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9th Wonder & Buckshot - The FormulaAlbum Review by:
Mike Ivey Jr.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
 Preview/Download MP3 “Formula” has become a buzz word for “underground backpackers;” it denotes cookie-cutter ideas, pushed by the mainstream, designed to hook listeners - the same old new stuff. Buckshot and super-producer 9th Wonders’ second joint album, ‘The Formula,’ is anything but recycled blueprints. It shines on an often dark hip hop landscape.
We learn early that it’s a “Brand New Day;” Bucks’ “label is signing” and he vents “nothing less than the best” over 9th’s pulsating bass and beckoning horns. Buckshot songs about relationships and love may seem unexpected but 9th Wonders’ sentimental, R&B affects funnel Bucks’ groove that way. Uppity ladies catch harsh lessons throughout ‘The Formula;’ “Be Cool” is the impressive mesh of a bluesy sample and nice R&B vocals by Swan. She even overdubs well as Buck laments, ‘you only come around when I’m chiefing boo/ and every other weekend we beefing boo.’ “Just Display” and “Throwin Shade,” though similar in content, achieve two unique vibes; the latter applies spurts of vocal bellows and horns for a happy, snare heavy feel; lyrics about jealous gun fire never sounded so gleeful. “Just Display” is a much darker, stringy impulse; Buck relays a lesson about bitter women who cling to the material to mask scars. Buck lays bare his own anguish in “Only For You (Lou),” a soul-hearty RIP shout out to his fallen friend Lou.
The beat to “Here We Go” blends the musical vibrancy of “Throwin Shade” as Bucks’ flow imitates the sober tones of “Just Display.” And, like “Just Display,” the story involves slowing down the microwave pace of our world by walking. ‘The Formula’ packs rich sonic weight despite its’ lean track-list. “Man Listen,” the album finale, picks up right where “Ready (Brand New Day)” leaves off, rejoicing over Buck and Duck Downs’ creative business triumphs; 9th Wonder sums up another opus with more choppy soul singing over sweet strings and quaking percussion. It’s no wonder Buck went from “beef to showing teeth”- he works with an ace producer, handles a roster of emcees he respects and loves, and Duck Down has lately signed acts from Kidz In The Hall to KRS-ONE. Life sounds good when you’re not afraid to apply your ‘…Formula.’
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