Criminal & Agile Half and Half LP
Regular readers of the ukhh.com reviews may have noticed that we categorise the different products in a number of ways e.g., 7”/12”/EP/LP, as well as breaking it down so that you know whether you’re reading about an act from the UK or not. But here we run into a problem. Criminal, the DJ and producer of the group is from Bolton, England, whereas the other half of the group (and hence the title of the LP), Agile, the emcee, is from Cincinnati, Ohio, which I’m sure a lot of you will realise is in America. I’ll leave it up to the site admin to decide where exactly to put this review on the site though, and get on with the job of telling you just how great this album is.
Those of you who heard the “Heavy Hitters” LP that Criminal made with Uncle Heavy will already know this is one talented producer. And he constructs the goods on “Half and Half” with aplomb. He is obviously very diverse with a great ear, and he shows this off to great effect, especially on the intro, outro, and interlude where he really takes the opportunity to shine with great cutting up of samples from classic hip hop and rock, such as Jimi Hendrix and Nas. And that’s just the instrumental bits where he’s working by himself. When providing backing for the raps he certainly knows what he’s doing. He throws in a variety of beautiful soul samples to great effect over the LP, particularly on “Misunderstood” and the Kanye West-like “In The Rain”. There are a lot of swooping strings and piano led tracks as well, which suitably provide a wonderful atmosphere for the more melancholy tracks “Long Lost” and “Morning Woes”, my personal favourite, where the beat is a simple soundscape that amply fits in with the autobiographical subject matter of Agile’s unhappy family life that allows the listener to concentrate on the tale being told. And on the “summertime hip hop” track “Take Off” as well as “Stage Show” (featuring the emcees Odub & JC) he turns up the pace to make suitably funky tracks. And as for the brilliant battle track “Whoa!”, the beat here is very dark and banging, and even if it didn’t have any rapping on it, it would sill make you feel pumped up and ready to fight.
But what about Agile? According to the press release he “only has one thing to say…’I rap.’ This may not sound like the boldest of statements, especially coming from an emcee, the type of person known for exaggeration and confidence, but it’s simple and to the point. And Agile’s right. He does rap, and on top of that, he’s extremely good at it. Over the course of the album, he flows amazingly, and his lyricism is top notch. On “Whoa!” he is suitably venomous, yet on “Morning Woes” and “Darkness Falls” he is suitably downbeat without sounding like he feels sorry for himself. And on the paean to a loved one that is “Lost” he has a Slug-esque feel to his emceeing. The album also features the rapping talents of Odub and JC on one track (two if you count the ‘secret’ track at the end that seems to be a remix of the track they feature on), as well as the absolutely exquisite singing from Natalia Lanni, who graces the tracks “Stronger” and “Lost” with a variety of oohs, yeahs, and choruses.
Overall, this is an outstanding album that hits all the right buttons. Unfortunately for the group though, with this being a limited release and being made by two relatively unknown artists, it may not get the hearing it deserves.
- Guru Mike
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