listens it really grows on you. No song on this Cd is like God damn these cats are good but each song is ok or good.

Okay boys and girls, phrase of the day is "FELL OFF". Can you say "FELL OFF"? When we use the term "FELL OFF", we are expressing a point of view in which a said person or group who was at one point in time very very great, has dwindled into ultimate mediocrity. Exactly what is this all about? Who is this no-name producer? Why? EXTREMELY dissapointing. (...)

Yes. Fell Off. That's the best explanation I can think of myself. Sorry to burst ya bubbles all, but this album is straight up WEAK. The beats were pathetic, not one single track had a catchy beat or loop or anything. The production was amateur at best, sound quality poor. The ONLY thing this album has going for it is the lyrical skill of the Fellowship, and even that was only mediocre. I was suprised to hear that these guys have been around for a while, they sounded like it was their first album and like it was hurriedly put together without much thought to how it sounded. I took it right back to the store and exchanged it for something more worthwhile.