Tag: Ed O.G.

Ed O.G. – “AudiO EDibles” review

Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts veteran Ed O.G. joining forces with Los Angeles beatsmith Tone Spliff for his 5th EP. Signing to Mercury Records as the leader of Ed O.G. & Da Bulldogs, they would go on to put out 2 albums together before disbanding & Ed himself eventually established himself as a solo artist put out 4 EPs & 10 full-length LPs of his own. My favorites include his 3rd album My Own Worst Enemy produced by Pete Rock & his 6th album After All These Years. However, learning that Tone was hopping behind the boards for AudiO EDibles raised expectations in being Ed’s best EP.

After the titular intro, the first song “Catch Up” gets us started on some ominous boom bap shit talking about building this empire whereas “Act of God” works in these orchestral elements on top of kicks & snares asking who else do you know can pull off a feat like this. “Another Broken Heart” flips a soul sample advising listeners not to be fools & let them break your heart while the piano-driven “Hard 2 Get” talks about a woman that’s difficult to bag. “Achieve” keeps it boom bap explaining that a closed mind can’t be opened leading into the luxurious “Someday” calling to cease gun violence, but then “Move Mountains” serves as a dusty closer looking to do exactly that soon as he enters the zone.

That self-titled collaborative effort Ed O.G. did with Insight from a few years ago affirmed to me that both of them still very much haven’t lost a step & since then had been hoping for a solo effort from him that I would enjoy as much. AudiO EDibles, I can say gets the job done. Tone Spliff’s gives Ed some of the best production that he’s had in a while grounded in the traditional boom bap sound & the lyrics from the Roxbury emcee provides thought-provoking themes throughout.

Score: 4/5

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Ed O.G. & Insight – Self-Titled review

This is a brand new collaborative album between Boston veterans Ed O.G. & Insight. Both emcees have collaborated before on songs like “Strategy” off the latter’s 2004 classic The Blast Radius but all these years later, they’ve decided to come together for an eponymous full-length outing.

“Just Listen” is a plain & simple opener to the album with it’s flute-inflicted boom bap production as the whole thing starts off with the duo telling Siri they wants something classic, but not trendy just before telling listeners to remember who they are on the dreamy albeit punchy “It’s Edo & Insight”.

With the perfectly titled “Never Too Late to Correct Your Mistakes”, we get some grand string sections with lyrics about righting your wrongs whereas “Choose Your Path” provides food for thought over a luxurious instrumental.

Meanwhile on “Good in Goodbye”, we go into a somewhat funkier direction as the 2 talk about breakups leading up to them telling the listener that life isn’t about choices but how one chooses on the piano-heavy “1 Step at a Time”.

The pair bring in some sirens for “Ceiling” as they talk about not even reaching their pinnacle yet & then we get a remake of my all-time favorite Big Daddy Kane song: “Set It Off”.

The penultimate track “It Takes Process” sonically mixes together some keys & strings as they talk about how Rome wasn’t built in a day & to finish it off, we get a reimagining of the Ed O.G. & Da Bulldogs joint “I Gotta Have It” with the closer “Unite & Let’s All Get Down.”

As a fan of both these guys, I’m really glad to hear them come together because this is a super solid album in my book. The chemistry is great & I love the jazzy undertones in the production as well. If they plan on doing more together down the road, then I’m here for it.

Score: 4/5