Tuesday 7 July 2009

'Theolovision' - Sleaze (album review)

Sleaze aka Hermes Trismegistus (Who? Whut?!) can be easily contrasted with Nas: whereas Nas notoriously picks bad beats, Sleaze has picked a set of bangers on this, his ‘Theolovision’ long player. Ghost, Beat Butcha, Wizard, Endemic, Reklews, Hey!Zeus, Madskillz and Skank all pitch in with awesomely heavy beats – this LP’s strong point.

Sleaze, a Bromwich boy transplanted to the south, retains his accent as he raps frenetically on tracks such as ‘Wild Sumerian’ and ‘Bembine Triad’ – which frankly, aren’t as deep and thinky as I think Sleaze would like them to be. Mr. Trismegistus does stand out from the pack but mainly because of the fact that his rap style will not be to most people’s taste - something he's aware of as the press release states "13 tracks of how Hip Hop should not be flavour of the week". ‘Theolovision’ claims to be the brainchild of a theologist and historian amongst other things – I’d like to see those influences shine brighter, I’d like some real light bulb moments and I’d like some more insightful lyrics.

Sleaze has reeled in a list of likeminded MCs such as Ruffstylz, Lee Scott, Gramma Marksman, Super Dertie to vibe alongside this likeable but hard-to-swallow MC (No homo!). Stand out tracks are ‘Wild Sumerian’ featuring T-Bone and Illmystic and ‘Success (Worked My Whole Life For This)’.

‘Theolovision’ is out now and available at Suspect Packages and who knows, you might really feel this.

6 comments:

hiphophed said...

man did you listen to the same album as me, did you skip theolovision 09?

that is the deepest shit and set the frequency, o my god. i dont think the worlds ready for emcees like this.
production is mad dope tho, your right there.

i feel you were too harsh on this album man.

AD said...

What did you think of his flows? I didn't find him as tight as most rappers on the scene. I think he is likeable as an MC though.

Maybe I was too harsh but I hear so much stuff these days and some stuff just doesn't compare.

Maybe the world isn't ready, and that's why I wasn't getting into it? I know there are heads out there who will defo feel this - I felt it deserved to be reviewed and mentioned because it's not a failure as an album.

warrior said...

harsh aint the word, wrong is.
i aint heard no-one flow like this before, sick as fuk. maybe the reviewer was tired when he wrote this, but i agree with hip hophed that theolovision 09 has some of the deepest lyrics i have heard.

man better wake up other wise this stagnant formula fed uk scene is gonna die if we dont support artist like this.

i cant think of one rapper that sleaze has mimicked, now say that about ya favourite uk head.

warrior said...

some of the sickest flows i have ever heard. hiphophed is right, theolovision 09 is the deep.reviewer was tired or something. but man better wake up, otherwise this stagnant formula fed scene is gonna die out, rappers like this are trynna push boundaries with there schemes, but hes sort of right as a lot of peeps wont get it.

The Bearded Stoner said...

I gotta say this album is tight, Sleazes flow is sick, he's got jokes too....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HakoR62YtG4

AD said...

I'm glad to see people actually have something to say about this! Most of the time no one seems to have their own thoughts to leave in the comments section!

I'm glad too that you disagree with me. Watched the youtube vid - i like him more acapella, it's just he has a strange way of riding a beat - I prefer it to be tighter and more structured.