GLL: Foundation Album Review
Release Date: August 1,2017
Available on most digital platforms
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Foundation starts off with such a melodic and serene production from Come Down. Crisp ticks and heavy drums appear evident, only to sit back stage to the melody. The production is amazingly produced and immediately pulls you into a trance. The first verse is performed by ArchAngel: in which he delivers a perfect performance. His vocals are warm and fit into the production eloquently. His lyrics stay on topic and never break. His flow pattern is original and organic. What was highlighted for us, the use of his vocal doubles which really amplifies the song and Arch's overall appeal. The chorus is performed by TL. His vocals are pitch perfect and the use of reverb paints the final element of this song. TL vibrato and more natural vocals are impressionable and grant you goosebumps. A stellar performance from TL as everything about his vocals was perfect. The next artist: Logiq comes in strong vocally providing some contrast. His metaphors seem deeper and more placed. His performance is on par but lacks the vocal fidelity Arch presented in the first. The final verse is rapped by PromiseTMG. His rap structure is much different from the previous two. More broken and allocated to vocal inflection and animation. Promise manages to provide more depth through his word play and sense of pain. This concluded the song perfectly and created such a vivid and poetic vibe for the first piece. Aint Enough Time: the next song on the album. You are vaulted into the uniqueness of this production. A jazzy, bluesy feel with faint piano melodies that peak into the production every so often. This production is carried by the synthy sound of a harmonica that grants you chills. The production is insanely developed which provides melodies, breaks, and moments to breathe. The chorus is performed by Jay the Kemist. The chorus is strong lyrically and vocally. The raspy grungy vocals pressed against the elegance of production becomes a perfect blend. The chorus is simplistic and personal. Accompanied by a slight reverb it is so much more to be garnished out the performance than the effects. Jay's vocals carried over to the verse well. His rap structure was plain and felt average. No real breaks, changes or moments that really captured you. His lyrics and story telling were well done and carried the song back into the chorus. Logiq comes in after the chorus. His rap structure is common and wordplay the same. He's never charting to any direction strong enough which makes for an average performance. The next artist on this song is ArchAngel. Right off you can tell his voice and delivery will bring a new vibe to the song. Arch rap structure is broken and leaves a lot of room to breathe. He delivers all his energy into the performance and word play. It plays off perfectly as his alibs play directly into the song. This performance is definitely the highlight of the song. Well placed lyrics, entertaining rap structure and vocal range that keeps you captured throughout. No surprise is next song on Foundation. The production is layered heavy but never feel cluttered. This is the first song on the album that had a "lighter feel". The chorus has a croon to it. The rap/sing vibe is accompanied by heavy dubs and ego driven lyrics. The musicality is great and the chorus as a whole has a commercial approach. The first verse by K-I is performed well. His rap structure is very entertaining having more enthusiasm and energy. His lyrics being topic driven, the exclusion of heavy metaphors or punchlines felt like a miss. The record has a more commercial approach which would have benefited from more "Quotables". The next feature: Logiq carries the same high energy as the previous performer. His performance seems to outweigh all other factors on the song. His lyrics were not as strong, rap structure average and overall feel seem to lack. The next song HomeTeam production is strong and aggressive. The production is frantic and gives you a proper bounce. The melody and drum patterns are all level and present. The chorus comes in first and it is just as aggressive as the production. Lyrics all fall in line with the performance as it's meant to be "club" tailored. Jay the Kemist comes in right after the chorus. His voice is strong and lyrics are average. Vocal presence is felt throughout as his verse is carried well. Not a standout performance by Jay but nothing here falls short. The next artist: PromiseTmg comes in with a very neat and well place flow pattern. Then it switches into a frantic tongue twister that has a very vivid pronunciation. Possibly the most entertaining rap structure so far on the album. His alibs, cadence and overall persona create this a piece that elevates beyond. He leaves little to no room for errors in his delivery. The next artist is ArchAngel. He goes into his very personified flow pattern with held notes and boisterous adlibs. Some metaphors have a mid-range impact and which bring cleverness. The overall song and vibes are amazing and grant you a Memphis crunk, Chicago twisting, and Atlanta boasting style of hip-hop. The next song Remember Me production is also strong. A synthy rhythm pattern occupies most of the space. The drum pattern is light as the ticks play a heavy part in its production. The chorus has a stadium music vibe to it. Large vocals, accompanied with heavy reverb and stereo separation. The chorus is simplistic and plays into the vocal range of ArchAngel well. He seems to be the perfect act to carry the chorus. The first verse is done by PromiseTMG. You're instantly pulled into his fast tongue twisting highly complicated flow pattern. The amazing thing about this is how vivid the pronunciation is during such a high tempo delivery. Promise really shines on this song. The next artist JaytheKemist jumps in with his raspy grunge vocals. His performance really shined on this record. His lyrics were heartfelt and his vocal infliction really touched base. Logiq the next artist, seems to carry the load a little more. His rap pattern wasn't as well formed as some of his alibs, lagged. Arch verse was well done and the most unique sounding out of the group. A more reserved lyric focused Arch, he demanded more attention than usual. K-I rap pattern kept up the creative pace. Adding a flavor with not only his unique voice but interesting lyrics. This final song was the first song that really showed how strong this foundation really is. This album was a compilation of talented artist that seem to mesh together well. Each building upon the foundation in different ways. Some artist naturally felt stronger than others. Most songs only featuring two to three members at a time, when it's only five records on the album hurt. Production was smooth and well chosen throughout. Not one instrumentation we didn't enjoy. The foundation never appeared shaky at any moment. To say that, not every room was built with the same level of detail. The album felt more like the blueprint instead of the actual structure. Which plays to the name "foundation". So much good music, in such little time. It has you to think what could have been done on a 13 track album?
Whether you're looking to build your catalog of music or just make room for a couple tracks. This is a perfect foundation to do so.
Foundation
4.4/5
Untouchable
Ground Level Leaders
DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN HERE!
https://open.spotify.com/album/2ApklA8kalt0HrEoLDrRAV?si=inPsukK2
https://itun.es/us/KpW6kb
Release Date: August 1, 2017
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