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Bishop Lamont & Black Milk - Caltroit (Mixed By DJ Warrior)Album Review by:
William E. Ketchum III
Sunday, December 2, 2007
 More often than not, dream collaboration albums end up being urban legends. With popular artists usually being too busy to lock down an entire side project, and record labels get into disputes under whose name to tack on the project, making these discs’ impending buzz amount to infinite “Coming Soon” subtitles. Plus, when said albums actually do hit the streets, expectations often exceed the final product. Luckily, fledgling stars Black Milk and Bishop Lamont were able to cut through the bullshit with Caltroit. Producer/MC Black Milk has seen a breakout year in 2007 with the critical success of his album Popular Demand and beat placements for the likes of Pharaohe Monch and Lloyd Banks, while Aftermath signee Bishop Lamont has kept a steady buzz with mixtapes preceding his debut LP. Here, the two further justify their positions as rising stars in the genre.
Serving as an ode to their respective stomping grounds of California and Detroit, Caltroit flows with a surprising chemistry between Lamont and Black. Selections like the title track and “Inconvenient Truth” feature Black Milk meshing cornerstones of each area’s trademark sounds—the pounding keys and stabbing synths of the West Coast, and the off-kilter bounce of the Motor City—to serve as a fitting backdrop for the two to drop their lyrical wizardry. Other tracks, like the melancholy “Bad Girl” and the club-ready “Mouth Music,” defy coasts altogether with their universal grooves. An outstanding guest list works to their advantage as well, with collaborations from superior wordsmiths like Royce Da 5’9” and Rass Kass (“Go Hard”) working together so well that one wonders how they didn’t collaborate more in the first place.
Still, each area is shines individually as well, making the disc serve as highlights to their respective hip-hop scenes. “Goatit” is Detroit’s premier showcase, seeing Bishop Lamont tacking on to the contrast between the brass, no frills style of Phat Kat and the complex rhyme schemes of Slum Village’s Elzhi. “4 All My Niggaz,” on the other hand, does the same for California, with West Coast all-stars Planet Asia, Mista F.A.B. and Ya Boy flexing lyrical calisthenics over a laid-back groove. Appearances by T3 (of Slum Village), Glasses Malone, 40 Glocc and iLLa-J (younger brother of deceased Detroit superproducer J Dilla) also satisfy.
Even the tracks and cameos that don’t deftly fit the Caltroit theme (Kardinall Offishall, Ms. Jade, Busta Rhymes) end up being so dope that it doesn’t matter. Sparse on filler and plentiful with great lyrics, production and vision, Caltroit lives up to the hype.
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