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Soul Position - Things Go Better With RJ & AlAlbum Review by:
Keiyon Ramsey
Friday, April 14, 2006
 For Hip-Hop fans that long for their rap music plain and to the point, with raw, easily digested raps over plain beats, no sing-a-long catchy hooks, no big name guest appearances, and nothing that would get play in the clubs, Soul Position's new album "Things Go Better with RJ and Al" will satisfy that need. For those new to the group, they hail from Ohio and consist of rapper Blueprint, and producer RJD2. "Things Go Better with RJ and Al" is the follow up to their last album "8 Million Stories."
Soul Position sets the album off with the track "No Gimmicks," letting the listener know what not to expect from their album. Over a hard driving beat (One of the albums best tracks),Blueprint spits "No MTV cribs/ No crib at all, no out of shape fat boys telling you how to ball," but like many rappers who criticize other artist success, Blueprint fails to name names. Soul Position dedicates more than half of their album speaking about what they don’t like in the rap industry, which gets pretty irritating after a few songs.
Production wise RJD2's beats don't measure up to the sonic backdrops of raps premiere producers (Kanye West, Dr. Dre, Just Blaze, etc.) The beats lack emotion, which is evident on the boring, sleep inducing "Keys," and "Keep it Hot for Daddy." Most of the beats are just sampled loops with a constant never changing drum line. Unfortunately RJD2's best beats, "Things Go Better" and "No Gimmicks" are dismantled by Blueprint's disgruntled rapper lyrics, and horrible hooks.
Blueprint, as a rapper has a commanding voice, but his flow is very basic and never changes. He just rhymes words together at the end of every other bar. Boring concepts about using up cell phone minutes, “I Need My Minutes” are only made worse with hooks like, "I need my minutes, I need my minutes, back up off my minutes." It’s as if Blueprint is hitting the listener over the head with his mad rapper preaching style, no punch lines or memorable lines needed.
After listening to the album it’s evident that Soul Position could care less about making music for entertainment value. Definitely a must buy for those who liked their last album, or those who hate the current songs getting played on the radio in rotation, or at your favorite night club, Soul Position's album "Things Go Better With RJ and AL" provides a great alternative to sleeping pills.
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