Album Notes

Not since the combination of Dilla/Madlib with Jaylib's "Champion Sound" has two producers decided to flex all production and rhymes one one album. One half of Kontrast (Empee) and Iron Mic Coalition affiliate MaxPtah unite for one of the year's best Hip Hop offerings with LISTEN!!!: The Album. Taking cue from the aforementioned album the producing pair commands the mic as well as producing each track, with short yet banging instrumentals between each song. The braggadocios, gruffy voice of Empee is the perfect fit for the backdrop MaxPtah laid down on the album opener "Something About Me" and drops gems and tells society about itself on the insanely funk driven "Hope Is Gone". "Confessions of a Vinyl Addict" is a hilarious description of how vinyl "is like crack man" and goes on about the lengths he would go to obtain vinyl just for the fix. MaxPtah as well holds down the album lyrically. On "Listen (S.A.S.)" he just wants the world to expand their mind and not look at Hip Hop as a negative form of music while he tells the story of a love that was all in his mind in the song "Cassandra" with Kia White on the vocals. The instrumental interludes are a real treat too. "I Know" and "Black" are certified Empee classics and Ptah flips a mariachi band sample on "Much More". This album definitely has something for everyone and is a definite Hip Hop album to the core.