Aceyalone – Love & Hate (CD) (2003) (FLAC + 320 kbps)

As more and more great rappers find the underground is the perfect place to camp — for the respect and freedom, if not the royalties and pay-offs — records like Aceyalone’s Love & Hate will, fortunately, become a more common occurrence. Released on Project Blowed, an open-mic night that gradually morphed into a winning record label, the album is a simple, straight-ahead match of excellent MC with great producers. Four of the best tracks come from PMD, front-loaded and featuring big-pimpin’ beats and a clutch of cutting, digital effects. Def Jux’s RJD2 contributes fractured, glittering productions to “Lost Your Mind” and “Takeoff,” and the same label’s El-P drops by to produce and drop rhymes over the dense, apocalyptic “City of Shit.” Aceyalone also rises to the challenge on another high-profile underground soundclash, “Lights Out” featuring Antipop Consortium, picking up and casting off a dozen vocal pseudonyms in a single verse. His rhymes are among the best of his career, and he covers a lot of ground over 15 cuts; nearly every time he makes a record, he makes it clear that rap music has so much possibility that’s never dreamed of by most on a major label. Whether he’s trading licks with Oakland hero Casual on a hard-hitting jam (“Let Me Hear Sumn”), or talking directly to the listener, recounting a depressing, mood-of-the-country conversation during an airline flight (“Ms. Amerikka”), he makes it clear that, when it comes to the West Coast ten years on from the G-funk era, Aceyalone means much more than Snoop Dogg.

Tracklist:

01. Love and Hate Theme
02. Junkman
03. Let Me Hear Sumn
04. Lost Your Mind
05. In Stereo
06. The Takeoff
07. Love And Hate
08. The Saga Continues
09. Moonlight Skies
10. Ace Cowboy
11. So Much Pain
12. Find Out
13. City of Shit
14. Lights Out
15. Ms. Amerikkka (Bonus Track)

Download:

FLAC – Wayshare