Aceyalone
Leanin' On Slick
Decon
Producer: BIONIK
Score: 8 out of 10
Rapper Aceyalone is on his 9th album for Decon, and he’s come along way while going back. He comes from a Thursday night open-mic night (Project Blowed), the continuation of the MECCA of Los Angeles underground hip-hop, The Good Life. This scene gave us Jurassic 5, Busdriver, and Aceyalone’s own supergroup, Freestyle Fellowship. Acey remembers those days as with “I’m gonna take y’all back to how we used to do it at Leimert Park, at the Project Blowed.” In a hip-hop landscape where plastic, synthetic soul, gets all the airplay, Acey, his producer Bionic, and his special guest Cee Lo are bringing it back to James Brown’s funk, Ray Charles’s R&B, Curtis Mayfield’s ‘70s soul, and Kool Moe Dee’s ‘80s confidence. – Daniel Siwek
