| Sleep Bosolini Review | 25 Feb '08 - 12:24pm |
| Sleep Bosolini, a rapper out of North Carolina, sent us his latest project. I'll start by saying the kid has definite talent and charisma - I just don't think he maximized his potential with this CD. Too many problems plagued it, but I do have confidence that with a little tweaking, he can be successful with his next project.
To start - the intro is way too long. We don’t need skits from an unknown artist. Especially another drug skit. I thought these were played out by the late 90’s. Didn’t anybody send Sleep the message??
Okay, here comes the DJ again. We’re about 2:15 seconds into the CD by the time we finally start hearing some music. Ahh, okay, here it comes. Some rapping. Now we can get into it. Let me preface this review by giving you some background on myself. I am heavily involved in the recording, production, mixing and mastering phases of our projects, so I’m extremely picky when it comes to this. Many artists overlook everything except the rapping part of their albums. During this first track, it seems this is going to be the case again with Sleep. The mixing and recording doesn’t seem great here. Here’s what I don’t like – I’m not feeling the “double recording”, where he’s doubling up his vocals. And way too many adlib doubles. The beat is also really repetitive, which takes away from the song. I can’t tell where the hook is. And since all the verses are doubled, I really can’t tell where the hook comes. No beach change and no change in the way the verse/chorus is recorded equals a very repetitive song. And what’s with the DJ’s lame echo???? Sounds like it was done on one of those karaoke microphones. Okay, track 3 – Cartoon Symphony. Okay, I’m liking this track. Again, most of my problems are with the recording a mixing. His vocal is drenched in some reverb that doesn’t let the listener here his real voice. I’ve spoken with him over the phone, and I couldn’t tell this was him unless he told me. My advice – TRUST YOUR VOICE. Let people hear what you sound like. This beat is very nice, but mixed way too low. I have a nice pair of Bose headphones that is very low-end friendly, but I don’t ‘feel’ the beat at all. It’s just kinda there. Gotta be mixed better. The song itself?? Very nice. It’s short, only about 2:30. Very nice though. His flow is confident and smooth. Okay, track four is another nice beat. Hook is better, though I have the same problems with the recording as the other songs. This seems like it’ll be the same throughout, so I’ll stop pointing it out. Track 5 had a Pac sample (from Boyz ‘n’ the Hood) that worked well where it was. The lyrics are nothing special – basically, it’s all hustlin’ and don’t mess with Sleep Bosolini. Not particularly my style of music now a days, partly because I see so many people who aren’t this hard in real life, only on records. Not saying that about Sleep, I’m just skeptical these days. I just hope Sleep truly is this tough in real life, because if not, then hiding behind these same, tired lyrical themes is lame. “get retarded on tracks, don’t know how to act right got a steel pipe, I call that bitch Act Right Very unspoken, she make niggas act right” Let’s get into some of the positives. The beats are well put together. They might be mixed too flat, but the actual tracks are nice. Bos also has a good, solid flow. Rhymes are good, and he has personality. Plenty of personality. Stop reverbing your vocals and my guess is you’ll get many more attention. Ahh – no no no no no. Don’t start a song with a heartbeat. Jay-Z did it perfectly 11 years ago. There should be a law. When an artist does something to perfection, nobody else is allowed to copy it. Ever. Layin’ Something Down is definitely a highlight of the mixtape so far. Lots of gunshots – sounds hectic, which is good. He records really well. “Fucking oochie wallie niggaz, I don’t fuck withchya”. “Fuck with the Department of Corrections”. He has some powerful lines and a strong delivery here. OOOH – the Wondertwinz!! I like these guys. Personal friends of mine. Big up to them. I attended many of their monthly networking events and use and advertise in the Connex List. Any independent artist not using the Connex List is seriously missing out. www.WonderTwinz.com! Okay, I’m on track 10. I should mention something else about my personal tastes. Anything over an hour or so is too long for me to listen to an independent artist, no matter how good you are. I can barely listen to more than an hour of my favorite Tribe album, forget about someone I don’t know. If I like you that much, gimme a nice 11 track, 50 minute CD and if I like it, then I’ll be looking forward to Volume II, or I’ll go to your MySpace to hear the outtakes. I’m getting cranky listening to this DJ talk again. Can’t Stand It is probably a pretty good track, and I think I like the beat, but I’m cranky and need coffee so I’m not commenting on it. Okay, I’m on a plane headed to Seattle and the stewardess just brought me another Heineken, so I’m good. The DJ still annoys me. Track 11 bored me and track 12 took too long to start due to an ultra long intro, so I lost interest. But Cin-e-matic has caught my attention again. It’s still 30 seconds before the song starts, but I can live with it. The beat is good (but low again) and I like the flow a lot. One of my favorite tracks so far. Klitt Klatt Methadone Ice has a great beat, though the flow could be improved a bit. It’s a good song, though. Let me just say, unless you have DJ Kay Slay, DJ Clue or someone like that backing your project – you really don’t need a DJ hosting your mixtape. All it does is take away from the music. Maybe DJ Wits is big in North Carolina and that will help Sleep get some exposure – and if that’s the case, then my apologies – but if not, it hurt the project. Too much talking. Didn’t like the last track. Not a good way to end the CD. Now let me recap… I don’t want people thinking I didn’t like Sleep. I’m notorious for concentrating on the negative. I feel every artist has plenty of “yes” people around them telling them that everything is hot. So I feel it’s my responsibility to tell what I feel can be improved. Sleep is a very strong emcee and can quite possibly make a name for himself. Coming from North Carolina, he has a unique view that other emcees don’t have. I would like to hear him rap from a more personal point of view next time. Okay, we all know how to hustle. But why not open our eyes to the world of hustling in NC?? Tell us the differences. What separates NC from where the rest of us are from? Talk more specifics. Talk more about the neighborhoods or the local crews. Use some local slang. Trust your voice more. You don’t need so many effects. You’re drowning in them. Instead of two-tracking al the beats, try getting them tracked out and really spending time on the mix. Surround yourself with the beat. It’ll help a lot. Also, try some conceptual tracks. Almost all the songs had a similar theme. Try thinking outside the box and coming from a different angle. Talk more about your personal experiences hustling (if, in fact, you consider yourself a hustler) instead of being so generic. And if you don’t hustle, well then take the point of view of somebody who is witnessing it happening and speak from third person. What I loved most about NaS on Illmatic was that he rapped from the perspective of a kid in the projects reporting on what he sees every day, even though it might not necessary be what he does. Trust yourself. This is a very solid start. Better recording and mixing, a little more time into your lyrics, and you can have yourself a very solid follow-up project. I’m going to give this mixtape a 6/10, but not because you’re mediocre as an artist, but because you need to put in more effort the next time around. Originality: 4/10 Quality: 5/10 Flow: 7/10 Lyrics: 6/10 Production: 6.5/10 Potential: 7/10 Overall: 6.5/10 |
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