akrobatik - absolute value

jaytee · **Posted:** 02/22/08 05:19:21 AM

anyone check this album yet? i got it the day it came out. definitely ak's best work and definitely the best production he's ever rhymed over.

Mr.Morten · **Posted:** 02/22/08 05:27:11 AM

i disagree

"Balance" is a better album in every sense

Mutt tha Munk · **Posted:** 02/28/08 02:12:59 AM

Mr.Morten wrote:

i disagree

"Balance" is a better album in every sense

Morten speaks the truth. I liked about 2 tracks off this new shit. And THE RAZOR Perceptionists mix tape was the best production wise, if you can count that blending and scratching by Fakts One.

jaytee · **Posted:** 02/29/08 06:00:53 AM

wow

all i can say is that it is interesting that my opinion is so different. i'm a big akro fan so perhaps i'm just overly excited about the new stuff, and need to revisit balance again for a good 5 listens front to back.

please don't take what i am about to write as challenge or an attempt to discredit your opinions, i am respecting them highly and just want to have a conversation to help me understand where y'all are coming from.

just out of curiosity though, did you guys like balance a lot? or are you just saying its better when compared with absolute value? what would you rate each album on a scale of 1-5? i'm just trying to figure out if you guys are fans that loved balance and are disappointed with the new stuff, or if balance was just average to you and therefore you didn't have high expectations for this new release either. especially you mutt, since you only liked two songs. which songs were they? what were your favorite songs on balance?

and mutt, yeah, fakts is a beast on the blends. one of my favorite parts of going to shows back in the day was that you knew you'd get a live 45 minute DJ set from him before anyone came out to start rapping.

Mr.Morten · **Posted:** 02/29/08 06:17:35 AM

I thought "Balance" was a great album! Nice variety in topics and some great beats, only track I didn't like was the Edan production. I solid 4/5 album imo

The new one is good but production wise it's just lacking compared to Balance and Black Dialogue (not a big fan of Illmind, maybe that's why....)

Balance : 4,5
Black Dialogue : 3,5/5
Absolute Value : 3/5

Rich Deluxe · **Posted:** 02/29/08 08:24:13 AM

i was not feelin this album at all...word to Balance

jaytee · **Posted:** 03/01/08 01:16:47 AM

i agree with you morten about balance (and the edan thing). i just feel like absolute value is a step forward, not back.

balance was a great album and you are correct about the variety. on that album, "remind my soul" comes off as the best song on the album to me, simply because ak picked a great song concept and perfectly executed it lyrically and musically. around here the talk when hearing ak was coming out with a new album was, could he ever do anything as good as remind my soul again?

on the new album, i think there's actually three songs that, maybe don't equal remind my soul, but can stand up to it in terms of killing a song concept with beautifully written lyrics and execution and leaving a lasting message behind with the listener...rain, kindred, and front steps 2.

other highlights to me are the aggressive style he displays on songs like a to the k, step it up, and if we can't build. despite all of this discussion about his recorded music, the best aspect of akrobatik is his live performance, and this album comes the closest to showcasing this. then you have classic style tracks like the little brother track, the one with kweli, the one with lif, and black hell breaks loose. then you have some perfect verbal skills displayed on ak b nimble. lastly you have a love song at the end and a hidden track that reminds us what i said before about his live performances.

the thing i think i love the most about absolute value is that the beats all cater to the song and the subject matter perfectly. the best non-akrobatik example i can think of this is "welcome to the terrordome". that beat just says to me "welcome to the terrordome" even before any lyrics are spit. ak matched beats to song concepts well on balance too, but on absolute value, its even better.

if absolute value falls short or comes up missing something, its the absence of a wordplay track like "bone-crusher", or "too chill" (from the detonator records compilation). also i'm not a huge fan of soul-glo. i can listen to it but it's my least favorite on the album, which is interesting because ak made a video for it (i was at the video shoot), so i'm assuming they plan to use it as the first or second single (he made a video for a to the k too).

other than that i love all the songs on absolute value. i also think that akrobatik stepped up his delivery on this album as well. i already spoke of the aggressive style on some of the tracks, and then other songs, like front steps 2, his delivery matches the song concept perfectly. that song was a plea for change, and he was literally pleaing to the listener with his delivery. the guest appearances are solid but not overwhelming.

overall to me if balance is a 4, absolute value is a 4.5

Mutt tha Munk · **Posted:** 03/01/08 01:18:17 AM

I didnt think Balance was a great album either. Good but not great. Maybe a 3.5/5. I have a lot of older Lif stuff too. Got into Perceptionists, then worked backwards to peep Akbrobatik. I didnt much like the effort before Balance, cant remember the name... But back to the point, which is I had liked Lif for awhile, then really liked Akrobatic and Lif and Fakts together. Lif's last Mega album was a fairly big disappointment for me too. I liked it a bit at first, but then nothing grew on me like Lif's older shit, i.e. Because They Made It That Way, or basically the whole god damn I Phantom album which I feel is underrated as fuck. I played that album a few times a week for at least half a year. So this might be a better effort from Ak, I dont know since I 'm not a huge follower of his solo stuff. But personally I did like Balance better. I own the cd, haven't played it in a while. Pry should. The Razor however still gets heavy rotation.

Here's some shit I got off a blog a few weeks ago...

http://rapidshare.com/files/57982989/Wi ... -_2007.rar
:dj:

jaytee · **Posted:** 03/01/08 01:24:49 AM

you and me are the opposite, mutt. i'm an akrobatik fan first and foremost. i wouldn't say i worked backward to become a lif fan, because they both came out at the same time and here in boston they came up doing many of the same shows together so i was exposed to them equally. but i definitely would say i'm an akrobatik fan first and foremost...and a lif fan as well, with a part of that being due to his alliance with akro. theyre a great duo, no question about it, and lif is an extremely talented man in his own right, no doubt about that either. what i said about ak holds true for them as a duo as well, theyre at their best on stage doing live performances.

since you're admittedly not a huge akro fan i can understand where you're coming from with respect to absolute value, and also why you liked the razor so much.

Rhymehouse · **Joined:** 03/03/08 01:32:34 PM **Posts:** 5

Quote:

Akrobatik Speaks Out On Dismal Record Sales

Below is a bulletin posted by Akrobatik on his Myspace page:

...We will have no one to blame but ourselves for the death of hip-hop as we know it.

My album has been out for a week now, and as it looks there is good news and bad news. The good news is that I am among the top independent artists in the nation in terms of album sales for the week. The bad news is that my sales, along with everyone else's, are pitiful.

I can only speak for myself here by saying simply that when there are no more good artists left putting albums out in hip-hop the fans have no one to blame but themselves. For every person that comes up to me or writes me to tell me that they think I did a great job on this record, I wonder how many of them actually bought it? Certainly not a high percentage. Most artists have it even worse.

It's too bad, really. To hear almost unanimously across the board that my album is "bangin", "solid", "classic", "amazing", and all the superlatives I hear thrown around, I would think that the people who most want to see me succeed would actually support the cause.

Think of buying a CD as casting a vote. Just to SAY you support a candidate does not do much for their cause; you have to actually cast the vote.

Simply put, if you want another Akrobatik album, BUY THIS ONE.

If you don't, it's all good. I have other ways to make money. It's just a shame that the very technology that makes it so much easier to support your favorite artists (you don't even have to leave your fucking couch to buy an album) is the same technology that is allowing hip-hop 'fans' to kill the very music that they claim to love by stealing the product of hard-working, talented artists. I for one will not put my blood, sweat, and tears into another expensive-ass project that brings me to the edge of sanity just to have it stolen and passed around as if I got a 3 million dollar advance or some shit.

Don't be surprised when there is nothing left but bullshit commercial music to choose from. And when that happens, the same people who stole an Akrobatik album, or a Little Brother album, etc, will be the ones complaining that "hip-hop" is dead. YOU ARE THE ONES KILLING IT!

Check out my Lipton Iced Green Tea commercial on the radio when you get a chance. Then ask yourself why I did it. Then pop in your CD-R with my name and album title written in Sharpie that your man gave you and bump that shit. You're missing out on some great artwork, but hey.. fuck it.. I have other things to do besides go on a one-man 'save hip-hop' crusade.

But I would love to hear back from you, the fans. Do you think you shouldn't have to pay for music? I KNOW for a fact that thousands upon thousands of people have "Absolute Value", and only a small percentage of those people bought it.

Good luck to every other artist dealing with this current fiasco (no pun intended).

jaytee · **Posted:** 03/03/08 06:42:55 PM

i saw that, rhymehouse. i agree with it 100% too but didn't post it here as this post is really to talk about the album itself. all i can say is that my copy of absolute value is store-bought and 100% legit, and that i hope others are doing the same. the vip forum is good for sampling music but i hope that if people like the stuff enough to keep it they'll support the artist and buy it.

Mr.Morten · **Posted:** 03/04/08 12:51:15 AM

Can't really argue with anything Ak wrote

100% on point

d_realword · **Posted:** 03/04/08 05:30:54 AM

i gave my Balance album to a friend and have never felt the urge to re-buy it...thats how much i like that album.

Mr.Morten · **Posted:** 03/04/08 05:40:05 AM

crazy fuck

jaytee · **Posted:** 03/04/08 06:02:12 AM

d_realword wrote:

i gave my Balance album to a friend and have never felt the urge to re-buy it...thats how much i like that album.

if that's the case then that's cool, as long as you didn't make other copies...its your property and your right to give it to someone who might enjoy it since you didn't.

this is talking about the people who get the album illegally and enjoy it but never buy a legit copy.

1nesol · **Posted:** 03/14/08 02:52:32 PM

i gave my balance album away too..
heard tracks off fat beats for absolute,, wasnt feeling it

i dont think ak everylived up to the singles he dropped prior to balance...

its like his production went off ona tangent.but lyricall he's probably tight, caught him live once,,he has mad stage presence.

jaytee · **Posted:** 03/16/08 06:37:52 AM

the reviews are in...

http://www.hiphoplinguistics.com/review ... lute-value (4/5)

http://smokingsection.rawkus.com/TSS/?p=3258 (4/5)

http://www.hiphopsite.com/review/show/id/77 (4/5)

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/reviews/i ... lute-value (4/5)

http://www.sixshot.com/albums/10233/

http://www.okayplayer.com/reviews/index ... ute_value/ (3.5)

http://weeklydig.com/arts-entertainment ... /akrobatik

hiphop-elements.com

akrobatik - absolute value

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