Not Just Another Friday Night

I think it is cliche to tell someone to by an album at the beginning of a review.

But screw it...buy this album.

The basis of Friday Night is just that...it is a journey on a Friday night. From the get-go, you are thrown into this narrative of a crazy journey. Remember Alice in Wonderland? Remember when she fell down the rabbit hole and sees all these random objects? That is kind of like this album.

You are Alice.

So the first track is really just an introductory track, setting up the craziness that is to follow. You are going somewhere, and you are excited. You are wondering where you are going and that is the beauty of this album. You think you know what is going on, but you don't. So this first track is the calm before the stormiest Friday night of your life. "Again and Again" the second track is the first time you hear some rhymes from one half of Friday Night, Serengeti. Sure, it is a flow you have kind of heard before. A little Del, a little Slug...pure backpacker flow. But that is the opposite of a bad thing. This track really encompasses the beauty of waiting for a date. The first verse repeats itself quite a few times. Serengeti talks about having this date and meeting at a club called Rick's for 30 seconds, and really those are the only words that rhyme until the next verse.

Now, I really don't want to give away too much of the album, because you need to be suprised when you hear this. It ruins the effect of the entire album if you know what is coming. But I will pick out some of my favorite tracks.

Track Four - Certified Platinum
This may very well be the best track on the album. The flow has slowed down a bit, giving itself a kind of radio feel. The voices have deepened and the rhymes have gotten tighter. And we are still only a few tracks in! One of the most quotable lines on the album really destroys any radio hip-hop you can find. Check the style a fluidity of this rhyme, "Check the pristine gleam as you swing to the track/You can listen to this, but don't listen to that/because this is that's what's good and that shit's whack." Find better in mainstream hip-hop music. I dare you. The beat is so electronic, almost magnetic and it draws you in to the words. It makes you listen. A lot of the album does this. It makes you want to continue on without skipping anything. Because it is like the show 24. If you miss one track, you are so confused until the album is done.

Track Seven - Down On the Corner feat. Nash and Micah James from The 87 Stick Up Kids
This track is based around a cipher on the street corner. Just four dudes rhyming. It is so hip-hop. It is pure hip-hop. It starts with someone kicking the beat-box, and that beat fuses in perfectly with the actual track whenever it comes in. This track reminds me of Black Star's Definition. It has the ability to become one of the greatest hip-hop songs ever. We just need to get people to listen to it! It has a flow that is broken, like Rakim when he decides to finish a rhyme later in a track, and pauses just like Mos Def. A perfect blend of hip-hop perfection. Like a good cipher, it is full of jokes and punches amongst friends. It just works very well.

Track Eight - She Luh That
Skills. Makes "Yankee Doodle" club-worthy. Seriously. Check that shit.

Track Nine - P.S.R.
The club joint on this album. I mean, the entire album (for the most part) is based in a club, but this is that joint that just makes you want to find that guy or girl and just go dance. It feels like sex. It oozes of sex. The beat has a Spanish feel mixed with a very orchestral electro rap feel...that doesn't even make sense. The flow is very Ghostface. The beat gives you no chance to breathe, and even within the slower bits. Big up to the producers Grilla and Ish (of the Art Thugs). They always hold it down. The beat itself brings the entire album to a climax. The rest of the album is on the down slope of the story.

Track Ten - Let's Go!
This is the weakest beat on the whole album, but it really works with the story. It is so hypnotic and like a bad coked-out dream. It keeps you in a trance, which is good and bad. I'll leave it at that.

Track Fifteen - Up To the Middle (Bonus Track)
Doesn't fit with the story. It really seems to be a useless track. Very Depeche Mode though. Good music, but lacks the quality the rest of the album has.

My notes on this album are crazy. I've noted the beats, the story, the rhyme-style. It is so deep, but at the same time, has a very base narrative. It is easy to follow, but at times becomes a very confusing jumble of ideas.

Overall, this is my favorite hip-hop album since...1998. Just kidding. But in all seriousness, it is already one of my favorite albums within the last year. If you want electronic hip-hop done right, but it tonight. Wait...if you want hip-hop done right, buy it tonight. If you don't like rap, the Friday Night website has just the instrumentals, which themselves make the album worth much more than the $10 you would spend tonight anyway. Not the perfect album, but terrific nonetheless.
4.9 out of 5

Delays Delays...shit

Sorry about the delays. I am currently getting into this little thing called BUYING music, so it makes early reviews very hard. I will be reviewing Friday Night's eponymous album sometime this week, and big up to Jim Mahfood for that recommendation. I will also be reviewing some newer mainstream music and I promise that GZA Pro Tools review.

Track by track.
Clef by clef.
Peace by peace.