AZ, A*W*O*L (2005)

A*W*O*L is quite literally AZ's best record yet. Going into this one I knew of the mark of consistency set by the usually rock solid Brooklyn artists, yet I didn't expect this exceptional feat. His cadence has apparently been perfected, the flow is impervious, and his lyrics are like Junior's cheesecake, that good. This is an instant classic, marketh the words of Hip-Hop Reviewed! It's not a perfect 10 out of 10 simply because a couple tracks didn't send the chills down my spine like EVERY song on a perfect 10 album is supposed to. Still, it's not easy to be called a classic two days after being released.

So Sincere is reminiscent of New Life off of Pieces of a Man where A spits a short, succinct suicidal verse where he puts his whole style on the line to a sweet track and leaves you utterly convinced. On it Mr. Cruz recites "You know my persona/ let me kindly remind you, the Gucci, Gabbana/ the Louis the 'Lo, Evisu designers/ how I post up, poli amongst piranhas/ I'm the urban version of that turban wearing Osama/ last of a genre, it's nothing to mash you minors/ y'all trash, I leave half y'all niggas in trauma/ so I laugh 'cause I rather climb in vagina, splash a few grands on some hot sand in a sauna/ usually ponder when I puff my little ganja, somber/ feeling like Don Cheadle in Hotel Rwanda/ you know karma increase when you see shit, drama is deep but you sleep when you feel His peace upon ya!/ keep the armor, I formally greet as a charmer, but beneath is more to mystique, I'm a monster!/ came to conquer, no games I came to regain my honor, no lames it's insane what the brain could conjure/ why launder when I could outsell La Bamba, fishscale tell Mel he'll be out of jail by Kwanzaa/ from Tompkins to Gowanus to the hills in Brownsville I sponsor/ it's nothing to cock back the black p-80 launcher/ any hate could haunt ya, I'm straight from the LI, Gates in Yonkers, down to the southern states to the Great Lakes in Tonka/ young majestic, the beams from the sun reflected/ long before Bush Sr. son was elected/ eclectic, well respected like brother Umbeh from Duveh but hey/ what you expected, perfected/ connected so exit or have it all in here, we could war when? where?/ nigga I'm so sincere!"

Never Change is an amazing track with A spitting about dudes he knew and how they look now all grown. There's a real simple beat in the background with an unnamed sample with some woman hollering her lungs out. New York is a track with some monsters over another simple, yet bass focused beat. It features the Wu-Twins, none other than Raekwon and Ghostface Killah going to town. Very enjoyable. Can't Stop got AZ slowing it down saying "fat bitches get yapped for their Cheet-ohs." That was worth the price of admission by itself. The Fizzy Womack produced AZ's Chillin is real loud with what sounds like AZ freestyling. Not bad, but not great.

Street Life featuring Half-A-Mill & Begets is up there with the best in AZ's catalog behind Illmatic's Life's a Bitch and It Was Written's Affirmative Action. On it you could listen to Half (Rest In Peace) recite "Now the twin towers done blew up, niggas seen the footage and threw up/ I got platinum bullets for y'all to chew up, Mill-Laden, the dogs done grew up/ is it still Manhattan? I speak street slang, Arab and Latin/ my guns speak rata-tatin, understand my lingo/ I'm from Albany, Afghanistan, fuck Chris Cringle/ and Christopher Columbus, I shoot SCUD missles through his Kangol/ and spray Z gas on your faggot ass/ Allah U Akbar, make 767s crash/ smack Jesus Christ and smoke a half a pound of hash/ I keep a half a pound of cash, I thought I told you cats I'm not a rapper/ rock a "G" on my chest it stands for God, fuck Dan, I'm dapper/ Prada from head to toe, dollars, cherries and the Mo/ you fake ass pimps, get my chips or I'm burying you and your hoes/ I plant plutonium bombs at your each and every show/ so every artist you sign is guaranteed to blow/ I'm guaranteed to flow, puffing that magic weed/ knowledge of self, nigga, that's what you need/ so fuck you and them crabs that you feed, tell 'em to holla at me." All this over the theme to The Incredible Hulk.

The DJ Premier produced The Come Up is a basic knocker. Envious has that dirty dancehall feel to it, with Bounty Killer chanting half reckless. A.W.O.L., the album's title track, is as real as they come on here... basically an extended version of So Sincere with different lyrics and a different beat. The bonus tracks are off of AZ's unreleased Final Call album and includes Live Wire which isn't too impressive but Magic Hour featuring CL Smooth is special. CL blesses AZ with one of the smoothest verses I've heard in a while, effortless. The Truth is real too with one of A's Quiet Money crew members talking a bunch of greasiness in between verses which makes for a real head nodding effect.

Rating: One notch before perfection. Personally, I don't give half points, but if I did this deserves it. 9 of 10.

Buy or Copy: If you buy the bootleg to this you should never be allowed to vote, you're a liability to society.