Posted on 08/24/2005

 

Blood of Abraham (comprised of lyricists Benyad and Mazik) broke into hip hop in the early 90s under the tutelage of Eazy-E and his Ruthless Records. After his death in 1995, the group lost its way. Each member pursued other opportunities (Benyad has directed videos for Nas, TI, Young Gunz and others) until reuniting to create Eyedollartree. While the duo was never entirely Hall & Oates-reliant on one another, signs of their extended hiatus are painfully evident. Gimmicky samples and mediocre rhymes hamper the project from the start. Thanks to the sonic schism between East and West Coast production values and lyrical styles, it's now ridiculously easy to identify where much of today's hip hop originates. Often, you can determine where a song was conceived within the first minute. Try it sometime. While there are numerous exceptions to this overly broad brand of categorization, there's always some truth in stereotypes. Blood of Abraham make this pseudo-parlor game relatively painless with Eyedollartree, their second effort. Don't tell Jurassic 5 I said this, but sometimes West Coast music can just be too West Coast.

One strange thing I noticed about this album is the artists' tendency to reference weird Cali hippie language throughout the effort. References to the galaxy, transcendentalism and Carl Sagan appear on several tracks. When the album ends, a reassuring white guy thanks you for listening to Blood of Abraham's "self-help holistic metaphysical music." Don't forget to put in the crystals.

The beach party starts to get to you after awhile. "Calling All Citizens" features the MCs attempting to break down social caveats over a frenetic syncopated Diet Coke commercial beat. The only thing I distinctly remember them saying here is "silicone titties ain't nothing real", which is about as insightful as saying you've thought about tossing it into Scarlett Johannsen. BEP's Will I Am contributes a mediocre verse on "99 Cent Lighter". The guitar riff on "Hurricane" sounds like the Hanes underwear theme song if it was performed by Crazytown.

Eyedollartree's most likeable song is probably "Only the Wise". A clean piano loop accompanies B of A instructing highly impressionable students to "crack open your lids, crack open your books and point a finger at the crooks."

Benyad and Mazik attempt to address some grown-up issues on several songs (healthy distrust on "Paranoia is Awareness", political megalomania on "Giant Midgets", [insert generic liberal issue here] on the title track). Unfortunately, any gems of insight are rendered unmineable by disarmingly cutesy production. The sounds are just too refined and sunny to effectively complement the duo's didactic attempts. I'm not suggesting that West Coast producers or MCs are incapable of producing balanced and intuitive music; in fact, the exact opposite is true. It's just that, in this case, Blood of Abraham's offerings reside in a place so far removed from the accompanying beats that it's hard to connect the dots.