RETURN OF THE TRENDSETTER - Samples & reviews

[Sperber]

The new DOWN LOW album is here!!!



Tracklist:
01. Intro
02. The Message
03. Picture This
04. Empty
05. Africa
06. Good Times
07. Rainy Days
08. Every Day (MMMM)
09. The Moldau
10. Start The Riot
11. Living In The Ghetto
12. How Could I Let You Go
13. Kelly
14. You Dont Know
15. The Final To The World
16. Outro

Tracklisting (those who reply to this thread can listen to 6 samples + the full intro with the T-Music voices from the brand new album!) :

[B_Bee]

Yeah nice to see that you have the album!
Please did you heard my voice???in french???

[Tumbo]

Oooh...sounds promissing
Can't wait to get my copy!

[llg]

I am feeling the reviews of the album. Hope it lives up to expectations. Just hope there is just not much of the new style there and more of the old.

[Tumbo]

Aight.
Here comes my review.

1. Intro
Hehe, the first words of the whole album are mine... Very quiet though...but at least I got there... hehe. Very cool of Joe to go thru what he had promised. The intro is really cool, but the only thing is that some of the voices you hardly hear.

2. The Message 9/10
Well, I don't like this version as much as I like the version I got from Joe some months ago. The other one is a little faster and the beat is better. But I gotta say that Joe really kills the raps here.

3. Picture This 10/10
Whoa. Here comes one of my big favos on the album. I love everything about it. This really has the autumn-sit-at-home-alone-and-listen-to-music feeling. I love the beat, love the chorus, and I really love the "nonchalant"-rapping from Joe :muz :muz

4. Empty 7/10
Well, you see, if you take "The 4th Level" as example, where Mike really got thru his voice more on that album, you really felt that Down Low are BOTH Joe and Mike. Here, in this typical "La Mazz" song, I don't think he steps forward as much as Mike did. It's a vey nice song, but somehow I lack the "stength" in Ricks voice. More "Sorry" or "Wouldn't it be good" please!!

5. Africa 10/10
Ahhhh.... Wooohoooo! Now this is freakin gooooood music! :heyyou :muz
This reminds much of the Flip Da Scrip version, which is one of my favorite Africa versions. I dig Joes rap here so freakin much! Joe, you really did a banger here. Especially the 2nd verse "Sitting in a Villa on the coast of Spain, cause I have been changed, Down Low's the name..."... Holy moly...this is exactly what makes my head go :sup :muz
At first I thought the chorus was a little weird, but after some lsitenings I got used to it and now I love it. This is DEFENITELY worth a release with a PHAT video! This could bring Down Low back to the charts...FO SHO!!!

6. Good Times 8/10
Yooo....back to the 80's...
Joe kills the raps in here. A really cool Disco song. Something that would defenitely got my ass to shake on the dancefloor

7. Rainy Days 10/10
The first 10 seconds is enough for me to give this song a 10. This is like the "Wouldn't It Be Good" of the last album. This for sure is REAL eurorap. This is the old good 1997-1999 sound, in a 2006 mixture. This is also a potential single release, that will make a 12 and a 60 year old mime or sing to it. Here is where I really like Rick's voice a lot. Cause it's a little stronger then in the other songs. And the piano....
Thank you guys for doing a REAL EURORAP song!

8. Every Day (MMMM) 9/10
You all know this one..and for sho the video to

9. The Moldou 10/10
Boooooyah! This chorus has got to be tha phattest on the album. It really make me wanna get my ass up, put a freaking helmet on, and go and fight...haha!
Joe, where did that come from!?
We can call it the "modern Potion". This one will defenitely spin in my stereo when I'm pissed on somebody, and this will give me a mood
"I never die, I will always come back....Cause I always blaze a track!"

10. Start The Riot 8/10
We all know this one too

11. Living In The Ghetto 9/10
As we all talked about this song so much. Still a banger

12. How Could I Let You Go 9/10
One of thos Hithouse-samples that I listened to most. This is the song on the album where I like La Mazz voice most. Here he is a little more in the center. Joes raps are as usual great.

13. Kelly 10/10 !!!!
Ladies and gents. THIS is my album favorite!!!! I digged this song fo sho from the first listen! What a freakin beat! And I love La Mazz voice on this one, and of course Joes rappin. This one makes my head go :sup :muz in a really mysterious way. This is also a "this time of the year" - song. If this is the NEW DOWN LOW sound, then I'm all behind it!!

14. You Don't Know 8/10
Hmm...I love the raps Joe does here to that beat, but the chorus is a little werid in my opinikn. But hey, it makes your head go :muz

15. The Final To The World 9/10
Now this is the way I would love to have my own "Start The Riot" version! I love this mysterious sounds in this, and just love everything about it. Here is where the intro to the song really fits this, and doesn't get to boring! Great last song.

16. Outro
A good, as always, outro on a DL album!


So, all in all, this really was worth waiting for! It's defenitely a worth-buying album for all the DOWN LOW fans. How it stands against the 4 previous albums, we will know in a couple of months when we had been listening to this one for a while. I am rally happy, cause this is the 2nd eurorap album in 5 years (Nana's "All doors in flight no.7" in 2004). And this is god damn worth waiting for. As I said in one of the songs, Down Low nowadays feels really more like JOE, with La Mazz as back up. Before it was Joe + Mike, but I don't feel that Rick has stepped forward here as much as he did on the RAR tracks. If he would use more power in his voice, I would like it much much more. Just listen to the voice mix of "I want to know what love is" and you'll see what I mean. This album feels more like "Joes fight to come back", and he really prooves that he still is in the game. "The Moldou" is like the album national anthem.
For future single releases, the ones that can get DL back to the charts, I am hoping on "Kelly", "Africa" and "Rainy Days". These are the ones that have got potential. The ones that will not only be bought by the Down Low fans, but also people outside. But hey, "The Moldou" has got big potential too, but I feel like that one should be released after one of the 3 mentioned.

I will soon come back with the album covers-comments, cause I haven't got my copy yet. I only got the songs, but probably tomorrow my copy will arrive, and I can't wait to read the inlays!

[D-e-f-]

Intro:
very nice. it starts like the intro to everyday and evolves into this huge orchestra arrangement with some dirty drums in the background. the voices we all submitted are included nicely.

The Message:
yeeaa they did what I was hoping they'd do. They tweaked the groove and the kicks and substituted the snare sound with a nice clap. The song sounds "fuller" now. I love how they squeezed in this "more bounce to the ounce" sample by Zapp & Roger Troutman alongside the Grandmaster Flash sample in the foreground. Joe's raps dominate the song, it's all about party and emceeing in this song. Nice chorus by Rick!

Picture This:
yooo awesome beat! sounds really fresh. unlike anything you hear on the radio these days but clubby. rick kicks off with the chorus but he uses his "soft" voice again. Joe is saying some "pick up" rhymes how he'd talk to a girl he sees in a club. But the special thing here is Joe's delivery! I've never heard him laid back like that and I love it! one word: FRESH!

Empty:
I haven't listened to these old samples for a looooong time so I didn't rember this song actually. This is one of the songs that is very much like the R&B material on "The 4th Level" which I didn't enjoy that much.

Africa:
Wow. I'm surprised how they made this song sound very different to all these Africa-cover version that have been done before. The only confusing thing here is the raps don't really make sense considering the chorus. But if you think metaphorically this is a love song dedicated to music. Nice to seem Down Low with Scream Factory again! They really enhance the chorus!

Good Times:
This one samples the Chic song "Good Times". I really like the funky sound. Good Times is an ode to the oldschool when hiphop was fun. Very refreshing and oldschool-ish both at the same time!

Rainy Days:
Let's start with the good part: I like the drums, I like the raps ... and then there was the rest: I dislike the chorus, I dislike the "wobble-scratch", I dislike the cornyness of the song. For me, this is absolutely the weakest song on the album. It doesn't even sound harmonic to me

Every Day (MMMM):
Sounds even better in the context of the album! Great message, awesome chorus (which turned into one of the catchiest euro-rap choruses). The sample is still used very nicely. Great ;-)

The Moldau:
I don't get the title except for the fact that they sampled "The Moldau". But DAMN do I not care about the title when the song is so great haha! The drums are hardcore and really fast and Joe is emceeing all over the place but slowly (which makes it very un-bone-thuggish cause they usually flow a lot faster). I'LL NEVER DIE ... DIE ... DIE ..die ... die ... DA BOMB! Rick doesn't appear in this song.

Start The Riot:
Wake Up World!!! Wake up and LOVE this awesome track! I still cannot say enough good things about this awesome song! Great concept, great interlude, great transition into its hardcore beat and even better rap performance! But I gotta say I prefer the radio version which has a different vocal mixing with more reverb. The album version has the drums and guitars sound a little harder though which combined with the reverb would rock even more! WHAT YOU NEED TO DO IS PRESS REPEAT AND RESUME!

Living In The Ghetto:
This song has beard that could even take on santa clause's by now ;-) But that doesn't make it back! In fact it's nice they even included it on the album cause Joe does some great emceeing on there. The song even gave birth to the album title "Return of the Trendsetter" three years ago. Lovely outro with this oldschool g-funkish lead-synth and the scratches ...aww yea. The only thing that still buggs me is the content of the chorus. I tried to figure out a connection but never got it a 100%. Part of it makes sense metaphorically but the other par really doesn't to me at least ...

How Could I Let You Go:
Another one for the R&B lovers who enjoed "The 4th Level" but this time I like it a lot better. I like the synth bass melody in the background and the breaks. Nice, smoothe song to cool off after the last three hardcore songs ;-) The song would've been better if La Mazz had used his rougher voice which he showcases in ...

Kelly:
IT'S TOO LATE TO SAY I'M SORRY, KELLY COULD WE GET TOGETHER AGAIN?! ... a-w-e-s-o-m-e !!! That's the song rick sang at the soundcheck in Idar Oberstein! Rick's is not "pitched" as Sperber said. It has a little vocoder-like effect on it but it doesn't take anything away from it's greatness!
The Song itself tells the story of Kelly, a girl who wants to be a star in the entertainment business and gets screwed and loses her self-esteem and ends up eventually having aids ... very deep stuff over a very very great piece of music ..kinda rough actually but very fitting!
This would be my pick for the next single actually! My ABSOLUTE favourite song on the album!

You Don't Know:
No, sperber, this is not the "beat" of 2pac's California Love, it's only SIMILAR to the piano melody sampled in Cali Love (which has its origin in Joe Cocker's "Woman To Woman"). It reminds me even more of the piano used in C-Block's"Summertime".
The song itself is about Down Low as a group standing strong in this business and getting respect from inside the biz and the streets, too. I personally love Rick's chorus a lot ... much like the old blues songs-scheme "call and response" ... GREAT!

The Final To The World (Start The Riot Remix):
As I included in the title of the song this one is pretty much "just" a remix of Start The Riot. Joe raps the same rhymes and the strings and ricks guitar sounding vocals have been included here alongside some nice dark epiano chords and dirty nineties-NY-drums.
I love it. It really reminds me a lot of the Visions album and its gritty sound. All the people that disliked Start The Riot for the e-guitars and stuff should like this version a lot more even though it doesn't have a chorus just Joe saying "World .... Wake Up, World ...Wake Up ... I Got Somethin That I Wanna Say" ... melancholy, dark, chill out atmosphere ... great way to end the album!

Outro:
It's a longer version of the orchestra-part. Where The 4th Level's Intro and Outro were very relaxed and sounded like some world music on a discovery channel this is more like a dark big-sounding way to say "we're BACK"

AWESOME album. They accomplished the goal to gain a new, fresh sound and stay true to their old style very well. The album has only one weak song and the rest is pure greatness!

GO OUT AND BUY IT!

SUPPORT THE REAL! DOWN LOW IS BACK!

[B_Bee]

Is it possible to have the intro for hear??
I'm waiting the album too,my friend in german wait album at store!
he will buy 5 copy!!

[Tumbo]

[Tumbo]

Okay People.
The T-Music special.
If you answer to this thread, you get to listen to 6 samples + the full intro with the T-Music voice, of the brand new Down Low album. The best songs included!

[pod_som]

Can't wait to get my copy!

[H star 2]

Well , i'm so thrilled after i read Tumbo's comments ..

[ENDRJU mc EJ DI]

Yo now i wait on my own album:)
What I can say about this samples...very very Good stuf
My the best..."The Moldau"..Joe Hard Rad i love this

[kaczy]

!!!!!!!yes yes yes, down low.

i dont know how u do it T but U gotta be in some mafia to get all these people here:)

[B_Bee]

Oh nice intro!
I hear my voice! yeahhh
i really like the instrumental of the intro it make you exited & plus you hear some voice from diferent country!

Its a international Album

[Sledge]

Wow, thats awsome !!!
I waited for this for so long and finaly it's here. I will order my copy now.

Great Great Great !!!! :sup :sup :sup


But what about Joe ? Is he going to be back here at the forum again ?

[sascha]

Mine isn t send until yet - grrrr . So nice you all like it so much ...

[pitiviperx]

this is good news, cant wait to get it

[Tumbo]

[Ethos]

Finally!!!! im so happy to hear the this news.....Iam sure its gonna be a great album.. no doubt.

[specialman]

waw Down Low .. can,t wait to get the copy !! thank u so much T-Music !!