★★★★★
by Tony Diamonds
Similar to MF Doom, The Black Opera is a hip hop duo known for hiding their true identities and allowing the listener to focus on the music. This makes for a great live show, as they apparently switch costumes/characters between every song they perform. They've been recognized by hip hop greats such as the Hieroglyphics, Queen Latifah and Snoop Dogg among others for their creativity and quality. With that said, lets get into the review for their latest album from Mello Music Group: The Black Opera The Great Year.
BEATS: ★★★★✩
There's a variety of beats provided by different producers on this album. If boom-bap is your thing, look no further than the first track, which brings the noise with a chant-laced beat and a hype cymbal ride. We get similar boom-bappage on Up and Up, only this time the beat is laced with string and vocal samples. If you want breakbeat type drum sounds, check out Beginning of the End or Black Nirvana. There's a few trap-ish beats on here as well for the more modern hip hop listener and even a couple of odd beats such as Character Assassination and No Water. All in all, this album has a plethora of beat styles, all of them interesting and well done. No Water's not really my style of beat though, so with me they lost a point there.
LYRICS: ★★★★★
These guys crush it lyrically. Regardless of the beat, TBO rides it perfectly. The only exception would be Beginning of the End which features guest singer Georgia Anne Muldrow rather than verses from The Black Opera. But TBO does more than just ride the beat, they provide that crucial mix of interesting content, varied delivery, and technical skill including multis and punchlines.
CONTENT: ★★★★✩
They're not just on some rappity rap - The Black Opera bring topic-focused tracks that are fairly honed. I can only take so much "I'm the best rapper, I'll steal your chick, I'm so cool, etc" before I want to see what else an MC can do. These guys are far from one-dimensional rappers. There are messages in most of the tracks from what I can tell, and they are well delivered. I could have heard a verse from each on Beginning of the End though. I never got why rappers put tracks on an album that don't have them on it spitting a verse somewhere. I'd rather showcase additional talent on the hook or with a verse rather than on a separate track, so that listeners are eased in to a new artist rather than hit over the head with one out of nowhere for a whole track.
OVERALL: ★★★★★
Overall this album is dope, no question about it. We get lots of different sounding (yet clean and well produced) beats, lots of great topic based raps with requisite lyrical skill. I recommend this album to anybody that wants to hear some modern sounding conscious hip hop with some dope beats behind it. Definitely grab a copy of this album!
Thus concludes this The Black Opera "The Great Year" review. You can cop the album yourself for $8.99 on Amazon.com here: The Black Opera - The Great Year [Explicit]
(affiliate link). Also be sure to check out some of my other hip hop reviews here: Hip Hop Reviews
by Tony Diamonds
Similar to MF Doom, The Black Opera is a hip hop duo known for hiding their true identities and allowing the listener to focus on the music. This makes for a great live show, as they apparently switch costumes/characters between every song they perform. They've been recognized by hip hop greats such as the Hieroglyphics, Queen Latifah and Snoop Dogg among others for their creativity and quality. With that said, lets get into the review for their latest album from Mello Music Group: The Black Opera The Great Year.
BEATS: ★★★★✩
There's a variety of beats provided by different producers on this album. If boom-bap is your thing, look no further than the first track, which brings the noise with a chant-laced beat and a hype cymbal ride. We get similar boom-bappage on Up and Up, only this time the beat is laced with string and vocal samples. If you want breakbeat type drum sounds, check out Beginning of the End or Black Nirvana. There's a few trap-ish beats on here as well for the more modern hip hop listener and even a couple of odd beats such as Character Assassination and No Water. All in all, this album has a plethora of beat styles, all of them interesting and well done. No Water's not really my style of beat though, so with me they lost a point there.
LYRICS: ★★★★★
These guys crush it lyrically. Regardless of the beat, TBO rides it perfectly. The only exception would be Beginning of the End which features guest singer Georgia Anne Muldrow rather than verses from The Black Opera. But TBO does more than just ride the beat, they provide that crucial mix of interesting content, varied delivery, and technical skill including multis and punchlines.
CONTENT: ★★★★✩
They're not just on some rappity rap - The Black Opera bring topic-focused tracks that are fairly honed. I can only take so much "I'm the best rapper, I'll steal your chick, I'm so cool, etc" before I want to see what else an MC can do. These guys are far from one-dimensional rappers. There are messages in most of the tracks from what I can tell, and they are well delivered. I could have heard a verse from each on Beginning of the End though. I never got why rappers put tracks on an album that don't have them on it spitting a verse somewhere. I'd rather showcase additional talent on the hook or with a verse rather than on a separate track, so that listeners are eased in to a new artist rather than hit over the head with one out of nowhere for a whole track.
OVERALL: ★★★★★
Overall this album is dope, no question about it. We get lots of different sounding (yet clean and well produced) beats, lots of great topic based raps with requisite lyrical skill. I recommend this album to anybody that wants to hear some modern sounding conscious hip hop with some dope beats behind it. Definitely grab a copy of this album!
Thus concludes this The Black Opera "The Great Year" review. You can cop the album yourself for $8.99 on Amazon.com here: The Black Opera - The Great Year [Explicit]
(affiliate link). Also be sure to check out some of my other hip hop reviews here: Hip Hop Reviews
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