MAIN FLOW & 7L - Flow Season - 2006 - Album review

MAIN FLOW & 7L - Flow Season - 2006 - Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: Permission to Speak
SOUNDBITE: If we catch you slipping then you itching to leak/ So don't be talking now unless you got permission to speak/
RATING: 3/5
Back from freaking the backpackers out with Esoteric on A New Dope, 7L returns to more familiar beat-making territory with Cincinnati's Main Flow. The whole sound on this LP is reminiscent of Aim's first LP Cold Water Music and All Natural's second, Second Nature in its use of mid-tempo beats, strings, pianos and general mood. However, while 7L's cuts on this are top quality, his beats are fairly pedestrian, and of a tempo. As far as the rapping goes - Main Flow's - er - flows are mainly about bling and gangsters and inner city life. Possibly he's being ironic - but then again - possibly he's not. It all adds up to 40 minutes of ambience that kind of washes pleasantly over you rather than giving you the sense that you've listened to 14 clearly defined tracks. There is one major exception however. I'm all for ending on a high note but for reasons best known to themselves these guys leave Permission to Speak to be the fifteenth track. This is a classic track and features Main Flow rhyming about keeping your mouth shut unless you know what the fuck you're talking about. Sage advice that should be followed by a quite a few more people in this world. Despite the bizarre key-change change at the start of the song it is the best track on the LP by miles. If the euphoric piano loop on this doesn't make you feel better about your hangover, your life and world peace then there is no pleasing you.
Listen to Main Flow & 7L Flow Season