The Bar

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1. J and J
2. Up All Night
3. Half A’ Knot
4. Mama Told Me
5. Gusto Room
6. Wow!
7. Only Way
8. In the Building
9. Bout It, Bout It
10. Spell Check
11. Long Time Gone
12. Still Up All Night
13. Perfect Picture
14. Anything Is Possible
15. Oath

Official Bar Score: 

A year removed from his unbelievable debut with DJ Exile “Below the Heavens”, Los Angeles MC Blu teams up with producer Mainframe for the oddly named Johnson & Jonson. Originally conceived as a mixtape called “Powders and Oils”, the album was leaked way early in the year, and ended up being so good and caught such a buzz that it was reworked into a full length album, and fucked around and became one of the best hip hop albums of the 21st century.

It would be easy to clown and disregard the album as stupid due to the name, but to do that is to improperly judge a book by it’s cover. For one, there is an explanation behind the name (Blu’s name is John, Mainframe’s Josh, hence the missing “H”), and also, Blu is the rare rapper to actually possess a sense of humor these days. He also doesn’t give a fuck if you think the name is goofy, because once the CD starts all of that nonsense is forgotten as Blu systematically stakes his claim as one of the greatest rappers alive.

The CD starts off with “J and J”, where Blu starts things off with a bang, setting the tone for the album and hitting you with more effective punchlines than most emcees offer their entire career. Mainframe also lets you know what you are going to be getting from him, with a bass heavy, obscure 70’s soul sample driven beat that gives you an idea what the sound is going to be throughout the album.

The album seems to get progressively better until you hit “The Gusto Room”, which while not terrible, almost seems annoying in comparison to the straight fire that you get until that point. I appreciated the Vegas thing they were going for, but it almost seemed as if the song was made as an excuse to use the sample. Things heat right back up though with nary a misstep throughout the rest of the album. The only thing that sucks about it is having to decide what tracks you like the best. “Bout It, Bout It” used to invoke memories of Master P and the countless hours spent as a teenager trying to front like I was hard. Before Blu’s version, I would have told you that nothing would change that, but now… I’m not so sure. “Only Way” is one of the more clever uses of a sample I have ever heard, with Mainframe crafting an masterpiece of a beat and interpolating a female vocal sample singing questions, that Blu answers in a masterful, yet effortless way. Other standout tracks include “Half a Knot”, the autobiographical “Mama Always Told Me”, and the laid back introspective “Long Time Gone”.

Say what you want about the name of this project, this shit is without a doubt the best hip hop release of the year. Period. Blu continues to just get better and better, and with the Johnson & Jonson self-titled, he proves that he will be around for a while. Great album.

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