Project Blowed Vol. 1
by Various Artists

Various Artists - Project Blowed vol. 1 is an album whose existence I ignored so far. After listening to it, I wonder how it has escaped my attention up to this point. It is a weird album that needs multiple listens in order to fully comprehend what's going on, but I can already -after 2 listens - confidently say it was more than a pleasant surprise. The main thing that it has going for is that sound-wise it's all over the place (I mean that in a good way). Right off the bat we get warned that there are a lot of experimental elements ("It's the audio auditorial dynamics Don't panic, frantic Put me in the middle and I'll battle, fight 'em off"). There are "noisy" (Jurassick) "spacey" (Strength of A.T.U.), catchy to the point of being addictive (What a Pity, it's more of a semi-interlude than a full song), "jazzy" (mostly Hot, with some horns appearing also on Once Upon a Freak and Narcolepsy), fantastic female vocals (Don't Get It Twisted) relaxing (I Think?, which is another case of a semi-interlude and Maskaraid Part 1 & 2) tracks. The highlight of the album for me -supposing that I had to pick only one, otherwise all the above mentioned were very enjoyable- is Heavyweights Round 2. It manages to blend together many of the different styles showcased throughout the album, even some old school. The lyrics do bring some socio-political commentary to the table that is usually tied with the current state and the purpose of hip hop music, ("Uh—I think hip-hop is our black, urban youth, slash, rebellious interpretation of real life as we see it, characterized through the images of the street, all the way up to the images portrayed to us by Hollywood.") but they are by no means the main focus of the album. Production feels somewhat "cheap" at times, but it never gets too annoying. The interludes are as they should. Short enough so that they don't act distracting, but they do have a point and flow smoothly to the following track.