Search - Subtle :: For Hero for Fool

Another Adventure with Hour Hero Yes

F. Curt Allday | San Francisco, CA | 12/23/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I cannot tell you how inspirational and new this band's sound is- it is a very great leap in hip hop- but some may label this as a branch of rap rock, and they couldn't be quite so wrong in trying to label them as such (i think Spin did and i almost laughed).



This is an ambitious work, a companion to A New White, and the middle chapter in its trilogy following the white rapper from California, Hour Hero Yes. The LP's were designed to become a board game that rapper, Adam or Doseone had comprised in 2002. Every song has its moments, each building to volcanic eruption laying a flow so defined with so much distinction and personality, that I can't think of an MC able to hang with the creativity, pace, and melody of Dose. The production is insane and has welcomed incorporation of past demos from band mate Dax, who was tragically paralyzed last year. That special experience and more money has enabled this group to present such biting tracks as "midas gutz (about celebrities emptying their intestines in some twisted new age reality game with celebrities from Ice Cube- back when he was hard), "return of the vein," the single, Mercury Craze, and Middleclass Kill/Stomp.



The album is not meant to be cut into singles but an entire experience. I recommend listening to A New White and For Hero : For Fool in succession. I also recommend cLOUDDEAD, Ten, for further exploration of the many styles of Dose and anticon (although subtle is not an anticon release).



For me, I felt this was album of the year, due to the progressive nature and the pure ambitiousness using the genre.



This is a possible future for hip hop. Do yourself a favor, get this album now."

Beautifully psychotic

jakemeoff | maryland, usa | 03/20/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"definately one of my favorite cd's of all time. however, it did take me about 3 or four times around to actually love it. you have to kind of grasp the feeling of story first. sometimes the singing can be a little annoying,(i dont know if that is intentional or not)but the lyrics always make up for it. as usual, dose takes the listener on a ride into his skitzo-like, word painter rantings. scripting, yet another, chapter in his story(later to made into a board game)about the depressions of trying to live with the humans as an alien and such. his delivery is amazing, and i think he gets better at singing all the time. the music is freakish. i hate labeling it with genres, so ill just say it's like tool and pink floyd having a kid, and then that kid blows it up in outkast, and their baby would kind of resemble subtle."