Good Mourning America

On One

Video / Art Direction / Review: Bevon the Muse

Interview: Wero – 509Radio

Review

Solid west coast production featuring verse contributions from The Game and northwest legend Shaolin.  On One exhibits professionalism and candor as a streetwise poet that fans of east coast lyricism will appreciate and west coast aficionados will give due credit. At times, On One reminds me of a west coast version of AZ; tempered wordsmith + semi-laid back flow. He seems to have a talent for attracting key collaborations and stands out in the northwest music scene as a possible leader of a movement if not his own.

Obviously contributing promotional materials and venues for this album, allow me to counter accusations of bias by addressing the downsides of the project: It would be interesting to see what On One does outside of his comfort zone. Though the production quality is never lacking, there is little variety in beat selection for the first half of the album. Lengthwise, it could have been reduced as the better tracks are sprinkled throughout the disc, but in a reinvented industry of “single” downloads, who cares? There was a built in expectation for more content regarding loss of basic freedoms and the socialism of U.S. government, which is briefly touched upon but underutilized.

However, there is definitely enough here to hold the attention of the attention-deficit generation. The latter part of the album shows On One’s versatility and possibly a road map of what we can expect in the future. By far, On One’s best work. While he may stump teenagers accustomed to the brainless talk box broadcasts currently ruling the roost, On One has no fear comfortably emoting and maintaining realism as a proud representative of the undiscovered northwest hip hop scene.

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