Search - Ishues :: Reality Flow

Best Undergraound Rapper From Atlanta. PERIOD.

Stephen O. Adams III | Stanford, CA USA | 03/08/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Reality Flow is the debut CD from Ishues a member of the Athens based Herb and Skills hip-hop crew. I first heard about these guys I got a free CD at Atlanta's Music Midtown, and when I learned that the premiere MC of the group was dropping an album I knew I had to cop it.



The Tracks:

1. Intro (4.5/5) - The intro to the tape is pretty fire. It opens off with a Ishues spitting about what he's gonna do "My flow is based on reality/I flow for those that work for a salary/ For ladies who are trying to work of calories/This actual, factual/It's all biographical/Telling you how it is out hear I'm not asking you." From the albums inception he lays down that the listener can expect pure unadulterated hip-hop. He demonstrates his lyrical fortitude in the next couple of bars such as "There ain't nobody stoppin' this/bring forth the apocalypse/ it's game time/flame-ryhmes spitting threw my esophagus." (If you didn't notice he's speaking about his flow and what he plans to do while naming tracks on the album. While the first track is lyrically strong it suffers from what I find to be a pretty bland beat.



2. apocalypse(3.5/5) - This song bears shades of the Wu influence. There are lots of post cryptic apocalyptic lyrics used as a complex way of explaining how Ishues plans on the taking over wack MCs and bring about their doom day. While I appreciate the scientific and complex verbiage at times it comes off as cumbersome and the beat is pretty bland as well. The devil voice in the background that plays over the hook is also quite annoying at times. Overall I would say that this song is skippable, though the lyrics make it worth hearing at least once.



3. game time (5/5)- Now this is what I've been talking about. I'm not sure who produced this track but the beat in this song is among one of the strongest on the album in my opinion. Additionally the song boasts a strong and infectious chorus ("It's game time get your game face on"), which would lend itself to a number of more commercial products if it were to ever be heard by a savy promoter. Lyrically the song also shines. Ishues mixes in clever boasting lines that complexly rhyme "Run through ya whole team/ None of y'all can hold me/Flows leaving broke teeth/Nosebleeds and cold feet", have clever allusions "Softly I'm killin' 'em/ Like Lauryn's first love song/ Hold on to somethin' cause I'm blowin' like a snowstorm", or have a conscious edge "I rock for the children/Tryin' to fill the same shoes that Malcolm was killed in/Rhyme revolution to find a solution/To why rappers try to spit mindless pollution". And this is all in the first verse. This song is just damn good.



4. clear a space (5/5) - This is just a burner anthem. I like to think of this song as something you would play to just bounce your head to or to get pumped up. And with lines like "A master in this game/ Check mating a king with a rook piece" or "The picture is vivid like and X-Box/ Make you piss in your pants and try to cover the wet spots/Can't win on your best day/ You'll never ever ever catch me/I'm always on the grind/ I never take off for rest days" It's hard to not see how raw this song is. The beat is equally as infectious as the chorus and the lyrics.



5. y'all Don't Hear Me (4/5) - for a song called "y'all don't hear me" Ishues doesn't really say much on this song. It's another burner anthem mostly for wilin' out to or partying to, but not much deepness is here. Ishues does really rip the track and the beat is pretty banging, but other than that the song doesn't really offer any "oh snap" lines and the lyrics are the self agrandizing fair that ther previous songs have.



6. ice (4/5) - This is a story telling song. In it Ishues talks from the prospective of "ice" (e.g. jewelry/ diamonds). Rather than one story, each verse represents a different story. While it does provide varying perspectives as to why people should not value "ice" as much as they do, the narrative would have been much stronger in my opinion if the story had followed the same "ice" from owner to owner or if it just had been descriptive of one incident. Overall though the song is good.



7. fastlane Part 1 (4/5) - This is another story song. It follows nicely from ice, and in fact is a bit of a continuation of the song. My gripe with this song is that I immediately want to compare it to the "Fastlane" track on the Herb and Skills debut album "The Gathering". That song was more powerful in terms of the overall narrative and the lyrical presentation. While this does provide a somewhat clear story, it is not nearly as vivid as the scenarios in "Fastlane" (though the same MC wrote and raps on both tracks).





8. them peoples (3/5) - This is a strange song. It just seems out of place. It isn't a story and it isn't necessarily a warning call to people who may be living the street life. It's more of a strange paranoid song about police and FBI investigation. It doesn't really seem to have any base or moral. Lyrically the song is perhaps the weakest in the album. The beat is good and mellow, but it doesn't really fit the mood of the lyrics.



9. stop bitin (3.5/5) - The song is about MCs that bite other MCs styles and flows. It's got a couple of good punch lines, and the base of the beat is pretty grimey but other than that the song doesn't really stand out. It also has one of the few guest appearances on the album. Overall the song is OK, but not amazing.



10. hip-hop (3.5/5) - Here's the thing Ishues' flow and the beat on this song are not as fluid or catchy as on the other tracks. However this is a standout track for the voracity of his lyrical acumen.On the one hand he talks about the acts that have influenced his style and what he thinks represent hip-hop "You can tell I was influenced by KRS/And Mos Def and all the rest/That did it for the love and respect/Not just to get a check",and his beef with the current state of the hip-hop game "I get upset when I hear rappers spittin' that garbage/Talib Kweli said it best, said they spittin' half-hearted/Half-artist, half-murderer/Go up to the block where you supposed to be from/ How come ain't nobody ever heard of ya"



11.out My Pockets (4.5/5) - with this song Ishues spits nothing but knowledge of this song opening with "This is America land of the free and home of the brave/Stolen from natives and built on the backbones of slaves/Where the ghetto is getting poorer/So dope, we pettle wars/Cause politicians is rich and they trying to do nothing for us". He addresses politics and the media and his distrust of both "Plotting my next move/Flooded with useless information/ On every station/Got me watching less tube/ Cause the news is telling half the truth/While the government taxes you/A line is drawn/ It's right and wrong/ You have to choose." This song is not just nihilistic. The last verse represents the message of the song. Ishues through his music is meant to speak for the disenfranchised - and not just black - but all people who gotten the right idea. It's an angry but progressive at the same time.



12. what Do You See (5/5) - This song is just beautiful. Musically it has a great beat and the vocals that play over the hook Ishues spits is rather captivating. The song lyrically just addresses the perception of life and explorers with a subtly the topics that where brought up in "out My Pockets". Is everything going to hell, or is there hope. What role can music play? Writing down the bars just wouldn't do justice to the way these questions are presented and addressed in the song. Definitely one of the strongest tracks on the album.



13. read Between the Lines (3/5) - This song screams Ras Kass to me. In fact a lot of the sentiments in the song are similar "Nature of the Threat". Aside from that, the song is suffers from a pretty weak beat and tiring vocals. And at over 6 min+ is it one of the longest tracks on the album and doesn't really do much to elevate consciousness or thought in the same way the Kass track did. That is not to say it is weak, but it is not one of the stronger tracks on the album.



14. higher powers (3/5) - This is another song that seems out of place. On the one hand Ishues entreats listeners to engage in a revolution against a lot of the problems going on in the world in previous tracks, and then in this song he proclaims that "everything is controlled by higher powers/ don't matter if you don't like it/ there's no way that we can fight it". I understand the message that he is trying to send about God, but at the same time it strikes me as advocating nihilism and non-action, which is contradictory. The hook is also pretty weak and the beat is nothing impressive. Also the narrative structure of the song isn't particularly compelling, and neither are the lyrics.



15. dear father (3.5/5)- This is a really personal song to his father. Typically I don't really appreciate songs that are this personal unless they are positive (Dear Momma by Tupac for example). But I understand that music is about expressive, and it does have some takeaways about fatherhood. The hook is a bit grating though the beat is nice.



16. feel My Pain (3/5) - Another personal song about the struggles and the life that Ishues has lived. The hook however is probably the worst on the album (it is just really annoying to me). This song strikes me as less an exploration of the "pain and struggles" that Ishues has endured, as it is a whiny recollection of different things that have happened to him. That alone makes it hard to feel.



17. better day (5/5) - This song is by FAR the BEST track on the album. It strikes me with shades of "Be Allright" by Foreign Exchange, Smile by Scarface and Tupac, or "I Can" by Nas. It features musings about the followings one's own path, rejecting complacency, and the general joys that exist even in the midst of day to day hardships. This song is just beautiful from the hook and beat to the lyrics and message. Definitely a must listen.



18. make It Happen (4/5) - This song strikes me as more of an outro than and ending track (especially given how beautiful better day is). It's a good listen with a bangin' beat and pretty good lyrics. They are however a mixed bag of an inciting anthem and personal musings. It's not a bad song, but it isn't strong enough for me to consider it a proper ending to the album



SUMMARY

Must Listen Tracks:

(3) game time,

(4) clear a space,

(11) out my pockets,

(12) what do you see,

(17) better day



Skippable:

(8) them peoples

(13) read Between the Lines

(14) higher powers

(16) feel my Pain



Overall:

It's a great debut album that has a few misplaced tracks that also seem to detract from the overall theme of the record. I remains very solid debut that I highly recommend

"