One Be Lo - The R.E.B.I.R.T.H. Review
by Kevin Wierzbicki
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One Be Lo is a Detroit-area rapper who has had quite a bit of success regionally but who remains in the second-tier, possibly because he refuses to abase himself with the braggadocio, misogyny and hatred that is so prevalent in much of rap. Maybe his bucking of the trend is also why he calls himself the "One Man Army." One goes even farther with the title of this joint; R.E.B.I.R.T.H. stands for "Real Emcees Bring Intelligent Rhymes To Hip-hop." He does turn some clever phrases, like "dollars are senseless" ("Rebirth") but he also gets caught stretching like on "Born and Raised" where you'll hear, "If you don't see my face, I'm gone/Everywhere I take my phone." But One can be forgiven the occasional amateurish line because overall R.E.B.I.R.T.H. is fun and mentally stimulating. Each of the twelve cuts uses a different producer so the album doesn't get in a rut; "Keep it Rollin'" uses an off-kilter beat that takes a bit of getting used to but ultimately the song is one of the album's stand-out tracks. On "Smash" One looks at the lifestyle that comes with the success of having a hit record while sampling speech from Mr. T. and name-checking Tiger Woods and Mike Tyson---three very disparate examples of how fame has been managed. On "Headlines" One raps about a caveman, once frozen in ice, who thaws out and finds himself in modern-day New York City. The song is about how society has gone haywire and is a real attention-grabber thanks to a bed of Hendrix-like psychedelia and an insistent background mantra of "What's goin' on?" Thoroughly entertaining through it all, One Be Lo shows that you can be amusing without resorting to skits and socially aware without being a hater.
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One Be Lo - The R.E.B.I.R.T.H.
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