Backed by a dream team of producers, guest performers and masterminds, he made a spectacular entrance into the game with The Documentary. The cast changed and more control rested on his shoulders the second time around. The formula might have been the same pretty much, but he upped his game with Doctor's Advocate. In his third outing, The Game stays in his comfort zone and changes the cast of participants again. But who are we to complain. He's yet to deceive and tracks such as "Dope Boys," "Game's Pain" and "My Life" indicate that he's in the right direction. L.A.X. is due August 26th
The majority of Hip-Hop producers are really no more than everyday beat makers who apply the well known techniques of stabbing, filtering, sampling, and looping amongst other methods of creating music for rappers. Obsidian Blue, representing the Omniverse crew, follows in the footsteps of Nicolay and Count Bass D in the manner that he composes full productions using instrumentation for his sound. Done via laptop while in the Air Force, Freon is his intention on showing the world how truly cold his sound is.
Record Author(s): Obsidian Blue
Record Title: Freon
Record Producer(s): n/a
Executive Producer(s): n/a
Release Date: available now*
The album kicks off with Glacial Advance which has a knocking drum and a soulful bassline reminiscent of an Erykah Badu track. Into The Shadows segues from the former song breaking into Hip-Hop with the same melody, a heavier drum kick and added keys. Journey to Damascus and Solo Flight are both accentuated by handclaps, the former with chimes fully adding to the winter theme and the latter with blaring horns. The Glow sounds like an homage to Marvin Gaye with added percussion at its forefront.
The latter portion of the album is smoother and geared towards lovers, but Obsidian Blue still succeeds at keeping heads moving. Strings are a big part of this effort, employed in various forms throughout the album. From the assortment of vibes, piano, and saxophone on Reverence to the more laid back, minimal sound of Midnight Euphoria he makes sure to employ knock in his tracks. Liquid Concentrate is a beautiful composition with a flat bassline, lush keys and a horn breakdown that takes this to the next level. A highlight is Hypothermia where he combines hip-hop, jazz and classical music to achieve some of his finest sounds yet. Surreality is a mood setter with more of a mid-tempo conga rhythm to it, demonstrating his musical talent he continues to arrange the same instruments different ways. Hopeless Romantic could be played on a smooth jazz station with its somber guitar, and Magnifique is a well done closer, he shows off with this track using latin percussion over his standard piano and strings.
Obsidian Blue puts on a great one-man-act behind the boards, fully honoring Hip-Hop while catering to more refined tastes as well. Paying tribute to the Native Tongues and Herbie Hancock in the same breath, he's a future legend to look out for.
editor's note: You can get more information on Obsidian Blue (and the Omniverse collective) on the following official sites: Obsidianblue.com and Weareomniverse.com.
Reviews 
