Low-Life | UK Hip Hop Story | Los Sol Entertainment Presents...

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Los Sol Entertainment Presents... - Da New Era CD [Los Sol]

Tracklisting:
1. One In A Mile
2. Nasty
3. Ey Ey
4. Ballers
5. Truth Be Told

Los Sol Entertainment is a new label to me, but they now have their product out there and I was lucky enough to come by their CD. I'm very short on info relating to this crew, but Los Sol seem to be primarily a production set up, but also have a few MCs associated to the enterprise. Based in South London vocally they sound like it, but the beats are hard and to be fair could be from anywhere. That is not to put them down though the sounds are fat. A bit to electronically realised for me, I like some grimey samples, but the opening down tempo One In A Mil is phat and moody anyway. The horns and rumbling live bass provide a dark backing for the MCs to break down why they are so outstanding. The lyrics are clear and deliberately delivered with a deep 'One In A Mil' phrase dropped at the end of every couple of bars. Definitely a good look.

The second track Nasty has a bit of a party vibe. Its not really fast but has a groove that pushes the track along. The bouncy minimalistic Southern influenced beat is the backing for the crew to big up themselves, but also to describe some of the goings on when they go out on the razzle. Alongside the percussion they have some female vocals and softly uttered sexy moanings.

The third track on the CD is Def 1's Ey Ey which is more of an underground thug track. It is an introduction for Def 1 where he says that he is, 'like a jack in a box and ready to pop' and says that top DJs had better be prepared to drop a bomb on him. Dude certainly has some nice flows, with funny referances to Rick Waller and even an Eastenders like tom tom roll! But the track got a touch monotonous towards the end with its high pitched syth becoming just too repetitive. Back in March when I should have had this review up Def 1 was performing at the Jump Off and there should have been a video completed as well.

Fourth up in line is the contrastingly gruff tones of Tuff who lives up to his name thug style like a UK DMX. On Ballers the music is primarily the beat with a few snare rolls and loud hi hat with a synth melody with a slightly medieval feel. Tuff is all about bragging how he is living it up on Cristal, but the reality is that he has to make blood flow to maintain this lifestyle. This may be an aspiration for some, but I feel that if you are funding your life this way you are only pretending to big time, it is only temporary and could be taken away at any time.

Finally on the CD is the more tongue twisting styles of a younger sounding brer over the more loop based Truth Be Told track. The piano changes are sweet and the introduction of some strings towards the end keep the track vibrant and alive. It starts off with a verse about hooking up with a girl at school and going on a date with a girl that he fell in love with. As ever though as the lyric says, 'it started off as a love song but turned into a tragedy'. As the rap evolves some infidelity ends up with some really serious consequenses... In fitting with the subject matter the whole track is finished off with an RnB sung type chorus.

A competent little collection of tracks which cover all styles and show the variety of the Los Sol crew. There is not much on the website at the moment, but several of these tracks and more are up for you to check out.

http://www.lossol.co.uk
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