Search - Freestyle Fellowship :: Temptations

Disappointing at first glance, but highly underrated.

taogoat | the mothership | 03/08/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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."

How 'bout another rendezvous for the inventors...

taogoat | the mothership | 05/25/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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!"

In Agreement

taogoat | 03/15/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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"