Words By: Hallway Jay
OVERALL RATING:
illRoots.com + 6th Sense = illRoots.com PSA
Okay to start the year off I’m going to let everybody know that “It’s Coming Soon”. The aptly named title to 6th Sense’s upcoming Notherground Music/ Rawkus 50 release is sure to open some eyes in the industry. With the entire album produced entirely by 6th and Frequency we see that not only is quite the assassin with the words but as well with the production.
Honestly this should be of no surprise to anybody since my first 6th Sense sighting was on the keys on Snoop’s album “The Blue Carpet Treatment”. Yet following his Mick Boogie assisted mixtape “Go For It”, we see a more in depth 6th where he takes us on a journey through 12 tracks of “Future Music”. The first track, “It's Coming Soon (intro)”, is Sense’s extent of trash talking where he shouts “Come hang with a broke rapper, truth be told we are way more fun”. After which we see “Future Music” which is by far a synth heavy masterpiece with the first few bars “Stevie loved the synthesizer/ so do I/ but I feel like I’m the simplifier/ that’s no lie/ If you need to come and get the fire/ come by/ best believe I’m take it higher/ I’m so fly/”. Sixth takes this track to another level with the chorus being completely off the wall. Followed with a Frequency produced “Frenzy” of Ooohs and ahhs underneath of an explanation of where the industry is going an how he is planning to handle this onslaught of monetary madness that can be defined as the Music Industry. Slated as the clean-up batter track four turns out to be more of home run hitter than your average player. With a heavy hitting uptempo beat smothered in horns “Live!” is a very fitting title as the chorus is the best explanation for this:
6th Sense - I Wanna Tell Ya
“Here we go lets proceed/ Best believe that I’m gon do it (do it do it)/ Make way cuz I’m coming through/Each day I’ma start a new/ It’s a new dawn/ It’s a new day/It’s a new life for me/ Its new life life life/ Sing it wit me / It’s a new life for me”
If anything that we can see a sheer consistency with Frequency as another sample is cleverly laced over the intro of track five as “I Wanna Tell Ya” is a braggadocios, almost two minute long, bashing of what 6th’s opinion of what you think he is. Followed by “Run It By Me” is a nice uptempo piece produced by Frequency that is a nice track that keeps the album very consistent as far as production. Overall I must say that this album is a nice listen all the way through. The tracks catch the audience into a trance and with “Pop It Off” you see a very smooth laid back track that makes me feel like summer time in the city, again this a cut from Frequency. Tracks five through seven show the range that Frequency possess’ that may have been questioned after the first two pieces that we have seen. With track eight I feel as if you see the a purely powerful track and quite possibly the most in depth lyrics that you’ve seen thus far. Along with assist from Rayel on the hook and Notherground beast Jelani we see a “dilla-esque” track full of beautifully orchestrated keys and mello backdropped laid over by the such lyrics as the hook states:
“Symphony’s used to be sweet to me/ Now it seems that we’ve gone to far/we’ve gone too far/ Simply we delete/ and keep what secretly is our shining star/ Our shining star”
Sixth adds such a great combinations lyricism with a sense of smooth overlaid greatness that we see why he is such deserved of great accolades. The Mike Maven assisted 6th produced track is under the same umbrella as “Pop It Off” with a very smooth track dedicated to the females. This is followed by the melody’s of “Let’s Play feat. Jelani and Wildabeast”. This is the Notherground family track right here where each member goes back and forth as this is literally like a game of “horse” on the track where each tries to out do the next. “Beyon My” and “Midsummer Night’s Dream” are like the set up and the closer as the album ends as smooth as a sunset. Overall a great buy, notice I said “buy”, I urge those of us that love hip-hop to please go out and purchase that music and support your artists because without good hip-hop then the balance is never going to readjust itself. So go “Buy the Music” and show some support for the artists. Until then these are the lessons we bring/ Education Separates the Peasant from the King. Hallway…
