Search - Freestyle Fellowship :: Shockadoom

The Return of the Fellowship

taogoat | the mothership | 05/15/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In 1993, when Freestyle Fellowship just started blowing up with "Innercity Boundaries" playing on BET, Jupiter was arrested & apparently spent the next few years in jail. The Fellowship went their separate ways. When Jupiter got out around 1998, he did "When the Sun Took a Day Off..." with Aceyalone on Beneath the Surface, an album called "Hard Hat Area," and this Fellowship reunion album -- SHOCKADOOM.SHOCKADOOM is a straight up masterpiece. Freestyle Fellowship is the crew that started it all. Their first 3 albums -- To Whom It May Concern, Innercity Griots, and Shockadoom -- are quite possibly the greatest hiphop albums of all time. In terms of consistency and production quality, Shockadoom might be their best. Production is masterfully handled by Omid (OD), Nobody, and JMD (the jazz drummer and Fellowship mentor who can be heard on Innercity Griots -- he also produced Bizarre Ride to the Pharcyde). It's hard to match the stylistic innovation of their early 90s work, but the mindblowing "Can You Find..." might be their dopest track ever. Basically, this album shows Freestyle Fellowship at their peak -- mature artists backed up by amazing music. Whereas their first 2 albums had many solo songs, this album really is a group effort. All 4 members rap on each song. The one exception is "Once Again," a PEACE tour de force, showcasing his singing skills and melodic flow. And I think it's PEACE singing on the "Freestyle A Cappella," which shows the Fellowship singing a cappella with a brief freestyle by Aceyalone -- our best glimpse yet of them working together in a loose improv environment. "My Leg" is a spoken word narrative by Aceyalone and Jupiter. "We Will Never..." is a nod to their declaration "We will never fall the **** off we promise." It's produced by JMD with live drumming, bass, sax, and trumpet, with Kut Masta Kurt on the tables. This is basically a reunion of the Innercity Griots band. Randall Willis on sax plays numerous riffs from Innercity Griots at the end of the track. This album is the triumphant return of Freestyle Fellowship after an unfortunate 5 year hiatus. It's just a damn shame that it wasn't released in 1998... We had to wait 4 more years, till 2002, after the slightly disappointing Temptations was released. At 30 minutes long, it's really an EP. But it's worth every penny. Burn SHOCKADOOM on a cd with "When the sun took a day off...," "Planets Ain't Aligned," & a few of your favorite tracks off Temptations, and then you got a dope full length album."