One Be Lo - S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M. (CD)

All Music Guide

Keeping tabs on the actions of Ypsilanti, MIbased MC One Be Lo hasn't been a snap. Known previously as OneManArmy, he was part of Binary Star, a group responsible for 1999's Waterworld. An excellent underground rap album, it was hard find outside the Detroit area, until it was overhauled, retitled as Masters of the Universe, and rereleased with national distribution. Binary Star then split. The former Rashad Scruggs, who took the name Nashid Sulaiman after converting to Islam, switched his stage name from OneManArmy to One Be Lo for a 2002 solo album that didn't do his skills justice. Three years later, he resurfaces with S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M., his first release to be issued with majorlabel backing. He has a threealbum deal, but you're left to believe after one playthrough of this disc that he's letting loose with all that he has, as if it's his last chance to be heard. The album is 79 minutes in length, yet there's an absence of padding. The second half of the album is as strong as the fir...st. If S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M. does have a fault, it's that there's too much to digest. One Be Lo is a deep thinker; the details and complex wordplay within his rhymes often take several plays to fully comprehend appreciate. Similar in effect to XClan's Brother J, his words can be righteous, but they're always delivered with casual assurance, like he's talking to an acquaintance at a bus stop. He observes with the wisdom of a father who's been through prison, raises a lot of issues, has almost as many solutions, and never sounds overbearing or preachy. The production work is handled by One Be Lo and his three Trackezoid partners, who serve up dusty drums, decayed electric piano vamps, standup bass lines that twist and turn instead of walk, and strings that levitate. Snippets of Malcolm X and Dick Gregory further emphasize that that the bloodline flowing through the Last Poets, Watts Prophets, Eugene McDaniels, Brand Nubian, and Talib Qweli (to name a few) is still active. - Andy Kellman, All Music Guide Read more Less