August Greene, the new band created by producers Karriem Riggins, Robert Glasper, and veteran rapper Common, have released their first album together, and it's a beautiful modern take on jazz rap. A quiet storm, the self-titled album is carried with gorgeous pianos, strings, and simple hip-hop drums, allowing Common to retread familiar territory, rapping as distinctly and poetically as he did on his 2016 album Black America Again (Which both Riggins & Glasper collaborated with him on). A must for Common fans of any era, August Greene yields some of the best tracks he has been involved with in years, albeit without perfect consistency.
Opening with the calm of 'Meditation', August Greene begins with a warm welcome - soft & simple, with basic drum kick adding no more than it needs to, and a gorgeous piano line dancing around the song as Common speaks. It feels exactly like a meditation, as Common calmly reflects on life, blackness, and personal growth. The next track, 'Black Kennedy' is equally as lovable for similar reasons, but this time the energy turned up a level. The piano chord the track is built around is absolutely wonderful, and so is the warm and fuzzy bass that perpetuates the song. However, here we get the first glimpse of this album's Achilles heel, which arrives in the form of the first of many shaky singing performances. Singer Samora Pinderhughes is featured prominently across the first half of the album, and his voice is very shaky - it isn't a bad voice, but it struggles especially when holding long notes, which is something he attempts regularly. He does as good a job as he can with it though, and it's passable, even if overpowered by the magnificent ballad-like instrumental. The singing is most definitely the biggest overall concern on August Greene, but it's made up for by the fact that it's the only concern. Pinderhughes continues to sing through the opening half, and by the fourth track 'Practice' he has completely run out of energy, flattening his voice to deadpan-levels. On the opposite end of the spectrum, (and album) famed singer Brandy is featured on the penultimate track 'Optimistic' and the energy and enthusiasm she brings to the track bubbles over so much that it feels smothering; four of the five minutes of the song are either her two short, inconsequential verses, or the chorus being repeated over, and over, and over, and over. Common makes a brief 40-second-ish appearance, feeling much more like a guest feature on his own song, making it feel beyond sluggish. The album suffers most when Common is nowhere to be found, proven not only here, but on track 6 'Aya' which meanders just as hopelessly as 'Optimistic'. Aside from these qualms, however, there isn't much else to fault this album on. Tracks like 'Fly Away' and 'The Time' are more demonstrations of the fantastic composing abilities of the band, making lush and atmospheric music without overstating themselves. Wonderful string sections, delightful keyboard riffs, & the latter track's chorus a soaring & redeeming group vocal that lifts the track off the ground entirely, are joyous to listen to, and Common raps at a perfect cadence to match the tempos. His mission statement for August Greene is to champion blackness, which he does on most tracks from the album; "Opps and opulence, pops said confidence / Glocks and consciousness, sounds of black optimists", from 'The Time'; "Tactics for black kids, it's mind over matter, where blacks is" from 'No Apologies', and even the bold but awesome line "And we must embark to passion mark the people / had our first black prez, I'ma be the sequel" from 'Black Kennedy' are just a few of the enjoyable lyrics Common wrote for this album. Although not as lyrically poignant as Black America Again, where Common sounded invigorated and penned some of his finest raps since Be, he's certainly lost none of his skill and invitingly positive personality that make him the memorable MC that he is. The album lasts for a tight 50 minutes, but it feels shorter - this is due to the 13-minute closing number, 'Swisha Suite', a jazzed-out set of quiet compositions, instrumental all but for the last few minutes, allowing Common to end the album with a final verse; a condemnation of those who stand against all the positives he himself stands for on the tracks that came beforehand. Although an ambitious way to end the album, it does feel a bit understated, especially for it's great length - the time it could have taken to build to a much grander and triumphant finish is slightly hampered by it's unchanging energy level that lasts almost the entire length of the song. It still holds merits, though, with a fun, bouncy, & vibrant middle section that appears roughly four and a half minutes in, and the piano added on top for Common's appearance at the end are great and add a lot to the track. August Greene is a great work from a group of great musicians, who have made great music together in the past. Although the album is familiar territory for all three members, they do it justice. A jazz-rap album that is not only influenced by and samples the genre, but uses it directly and unfiltered in it's songs, August Greene follows carefully in the footsteps of Black America Again, and formally unites the trio that worked together on that album to blend all three of their styles equally. A soft, quiet, & beautiful album, the wobbly singing being the only snag, August Greene continues Common's winning musical streak, and puts Karriem Riggins & Robert Glasper's names right on the front, giving them attention they've deserved for years. 80/100 |
201820162015Scores0-30 = Bad
31-49 = Sub-par 50-60 = Average 61-70 = Decent 71-80 = Good 81-89 = Great 90-99 = Incredible 100 = Perfect Archives
September 2018
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