The Maroons – Ambush (Quannum)
Local hiphop collaboration between Blackalicious’s producer Chief Xcel and Latryx rapper Lateef. It has that catchy soulful sound of the two groups. A lot of the tracks have a band of sorts playing the music. This is fairly pop and clean and in some cases they just go too far. A lot of the tracks have a political leaning and Lateef really shows off his rhyming in a couple places.
1. Their theme. Lateef is up front, the beat is straight forward, and there is a nice flute riff thrown in a couple times. This has a stripped down sound.
2. Some scratching , hand drums, samples about drums, and Lateef locked into the beat. Sing-song-y chorus.
**3. Starts very quiet, then Lateef along with bass and drums get going on this hard hitting track. Wonderful samples of female soul vocals. “if it wasn’t for this, it would be a better world” Followed by Lateef “If Bush hadn’t stole that election…” Lateef is really on a roll on this track. The slightly funky bass keeps the track moving and the wonderful female vocals put the track over the top. Wonderful.
4. 70s sound in the music with subdued rhyming. Has that borderline disco sound. There is one of those wonderful Blackalicious breaks with giggling and a posi feel.
5. Named after a hard hitting Raiders football player and this track is a bit more gritty and hard. Has a bit of a battle rhyme feel.
**6. Catchy and sing-song-y then Lateef shows us some of his rhyming acrobatics. More great female vocal samples. This track has lots of different parts and sounds. Posi.
7. Short, a bit lofi and raw.
8. Cello, backing vocalists, poppy. Simple beat. I think this is the only track I don’t really like.
9. Laid back, keyboards and a bit too simple. Sort of a party rhyme. Some of the shout outs are great. “Opra Winfrey, if you’re with me, come on”.
Good stuff. -mph