11. Real Earth

The duality of life. Represented within the is and isn't, the have and missing, the here and there. A duality that makes it necessary for the evil, so that there is good, dirt for cleanness, and only crap albums make good ones possible. Or better said, you have to endure a number of wack albums to be able to even recognize a good one. Or a great one. A great album that itself builds on its own number of dualities: two emcees, the emcees and the producer, the mind blowing material and the teasing, the pioneered and the pioneering. As the law states, you have to have flaws for things done right. Unless you are able to turn the universe upside down. An album that achieves that is referred to as a classic, an album grown on soil only containing nutrition and no poisoning. Can we adopt these findings to this album in question?

"Come on black equal...equal".

The "Iron Galaxy" is the first battle ground for the Ox: Vordul says "the cannibal ate mics / strive live life, fuck five, I want a hundred and eight mics" and Vast says "you were a still born baby / mother didn't want you, but you were still born / boy meets world, of course his pops is gone / what you figga? / that chalky outline on the ground is a father figure". And El provides the platform with one of his best beats to this point in time. While he does not one that is as cultural ängstlich and mad, as the lyrics, but the melody reflects the hopeful despair, with it still making clear that this cat scratches. This is followed by El going the Little Johnny route on "Ox Out The Cage", and Vast once more drops quotables like other people drop cigarette butts: "and if I exhaled arguments only to hold my breath / I would die and I ain't talking hair color". The spitting is furthered on "Atoms", where CanOx opened the studio doors for the Atoms Family brethren Alaska and Cryptic, who thank them with lines like "I take time, every plate circles complete, love it / I've learned even tardy birds comfortably eat from early birds gets that worm / but the early worm finds a spot in early birds stomach and can't escape from it".

"My first fight was me against five boroughs".

El is handing out another majestic beat for "A B-Boys Alpha". There's just something about these cloud like structures, the sparkling of the piano. Vast in the mean time does a NYC hip hop outlook, him going "I found the passion in aerosol cans and hands clapping / backspins, microphones and cats rapping / linoleum and up rockers, the show shockers / who rip Lee patches off of imposters / you ain't the Real McCoy, you a wind-up toy". "Raspberry Fields" is giving us a chance to check out El's beat more proper, with Vast not only saying a words twice, but part of his verse. This enables us hearing the oriental horns opening, the staggering drum continuing, and the moment when El drops all of that for a short intermission. And when the initial beat returns so does Vordul, who without the intent to change the world, takes his time to make sure we hear of his superiority. It's either the reality of NYC that gives everyone the constant outlook of battling to survive, or these cats are more street than suburban backpackers want them to be. However, "Straight Off The D.I.C." has Vast threaten us "the last cat who tried to see me, he now gotta touch Braille", while Vordul talks about what his eyes touch upon: "now I'm chilling in front of my rest / smoking the rent, watching these cops, popping on blocks / screaming y'all niggas ain't nothing awake / we trying to gain freedom like a tribe in Tibet".

"I'm just another face that's facing all types of like stereotypes and hatred".

El opts for a more electronic sound, with an extra piano though, on "Vein", where Vordul talks about growing up, getting up and going out. His partners big moment comes with "The F-Word", that's a Vast solo cut, if you disregard the Vordul chorus. The topic of friendship is analyzed with Vast telling us "cupid had me running circles blindfolded in the day time with a flashlight looking for her", what is the beginning to the present "told my man I started sword fighting / 'cause fencing was similar to tongue kissing", to the eventual tragic climax of "like what the fuck we know about love? / the more I learn it's like the clash of the titans / all I wanna do is avoid fighting / a little argueing's okay, but not everyday" and "'don't take it personal, I like you a lot but I don't wanna lose what we got' / but what we got now is friction". All of these words are done over a complimentary El beat, that is neutral enough to not lead our impression gained by the words in one or the other direction. The direction we are heading though takes us to more angst portrayed in the Oxes on "Stress Rap". El's sparkling and sprinkling piano is making this sweeter than the matter, still not making it stand out though. There are few guests on here, so they must have something special about them. And C-Rayz Walz and L.I.F.E. Long prove their worthiness on "Battle For Asgard", that ends being four ill cats unleashed and going wild over an science fictions beat.

"This earth is as real as a Chinese fortune cookie in English"

"Real Earth" is resulting in a bat on the back with Vast taking the opportunity to simply flow, while simple might not be the right word. In the mean time, El further elaborates the multi layered tracks, when he is adding a high, not heavy drum, scientific Hammond organ sounds. El then can't be kept behind the board and he appears behind the mic on "Ridiculoid". Next up we get "Painkillers", that sounds like nothing El has ever done before. But it sounds like something that wants you to go 'shoop-shoop, shoop-a-doop'. This happy vibe is combined in total contrast with rhymes talking about the ills. Now at the end of the track, there's a hidden intermission, an instrumental beat that unfortunately enough is arguably the best on the whole album. Gems like that should deserve a foreground position. But obviously El thought different, like we never though to hear him pick up a guitar, but voila, listen to "Pigeon".

"I'm just a pigeon with one mile left / that doggy paddles though this bullshit ocean of death".

The rats of the air are used as the loaded with meaning symbol they represent: "paranoid fingertips stitched with three-fifty and seven metal shit / tucked behind the belt ghetto style like delicate street etiquette / never lacked toast metal cow got milk in the gut settling / cats gotta eat swallow beef horribly melanin mahogany". However, in the world of the Ox: "we pigeons became phoenix with open mind", so said on "Scream Phoenix", a hidden track on the album. And explaining the purpose, Vordul goes "thinking how we gonna master days / with passion, that's why we rap this way". And for this last installment, El once more comes through extraordinarily with combining a blues guitar, a female choir and handclapping.

In the duality that we mentioned before, you gotta have crap albums to be able to get good ones. Then again, it's maybe even more important, that you hear crap ones, to even realize what a good one is. And with us getting an exquisite one with this here, we almost feel sorry for the huge amount of mediocre material we usually endure. And with this pointing out the manure, the world seems purified for an instant, with in this moment the soundtrack to a singular utopian positive manifestation existing in our constructed mental world, that makes this a must have, due to it being the first contender for the album of the year.