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Album Review: U-N-I – A Love Supreme 2.0 (2010)
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Potholes
While it is not known that the West Coast-based crew U-N-I’s sophomore album A Love Supreme (released as a free download last year) was a nod to the great John Coltrane classic, the duo of MCs Y-O and Thurzday along with producer Ro Blvd have created a sound that is at times jazzy and most definitely diverse. The prelude to Love Supreme was the underrated Before Their Was Love mixtape – perhaps one of the stronger (if overlong) freebie mixtapes from last year. The crew returns with the beefed-up A Love Supreme 2.0 and while there are just five new tracks, several of the previous records have been reworked to great effect.
The LP, produced entirely by Ro Blvd, begins with the excellent “Supreme”. Ro’s track is both sparse and captivating with the producer relying mostly on synthesizers to bolster the strong rhymes from Thurzday and Y-O. “Land Of The Kings” is an immediate shift in sound, as the track takes on a more pop-friendly and lighter approach with its infectious hook. The production is the star, but the MCs deliver another strong performance and thus mesh well with the excellent music behind them. “Hollywood Hiatus” continues the excellent keyboard work from Ro and the song has a clever nod to ’80s R&B sensation New Edition. Y-O delivers his strongest performance lyrically thus far. “On The Launch 2.0” is another quality track with Ro Blvd’s bouncy, breezy track compliments Thurzday and Y-O’s slightly autobiographical lyrics. The MCs offer slight braggadocios in their rhymes but the hard work to ascension is the more evident theme. “Lady” featuring the talented vocalist Miguel highlights Ro’s versatility and the slinky groove is the perfect backdrop for the MCs’ earnest attempt at a song for the ladies. The track succeeds most specifically because of Miguel’s well delivered hook and Ro Blvd’s ’80s-tinged track.
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The LP is not without snags and glaring issues, which all show up in epic fashion on “Stylin”. The track, while decent enough, is an overloud mess and the lyrics fail to hold interest. It is here where it becomes apparent that Thurzday and Y-O, great voices and all, have very thin source material. This is quickly corrected with “Pulp Fiction” featuring the talented Fashawn. The use of the story angle and yet another amazing Ro Blvd track shows that when focused, these MCs are as good as any from the West Coast today. Fashawn nearly steals the show but all three MCs shine bright on this track. The album closes with the incredible “A Love Supreme” which gels the prodigious MC talents of Y-O and Thurzday with Ro Blvd’s production seamlessly and the heartfelt lyrics buzz with sincerity. It is with this track that the sound the group aimed for throughout the entire LP is fully realized. A Love Supreme 2.0 may not shift the paradigm of sound in a suddenly crowded West Coast underground but they deserve a great deal of recognition for delivering one of the stronger releases of the year.
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