Posted on 04/16/2009
The California-based hip-hop collective Living Legends has amassed worldwide notoriety for their independent releases (and tours) both as a group and amongst the various members. While MURS remains perhaps the most visible member of the crew, The Grouch & Eligh have been busy releasing high quality releases themselves. With their third pairing, The Grouch & Eligh bring forth the surprisingly excellent Say G&E! – an album full of dense lyrics and atmospheric production.

A poetic intro provided by the sadly inactive female MC Mystic helps to set the tone and it’s immediately followed by the title cut – a slow, captivating track provided by Eligh. The rhymes are biographical in scope and delivered with a veteran’s confidence. Eligh, who handles a bulk of the production on the LP, comes through again with “Push On (Push Up).” The track immediately invokes head nods and The Grouch & Eligh help bolster the track with strong, inspirational lyrics. The many audio layers to this track, including the live horns and spoken hook, make this an early contender for best track on the release. Producer Flying Lotus provides a more straight-ahead track than one would expect with “Old Souls,” featuring the extremely talented Blu. Amazingly, Blu’s capable verse isn’t the highlight of the track, however everyone sounds fantastic on the song. Amp Live of Zion I fame provides a bit of a left turn with “Boom” – a hyphy-influenced, bouncy track that would knock on a serious system. Fittingly, the track’s topical matter of the effect of loud music works and the unexpected feature from Atmosphere’s Slug helps tremendously.

The album provides several changes of pace, one of the most pleasant and unique being the Eligh-produced “All In,” the LP’s first single featuring underground legends Gift of Gab and Pigeon John. An earnest chorus from Pigeon John plus cool West Coast vibes from the MCs bolsters this breezy affair. “Comin’ Up,” featuring a blistering verse from Mistah F.A.B. adds to the high quality of the album with substantive lyrics and stellar production. A glaring misstep is “Worried about the World” featuring Mike Marshall and Sage Francis. The lyrics sound dialed in and uninspired at best and the hook is atrocious – however, Sage Francis sounds at home on this track. Besides that slight bump in the road, The Grouch & Eligh add to their legacy of releasing quality material with this latest offering.

- D.L. Chandler