It’s always nice to obtain a new hip hop record that has both catchy production and good lyrics. To my new collection is Qwel & Meaty Ogre. Qwel= Rhyme Mr. and Meaty Ogre= Production Monster. The beats kind of remind me of Scarab mellow and consumable but also not too in your face and masculine based. This is a hard combo to find sometimes. Qwel presents a very rhythmic flow that is monolithic in tone and pretty straight forward. No ruptures in expression like some rappers. I can appreciate the style but my ear would prefer to hear a rapper really expresses their words with vocals swoops and lifts to really grab your ear. I find that Qwel kind of hangs in the background like a nice painting that doesn’t hold the colors to really grab your ear and say hey notice me!
I really dig the mellow style of "Reader Writer" (track 4 on the album) because this is the style that Qwel can really pull off well. The beat is a good but basic hip hop beat with a sampled kit and some jazz style electric guitar licks. Qwel is relentless and doesn’t really even come up for air. Female vocals seductively come in through his rapping with the words “This is my life.” It’s very acid jazzy.
In the track "Saved", Qwel’s tone is very conflicted and passionate, telling a story of a girl from being every day to fame and he does a great job portraying the mess she creates in the processes she goes through from getting deeper into her new scene. The beat is very simple and laid back and makes way for the story to be delivered.
The Chicago group is very consistent with the performance and the style is very calm and docile and every once and a while a track with bring up the temper to a different kind of submissiveness. I do like this, compared to a lot that is out there to get your hands. It is pretty simple though. Not like there are a million things to fixate on, it’s one of those type albums that is naked enough to say, take it or leave it. I would suggest to taking it would be, hands down, the way to go.
Meaty Ogre makes his mark with sounds from the deep south to the generic beat and bass with also utilizing jazz and ballad-style rock guitar as a melodic element. He uses a retro guitar sound quite a bit. Some beats are flashy, some more laid back…
Together the pair has made a great album that will join my 'great hip hop' collection. My only complaint is that, it doesn’t hold an element that makes it very different than other hip hop artists that are out there. This is a hard task to complete though.
