Saturday, May 14, 2011

GhostWridah - American Alien (album review)



I got the new GhostWridah LP "American Alien" and right from the jump I hit replay. The first track "The American Dream" is a dope intro to the project with GhostWridah sliding his smooth delivery alongside the 'nightmare' chorus that is super fly. Who is the woman singing that hook? I understand the push behind the "Bandwagon" track since Ghostwridah brought in a strong feature with the appearance of Paul Wall, but I honestly think that track is sandwiched between two far superior tracks and actually might be the weakest track amongst a stellar track listing. "For My Ex" is easily a favorite from the LP. Ghostwridah's flow is dope and the Carlyle Anderson vocals are equally dope and the production is a perfect fit. The "Victory (Interlude)" is hot enough to be an actual song on its own, but once the full song "Victory" drops in it's hard to imagine the track any other way. The production is huge and the harmonies rolling behind The Strangerz on the hook is flat out dope. There is no letdown moving from "Victory" to the next track "So Alive". Billy Blue laid back and delivered rhymes right on point with GhostWridah and once again the chorus from Jase fit perfect. Something about "Window Cracked" reminded me of the funk you hear from classic Rick James records, but I can't put my finger on exactly what it was. I will say that the production from Rem is bananas and the drum fill at 1:44 mark had me yanking the needle back to hear that fill over and over. Of course as a DJ I am immediately partial to any track with a DJ rubbin' scratches in the song. "Westside Love Affair" gives me a mixed reaction because the hook is really nice but anytime a rapper spits about love it sounds corny in an LL Cool J "I Need Love" kind of way. "Gettin' High" is definitely another favorite from the LP. I can see GhostWridah being compared to Drake because of his vocal tone and cadence, but GhostWridah delivers content that stomps on Drake's Sesame Street flow. "Hate Me Now" is another dope record, but it felt like something was missing although the production was solid and GhostWridah's flow was on point. I think the hook is the culprit. "When I'm Long Gone" is another favorite from the LP and is a great enticement to pull the needle all the way back to the top and run the entire LP again.

Overall "The American Dream" is a tremendous LP that has definitely opened my ears and eyes to the talents of GhostWridah. I didn't know GhostWridah was this talented a lyricist so the LP serves to be a huge eye opener to me. The production on the entire LP is stellar. Not the typical patterned production of simple intro followed by 16 bars and hook, 16 bars and hook, 16 bars and hook...outro. This is musical with a treasure of instruments and actual arrangment. This is probably not the music to bang out your trunk while you're on the block and you probably won't hear it in the clubs much, but there are some potential radio singles. This is one of those records that I keep in replay at the house and on my phone so I can listen to it wherever I go and whatever I'm doing. Now here's the beautiful thing about the "American Alien" LP...it's free to download.



Download "American Alien" for free here

For the DJs, reach out to GhostWridah if you need radio edits for any of the songs. He has clean versions available.

Get connected with GhostWridah:
www.GhostWridah.com
www.YouTube.com/GhostWridah
www.Facebook.com/GhostWridah
www.Twitter.com/_GhostWridah_

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