The Hieroglyphics---The Kitchen

The Hieroglyphics-The Kitchen-Hiero Imperium-(2013)

Artist: The Hieroglyphics

Album: The Kitchen

Label: Hiero Imperium

Producers: Gully Duckets, Opio, A-Plus, Del tha Funky Homosapien, Phesto D, others

Straight outta Oakland is the super group The Hieroglyphics already made a strong presence in the game. Twenty plus years into the game and produced gems from Del Tha Funky Homosapien, the four man crew Souls of Mischief with their hip hop classic album 93 til Infinity, Causal, Pep Love and manager/producer Domino. One classic hit after another place this group as one of the most influential super groups in hip hop history. With their classic album “3^rd Eye Vision” and their second opus “Full Circle” they are cooking up recipe tracks with their third album “The Kitchen” with added flavor cooked up by the Sleeprockers.

             As people well know, you can mix up any members of the group; musical cohesion is perfectly top notch under their belt. The beats are provided very well on this project. Their controversial single produced by Brooklyn’s Gully Duckets “Gun Fever” has the head nodding knocking drums with the added DJ scratches as Pep Love, Tajai, Casual, A-Plus and Del bodied this track on gun rights for Americans. The album starts off with the Del produced “Livin it Up” that has a cool marching beat to it with added DJ scratches by the Sleeprockers as Del, Opio, Tajai, Pep Love and A-Plus owned this track making this album good to listen to. Throughout the whole album, the beats are current consisting of samples and also original beats with synths, hard beat patterns, snares and funky guitar loops. Opio clearly puts that to the test on his production skills.  Tracks like “Indonesia” and “wshores Galore” with the piano keys infused beat while one of the favorites “Highway Five” has that nice west coast feel to it with the added scratches and “As All Above So Below” has a cool innovative xylophone beat as Opio, Causal and Pep Love bodied this track with an added flavor of the scratches from the Beastie Boys; it has an old school feel with a contemporary current twist to it.

            It’s apparent that his album is well put together; it’s more consistent than Full Circle as their lyrical content is superior to many artists. What’s impressive about it is they can rock the microphone no matter who they pair up with and they can also go solo. The Pep Love solo joint “That Merch” produced by Unjust has that cool funky drum pattern which Pep ate this track up placing him as one of the most underrated emcees in the west. There were a few joints that were fillers but nothing bad to distract or deter the consistency of the album. Many songs supersede a few joints that are dope. The A-Plus produced “Immortals” has that original vibe in which A-Plus is one of the most underrated producer that can outshine many producers in the game. The album ends well with the Stephen King produced “Passing Fads” with a funky sample, simple beat pattern that fits perfectly and muffled guitar strings as Phesto, Tajai and Pep Love bodied this track on how fads come and go while Hieroglyphics put in work.

            Just like the last track “Passin Fads” stated, they really put in work: 20 plus years of it and they still sound fresh. They sound fresher than other groups out there that come and go. Hieroglyphics is a blueprint group that many upcoming groups should follow especially on consistency and group cohesion. The Sleeprockers did a phenomenal job with the assisted DJ scratches while Opio on the boards one fifth of the project. Hieroglyphics has never fallen off lyrically as they flow like water with each member brings charisma and their own lyrical identity to the table. This album is a 2013 gem but they will be cooking up more dope hip hop songs straight outta OAKLAND!

            Strong Tracks: “Gun Fever”, “Livin it Up”, “Passin Fads”, “Highway Five” “All As Above So Below”, “That Merch”, "Immortals", "Passin Fads"

            Rating:out of