"O.K. I'm a huge Hieroglyphics fan, and I want to know what happened to Casual? I've been looking forward to this album for years and I'm really disapointed. Almost every song is about "going to the club, lookin' for a woman to rub". Not your typical Hiero sound at all. Just listen to the sound clips and see for yourself. What happened to the song "Turkey and Dressing"? This song alone could have saved the album. I also believe that leaving the production on the whole album to Domino could have saved it as well. Hopefully on his future collaboration album with Del, called "The Smash Brothers", he will sound different.I'm sure some people will still like this album, but your average Hiero fan will be shaking his/her head in disbelief.If you want really good Hieroglyphics, pick up Pep Love, Souls of Mischief, Del the funky homosapien, or the family album titled 3rd Eye Vision.Casual gets 2 stars from me. Sorry Casual, but your not "The Same O.G.""
'The Same O.G.'? PLEASE!
Phil Watts, Jr. | Petersburg, VA USA | 10/18/2001
(1 out of 5 stars)
"As I sit here and listen to this album, I can't help but wonder, "What happened?"
With the exception of one song ('Gotta Get Down', produced by Mr. 'I-just-sold-two-rappers-the-same-beat-ha-ha' A.K.A. the Alchemist), everything that I liked about Casual's FEAR ITSELF album is absent in HE THINK HE RAW. I know that he "came from Oakland/grew up under Too Short" (a line from FEAR's "I Didn't Mean To"), but his attempts at Too Short style playa music is painful. In fact, a lot of people got into the Hieroglyphics as an alternative to the Left coast playa music. In my opinion, this album (as well as Souls of Mischief's TRILOGY) is a slap in the face to them. This synthesized playa route didn't work for your rival Saafir, and it ain't working for you, either!
Let's all hope that like the title of the upcoming Hiero family album implies, the Hiero crew will indeed come FULL CIRCLE."
Not As Good As I Hoped, But It Grows On You
Brian Seiler | Tomball, TX USA | 04/16/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I'll be honest--at first, I truly hated this album. And I mean hard. I'm shocked that I even had the energy to give it a second chance. You have to understand--I ran into Hieroglyphics by way of Gorillaz, and I bought all of Del's stuff and found out that I liked it. For a long time, that was all I had from them (along with Third Eye Vision), until a few months ago, when I decided that I was going to order ALL of the albums. The day before this CD got to my apartment, I received Fear Itself in the mail.I was understandably distressed when I heard this album, as you could well understand. Fear Itself is arguably one of the best produced hip hop records EVER, with the beat and the lyrics intertwined in truly musical fashion (unlike most of what hip hop has become--people talking over relatively symplistic rhythm). I'll be honest with you--this disc ain't that good. There is no intertwining of flow and beat. You probably won't respond as positively to this album as you would to Fear Itself (at least not right away), so if you're just getting started with Casual or Hieroglyphics (which I just assume you're not, since I have no idea how you would have heard of this record otherwise), this is not the place to go.For those who are a little more familiar with the crew, however, this can prove to be a pretty decent CD if you give it a chance. I won't say that I agree with a lot of the production decisions that were made, but the beats themselves are certainly worth giving a listen to. While Casual's flow isn't quite up to the standards that he's set in his other work, he's still fairly solid, and the whole album comes together about a step above average. That might be below the standards that some people set for Hieroglyphics albums, but evaluating the record objectively, I still find that I only grow more interested with the music on here with time, while I simply get more and more bored with that from other acts in the business.Long story short, if you like the beat from Catch a Bad One, you'll probably find something to like here, because Casual apparently decided as a result of that production that irregular strings are the voice of God. It's solid, but if you're just looking to buy one CD, you can do better with Casual on Fear Itself."
Casual's latest album
waxcutter77 | Oakland, USA | 02/22/2002
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Track 1: Same O.G.- The beat is nice and Cas is basically letting the world know that he is the same brotha.Track 2: Love Dat- This one is average to me, like an album filler or something.Track 3: Studio D- This one right here is for all the heads that love lyrical content, the beat is bumping and Casual represents on some straight busting type of stuff. Domino cam tight on the production.Track 4: Turf Dirt- A song about dirty girls in the Town(Oakland), classic!! The beat is alright but the lyrics are funny and cool.Track 5: We Don't Get Down- This one right here is one of the best songs on the album, the reggae chants the background give that extra feel to this one. Toure is one of the most underrated producers from Hiero, this one should put him on the map again.Track 6: He Think He Raw- The chorus on this song goes well with the beat. The beat is a little different than what most Hiero fans will expect, but we must all remember that Casual has always been the "playa" of the crew so this song wins.Track 7: Mine In A Bad Way- This song is alright to me, the production is lacking though.Track 8: New Wave Freak- This song is excellent for riding in a car and trying to find something to get into, Casual came tight with this hypnotic beat and chorus. The girl/guy chorus wins on this one because it was put together good.Track 9 :Windows- This one is alright, too redundant for me though. The concept of this one deals with sexing a girl in a car and smoking some of that good green, haven't we heard this done before??? Nice try Cas, but this one is not tight sorry!!Track 10: I Gotta (Get Down)- Alchemist came tight on this battle type song! For all those who feel Casual lost his battle/lyrical edge, "I Gotta(Get Down)" will quiet all that bull real quick. The lyrics are on point and so is the beat, definitely one of the best songs on the whole album.Track 11: Snaggle Puss- Another album filler, not all that tight, the beat drags and gets boring.Track 12: Talk Boss- Well, Toure does it again on this song! The Cappadonna sampled chorus is put together well along with Casual's on point lyrics. Without a doubt, this is another one of the better songs on the lp.Track 13: Blind Date- This song is cool, nothing too special but the tale is familiar to a lot of the homies from the Town(Oakland), so I can feel it.Track 14: The Shakedown- When I read that Evidence produced this track I was expecting a classic, instead I heard an average song, don't you hate when good thought out collabarations turn out to be average??? This one is cool, but it could have been musch better.Track 15: It'll Come Around- The most personal track on the whole album. Casual builds on everything from the birth of his daughters to losing a load of money due to gambling. The beat, chorus, and lyrical content all work together well on this song.Track 16: We Dem- Decent song, but again nothing too specail about this one. Overall, I feel Casual was able to put out an average album this time around. Maybe next time he will be able to get a few tracks from Toure, Del(vintage Del beats with samples), and his own production(vintage Casual beats similiar to "Catch a Bad One"). There is a song circulating around Oakland called "Wordz From Solomon" by this cat named Solomon. Casual did the production on this song, and this is a prime example of a vintage Casual beat, not to mention the cool flows of Solomon. [....]"
New cas: ok!
david summers | Vancouver, BC Canada | 10/03/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"cas, along with every other member of the hiero crew, has had to reinvent himself. His flows are sick, and he commmands the mic with authority. Pretty much a polar opposite to fellow crew member Pep Love's recently released album, but nonetheless good. Production is once again different than any hiero album. Cas is the Same O.G. with a new twist"