Bursting through with yet more work from what seems like a never ending cache of primed material, Oxnard, CA native and well known L.A. beatsmith Madlib is tapped by a group of brash upstarts to bind his sample heavy and cultivated production with their underground sound to create a highly memorable collabo LP titled “In Search Of Stoney Jackson“…
The combination of Lib’s eccentric and spacey vibes with Phil Da Agony, Krondon and the most elusive member of SAS Mitchy Slick didn’t exactly get people buzzing when word broke of the project months before it was released. Despite the crew’s undeniable work ethic (they’ve dropped at least 14 mixtapes) and one pretty solid debut album in 2007’s “Deep Hearted”, folks seemed to be less than thrilled at the prospect of them getting up with Lib to do something and the album was virtually buzzless compared to other endeavors on Mr. Jackson’s plate.
Now I’ll be the first to admit these three aren’t going to be winning many Hip-Hop quotable awards anytime soon (as if that’s even a viable barometer of being dope anymore) but if you have any knowledge of L.A.’s underground scene circa the 1990’s than you should pick up on why so many other people do check for their music so faithfully, or at least why I do.
The story of the trio’s notability can be traced back to when they were running with Xzibit, who left the group around 2006, but the tale of their success lies very much in the imagery they bring via rhyme and the fact that they’re a loose extension of the glorious subterranean Hip-Hop culture that was so strong in southern Cali back in the day. While far too many of modern day L.A. Hip-Hop artists are still chasing the waning Gangsta Rap riches of the area’s past, SAS strikes a masterful balance between hard line hoo bang braggadocio and a more back packish’ approach making their appeal very broad. That same allure shows up in their pliable lyric’s and Madlib’s sound on “Stoney“, which is a record that damn near is perfectly in-tune in a manic and abstract way. Providing off kilter grooves and cerebral, ruffian lyrics in bulk, SAS has crafted a signature sound that fans can now turn to them for.
The genesis of this record seemed simple enough. Apparently going through the Beat Konducta’s Stones Throw brethren J-Rocc, SAS procured a very healthy batch of instrumentals from which they plucked 16 to rhyme over and 4 to include as heavenly lil’ interludes. The chemistry that would ensue here took me by surprise and dare I say it, was also right up there with some of Lib’s acclaimed collaborations of the past…
“Stoney” takes off from start to finish and the amounts of sophisticated production texture it contains is amazing. You get soulful creation’s like “Cheeba Cheeba” that find Phil Da Agony displaying his trademark “any which way” style gloriously. Immediately afterward you receive the wonderfully titled and almost impeccably health conscious “Pepsi & Chitlins”, where Phil teams with Fresno rhyme legend Planet Asia for some food fodder. Along for the ride the heady guest spots are abound, and that somewhat muddies up the Steady Gang’s overall presence. Honestly, when you have the most brilliant juvenile Hip-Hop has heard in years in Fashawn destroying hooks (“Questions”), Psycho Realm general Sick Jacken damn near outshining every vocal performance on the entire album (“Pressure”), Talib Kweli kicking his familiar socio-analytics (“Get Started”) and Evidence, Oh No & Roc C destroying a posse cut, you begin to maybe understand why Phil and Kron decided to include so many heads this time out. I know that I much more prefer the overload on rappers rather than producers, but you don’t want to do that to so high a degree that you leave fans in the dark on who you are as a group.
With it’s irresistible funk and soul progressions the music Lord Quas provides on “Stoney” is his usual dose of captivating. No complaints on that front whatsoever. When it comes to the rhymes SAS pushed forth however I fear there might be slightly more of a blip. I know I enjoyed their verses, but once again I just think there should have been more of them. Look, It’s high time these bruthas start pondering making an album that’s all their own in terms of vocal contributions. They’re talented enough to stand alone and as a fan that’s what I wanna hear now. It’s so hard to speak against an effort like this, even in a minor way and trust me my qualm is minor. I wholeheartedly feel “Stoney” is a fun album that is so right on time for cats that are yearning for a dope record they can leave in their deck’s for a good 2 weeks, but the whole point of doing an album is to show people who you are musically. The Strong Arm Steady brothers still are being a bit too shy in that area, but garner my heaviest of praise for this release in spite of letting those wonderful pallets of sound known as Madlib beats get slightly too overrun with guest features.
-Dominick “BIG D O” Ledezma
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