Album Review: Cellus – “The Drought”

Cellus – “The Drought”
Released: 2011
Reviewed by: Neil Christian
Rating: 4.8 (Out of 10)

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In recent years there has been a resurgence of young dope rappers, secular or otherwise. J. Cole, Wiz Khalifa, Big KRIT, Drake, XV, Skyzoo, Torae and many others have burst upon the scene and paved their own way, solely through good music and hard work. This has begun to impact the CHH scene as well, where nowadays I am hearing more and more new rappers putting out projects and being on their grind then older more experienced rappers. However there is an important area where CHH has not caught up in. The secular new school-errs are making legitimately fresh music that forces the average rap fan to sit up and pay heed. However CHH is severely lacking in fresh, new music. This album reflects that.

The production on this album is quite dated. It’s the same old drum/snare combos, same riding hi-hats and same synths that seem to be present on almost every album I review. I don’t know how this sound has permeated CHH so much. Maybe all these producers use the same Casio due to budget; whatever be the case, it’s boring. It was a real struggle to listen to this album and I wanted to turn it off about 2 songs in.

On the mixing tip, the album sounded very dull, almost like it hadn’t been mixed and mastered. The kicks fell flat and snares weren’t sharp enough. Sometimes the vocals were too soft and so the backing tracks overpowered the vocals at times, so you found yourself missing some words and punch lines as a result of that.

However what eventually redeemed the album was Cellus. He is more than a capable rapper. At 20yrs old, he’s a bit on the young side. However on the microphone, he sounds like a veteran.  Just take Going Off, a military style pulsing beat with epic drums, Cellus respectably flows over the beat, weaving in and out with the drums like a boxer. This deserves respect.

At 10 songs and 2 interludes, it’s a little on the short side, forgoing the production, this album is a good introduction to the rapper Cellus. I can’t help but think that over better production and with some help, Cellus is capable of making a seriously dope album.

Comprehensive Ratings:

1.Music – 4
2. Flow – 6
3. Creativity / Originality – 4
4. Relevancy – 4
5. Content & Character – 4
6. Credibility & Confidence – 6
7. Personality – 5
8. Presentation Quality – 5
9. Overall Production Quality – 6
10. Potential Impact – 4

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