artist : Mr Cleen
title : Old Man Winter
date : 2006
label : Life For The Better
genre : Hip-Hop
release date: 2006-03-20
street date : 2006-02-17
tracks : 16
bitrate : VBRkbps / 44.10 kHz
size : 64
source : CD
type : Album
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Cleen represents Lancaster, California, a place he calls "a little sandbox
outside L.A." Cleen describes Lancaster as a place that does not really
appreciate hip-hop. Growing up, his classmates didn't understand why he
liked rap. His family didn't understand why he liked rap. To this day he's
constantly dealing with people who think hip-hop, and his involvement in
it, is a joke.
After listening to this CD again and again and again I must say: Clean is
no goddamn joke. This dude is the truth. His punchlines are funny, but he
is not a comedy rapper. He's harshly introspective, but he's not an "emo"
rapper. He raps about the "golden era" a lot, but he's not an elitist
name-dropper. His voice is clear and his flow articulate, but he does not
fall into the backwards-ass racism of white MC's overdoing their
whiteness. He is not trying to be anyone else but himself, and he's the
best thing I've heard in a while.
The beats on this affair are held down by a variety of producers
(including Cleen himself), but somehow (maybe by accident, maybe by
Cleen's selective shrewdness) maintain a similar feel. The producers are
all about sampling, and doing it from strange sources. In that way, it's a
loop-and-drum-program type of feel, which is boring if not done
tastefully. If anything, the producers on this CD are even more unknown
than Cleen, making the quality of their output all the more surprising.
It's tight that even though everyone involved is an unknown, Cleen's not
on some mixtape shit (not that there's anything wrong with that). He's
trying to make an album, a cohesive listening experience.
The best way to give you an idea what this album is all about is to
explain a few songs. I'll explain three.
"Fork in the Road" features production by Offbeat. He samples Yo-Yo Ma
from "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and puts it over a distorted,
BOOMING drum loop that moves fast and demands to be ridden by a flow
master. The song, like all Cleen's songs, has a concept, an idea, a theme.
This song is about whether or not, if an MC is afforded the opportunity,
he/she will decide to get signed and blow up. Cleen says "the lifestyle
sure is tempting, but to get it you gotta sell your soul." Check out his
humor:
"Straight ahead
Where your maid in red
Lingerie gives you head everyday in bed
It's not because you're good lookin'
You just keep bringin' home the bacon, and she'll keep cookin' it"
In this song, an underground cat gets a big record deal, starts living the
life, and then has to make an album. He used to draw creative inspiration
from his life, but he's changed so much and become so hollow that he's got
a bad case of writer's block. His label becomes frustrated because he's
not making songs; they want to know where their money is going. His
underground fans disown him for chasing cash. The mainstream cats that
recently found out about him say he's too lyrical to top the pop charts.
In the end, the protagonist of the song is just fucked. Sound like a story
you've heard before? Yes, indeed. The point of the song? Cleen says, "I'm
saying it's a bitch what rappin' can be/ I just hope I'm prepared if it
happens to me." I haven't heard a better song on this topic since that
Blackalicious jam off A2G.
"She Came with the Frame" is a lesson in self-deprecation that would make
even Woody Allen proud. Bookworm handles the beat, a producer Cleen
acknowledges he's never met. It's a slow burner; a muted trumpet,
shimmering ride cymbal and smooth keys provide the kind of calm,
collected, yet wistful backdrop that really makes Cleen's lyrics pop. The
song is, among other things, an admission of sexual frustration.
"Has it come down to this?
Can't Mr. Cleen go find himself a Miss?
The girls in my comfort zone have nothing wrong with their descriptions
This is my problem, I don't have issues
I got the whole subscription"
Music Vibes: 8 of 10 Lyric Vibes: 9 of 10 TOTAL Vibes: 8.5 of 10
http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2006_03
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1 - Style Wars Intro / Heart Full of Misery 3:05
2 - Fork in the Road 3:42
3 - Walking Contradiction 4:55
4 - Captain Crunch 3:31
5 - Rollerskates 3:40
6 - What most girls think of me... 0:37
7 - SHe Came with the Frame 4:18
8 - Little Brother is watching you 3:21
9 - Catapillar to Butterfly 2:37
10 - Turtleshell Backpack 3:54
11 - Story Time 3:18
12 - Goosebumps 3:06
13 - Atomic Lullabies 3:13
14 - Sleepy Follow / Diabetes Generation 4:30
15 - Mid-life Thesis 3:07
16 - Feelin' Good 4:14
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