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Album Details

• Artist: AWOL One
• Album: AWOL One
• Label: Paladin Creative Superco Records
• Year of Release: 2004
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: rbidet on 2005-01-15

Me reviewing a hip-hop CD is like George W. Bush editing a grammar handbook. That doesn't mean I'll misunderestimate a white MC just because he's ... well ... a white MC. AWOL's got some cool backing tracks, and a raspy matter-of-fact delivery with considerate lyrics detailing the everyday ennui that speaks louder than any empty braggadocio or pro-consumerist sloganeering. Still, this sixteen track disc too often loses itself in uninspiring tracks and AWOL's sometimes sharp/sometimes not lyrics. "Slide" sounds like an eerie Laika track with spooky synths under a self-doubting rap. The disturbing "Antisocial" contains the line: "I used to wish that I would die in my sleep/Sometimes when I'm alone, I do a million push-ups". That's a white dude dealing with urban aggression and disenchantment who's sonically more in tune with the Geto Boys than Fred Durst, and that in itself is a good thing. But AWOL's delivery lacks that commanding conviction the best rappers need, and at some point the tracks begin to groan under the weight of his white-boy slack attack. His emotional frustrations are admirably honest though, and his (sometimes) non-rhyming style is interesting but the whole package comes together only on songs like "Push" and "Fears", elsewhere he is too reminiscent of a winded "Macho Man" Randy Savage mired in self-pity.

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