Not too long ago ?uestlove posted an
open letter to Jay Electronica where he suggested that hip-hop albums, and albums in general, work best when you have single producer to help focus the song selection and overall sound and feel of an album. Short Fuze and Nasa show just what ?uestlove was talking about on "Lobotomy Music," the latest release from Uncommon Records.
Although Short Fuze has been putting out albums for over 7 years as part of the group The W.A.S.T.E.L.A.N.D.S., this is his first solo album and it reminds one of many other debuts (Jay Z's "Reasonable Doubt") where an MC has been spending their whole life creating this album. This is Short Fuze's story of how he became the man he is today, both the good and the bad; there is actual feeling and thought put into each and every song.
With an album this personal it makes perfect sense to use one producer, both the original meaning and the new hip-hop meaning, to create a focused album, rather than just a collection of songs. The producer who was giving this task was Nasa, whose beats work very well with Short Fuze's vocals and rhyme patterns. Very quickly the listener realizes this album was a collaboration between two like minded individuals who knew the other person was putting them self into their art.
The album begins with what sounds like an other worldly chorus preparing to announce their leader; shortly after this Short Fuze utters the perfect first line for the album, "Welcome to my World." The listener is quickly thrust into "Poison Makes Me Pretty" and finds out just how personal this song and album are going to be. Whether talking about his own attempted suicide, finding his friend after he overdosed on heroine, walking with dead friends, or contemplating his relationship with God, Short Fuze stands strong that life is still worth living, no matter what:
One Way or Another we'll all get taken out, the time that's in between is what life's about, just take the end from the start and hope for that amount so just breathe in and breathe out with no doubt
"God's Waiting Room" and "Break Down The Walls" both feature some of the best word play on the album, while remaining serious as they explore various aspects of life and death. Just a few Further showing just how much of a joint venture this album is, Nasa spits a verse both on "Break Down The Walls" and joins in on the chorus of "God's Waiting Room." Just to give you a taste of some of the lines from "God's Waiting Room"
uncivilized like Jews scribin’ Muhammad’s face in krylon/ eating pigs in eye shot/ rockin’ Mein Kamph screamin’ my God this is what I’m on/ from the top of Mt. Zion/ battling Jesus Christ and Dylon draped in Izod/ cross the pylon 7 points/ like when 85 percent find God/ my career won’t be defined by nine shots
I have to think there was some debate between whether "Beautiful Anger" should be the song to begin the album if for no other reason than its first lines:
Hello beautiful stranger/ would you like a touch of my beautiful anger?/ and wait for the world to us under?/ talk to me maybe we can save each other/
But where "Poison Makes Me Pretty" has an uplifting chorus, "Beautiful Anger" is more Short Fuze laying out his life to a stranger, similar to how some people feel very willing to tell you their life story. The selection of "Poison Makes Me Pretty" shows just how much attention was paid to the order of the album.
"Turn Off The Light" begins by letting Nasa's beat stand on its own for the first 45 seconds and it stands strong and proud. Then Short Fuze, Nasa, and Cirrus Minor lyrically kill the track and let us know "last one to die, turn of the light."
The first single off the album "Don't Feed the Machine" has just about everything you could want in a song: great beats, killer lyrics, incredible scratches by DJ Shortrock, and some Johnny Cash. What more can you ask for in a song? If you want to get a better idea of the sick lyrics you can read them at Short Fuze's blog
The Fuze Box, he's also posting more lyrics each day.
"Bully Rappers" is the album's posse track, but unlike many posse tracks that sound flat and act as album filler, Eleven, Passive 65ive, Karniege, and Short Fuze each put serious thought and lyrics into their verses, while Nasa gives us one of the more spaced out beats on the album.
The rest of the W.A.S.T.E.L.A.N.D.S. joins their comrade in the hard hitting Berserker Fury. If you were to ask which is the straight rap track, I'd show you this one and explain why this could easily be a major radio or at least mix tape hit.
Easily, the most important track on the album is "Doomsday Device." It begins with Nasa addressing the idea and concept of religion, as well answering stereotypes of Christianity, and then Short Fuze responds to the hatred that 9/11 created towards Muslims, and dispels the myths that all Muslims hate America and want to blow it up. I will withhold my rant on how needed this song is and how much people have to realize how wrong and dangerous stereotypes are in this world.
Short Fuze continues with a common theme of religion, spirituality and its place in the world on "Master Peace." He acts as the master peace of the world, in other words, what you believe. Now, I realize this might scare some people because often we are afraid to talk about religion and listen to someone who might believe something different than we do. But just listen to the track, keep an open mind and understand this is part of who Short Fuze is. We want our artist to put feeling and meaning into their songs and that is exactly what he is doing in this song.
Now we move onto my final track, which I will do my best not to talk about too much. "Gorgeous" is easily my favorite on the album, and might be my favorite song this year and all genres of music. It is the culmination of one of the things that makes this album so great, the raw emotional investment that both Short Fuze and Nasa put into this album and how well they meshed throughout.
Recently more and more people have been talking about how fewer and fewer people are making albums. I'm not even talking about the artists are releasing one song, then waiting and releasing another others are just doing mix tapes, that is a whole different discussion. I mean how people are not worried about how songs sound together or just worry about making a few good songs and using fillers to finish the album. Then you have the fact that maybe the songs work together on an album but their order is all off. These complaints are coming from every where: fans, musicians, DJs, but some people just do not seem to understand how important making a true album is. But "Lobotomy Music" is different, actual time was spend on making sure the songs worked together as a cohesive unit. In other words where as today many albums are similar to "The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald: A New Collection" which may have a bunch of great songs, but no common thread, "Lobotomy Music" is more like James Joyce's "Dubliners." If you do not get that comparison, I highly recommend you READ both books and you will see it makes perfect sense. In an era of ring tone rappers, shuffling on mp3 players, MCs who put out single songs, it is truly refreshing for me to hear an actual album. So if you miss the times when albums meant something or maybe you're too young to remember this time check out "Lobotomy Music" and see how great music can sound when it works and the artists truly care about their art and know what they are doing.
You can stream and purchase the full album at
Uncommon Records Bandcamp page.
