Review: Oak Lonetree, Lava + 2

Molten flow
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  January 20, 2009
3.0 3.0 Stars

0901233_oak_main

Oak Lonetree hemorrhages more discs than Kool Keith — which, for those who don't know, is a bootyload. I rarely catch the party-hearty Waltham MC downtown without his shoving a new album in my chest, whether it's his late 2007 joint The One, last year's Stuff in the Basement, or the recent project from his go-to producer, Egadz.

Although abundant, Oak's efforts aren't lazily scrapped mixtapes; for the most part he rips well-thought witty writtens over backdrops that are more often than not well-hung. Lava is by far his sweetest heater yet; Lonetree and regular affiliates including the Rhyminal (Ballcklub), Dese (the Camp) and XL (the Kreators) still lace keg-happy hoorah, but they do so with cunning flows and linguistic (albeit potty-mouthed) aptitude.

 The upper-deckers here are the anthemic title track, the Steinway-tapped "Mehfecka" with Dese, and the jazz-smoked concept cut "3 Hour Rhyme Difference" with Speks (the Greater Good) and MC Exposition (Audible Mainframe). Like all of Oak's projects, Lava is a super-hard soft release, so be sure to cop a copy soon, before his next shit drops.

Related: Jack Peñate | Everything Is New, Rest in Beats, T Banga, Best Boston Rap Albums of 2010, More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Entertainment, Hip-Hop and Rap, Music,  More more >
| More


Most Popular
ARTICLES BY CHRIS FARAONE
Share this entry with Delicious

 See all articles by: CHRIS FARAONE