Duo Live - The Color Of Money

Album Review by: Quinton Hatfield
Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Duo Live-The Color Of Money

If you are looking for that soulful hip-hop sound a new album is out that will give just that. Hip-hop tag team Duo Live coming from the streets of Brooklyn has been on the hustle for years dating back as far as ’96. After starting their own record label Redemption Music Group, Fre and Sid has moved over 215,000 independent albums which is a grind you have to respect at all cost. Finally getting noticed on a larger level in the music industry after years of hard work Duo Live has made their presence and it is time for many to respect the hustle. The sound of their music is creative, soothing, and amazing giving you that hip-hop music releasing the true essence that you rarely see today. “The Color of Money” is the new album from Duo Live that will please hip-hop fans as the music composes of ill lyrics, dope content, and powerful production.

Duo Live must have the respect from some of the industry’s top artists. The guess features alone speaks for itself so it had to be something in these dues that made these artists want to deal with them in the first place. From Jody Breeze, Angie Stone, Dead Prez, Jimmy Cozier, Talib Kweli and Fabolous are the top-notch features, but while Duo Live had these special guess they still did their part. “Runnin Outta Time” is one record where the two gets down for real. Fre and Sid rhymes poetically over a jazzy sound as they both master the craft of dope Mcing. As you listen to the album it consist of the conscious style, but a switch up on “The Color of Money” comes into play. “Brooklyn Men” the two express the New York swagger and proud of being from the BK. The rhymig abilities on Fre and Sid is on point as the two do not miss a step, great chemistry was their key. The album tones down a little bit spicing up a little R&B featuring Angie Stone. “Summer Stacks” is a good song as it tells on the life in the hood and how the summertime has good and bad times. While the verses are short it still manages to carry a message and Angie Stones voice take it to another level. On the hip-hop underground level “Summer Stacks” is a good mix of hip-hop and R&B that is satisfying.

The lead single from “The Color of Money” that features Fabolous is “Princess”. Diversity is the key to being a successful artist and when you hear Duo Live you get the conscious feel, but “Princess” is something nice for the ladies. The song uplifts women and can make that special someone feel very good. We all know Fabolous does his best for the ladies and the verse he let off was the climax of the song. Talib Kweli makes his appearance on the album doing his thing on “Caught Up”. “Caught Up” is the most ill and relaxed song describing a hustle. The vocals laced on the chorus is remarkable and Fre, Sid, and Talib, showed how raw lyrics can be a major factor in making a dope record which “Caught Up” was. Jimmy Cozier even decided to show Duo Live some love and lends his excellent voice to them on “Money World. The song also features a guess artist by the name of Billionz who is very talented. The subject matter of the song is money, but it’s not the average you usually hear on someone shining. Creativity was the key in this one as Duo Live and Billionz spoke on what they would and will do if they had it as Billionz said in the line “Got fish in the headlights, platinum and diamond grill, no Paul Wall, I bought mine to cook burgers and chill with my dogs”.

Duo Live are hip-hop and from what is heard on “The Color of Money” explains it all. Songs on the album all have some type of subject matter with good lyrical content. Sid and Fre’s chemistry on the album was spectacular along with the collaborations with their guest features. Not once at all did Duo Live seemed to be outshined by the notable artist who worked with them as this is usually the case with many artists on the come-up. Why Duo Lived named the album “The Color of Money” is questionable, but you can say this album was done for the love of hip-hop.

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