darkshadowdog

Misery Loves Comedy- Louis Logic (Deluxe Edition) 7/10

The album begins with an interesting, unique and frankly a slightly strange beat “Are you ready to go on a trip? We’re going everywhere.” Sure, I’m ready. This first track is called New Leaf and frankly it is not outstanding, it is in fact one of my least favorite tracks on the album. This being said, the first time I heard it I was immediately interested in the rapping style, it is in many ways quite original, I’ve never heard anyone else spit flow with this exact kind of style.

Thankfully just as I was getting a little tired of this track there is a sudden and absurdly smooth drop into track two Captain Lou El Wino “don’t get accustomed to the seat you’ve been resting in/get up on your feet and receive the new testament/for those in need of new medicine JJ browns’ cooking up the fresh beats and Louis’ lecturing/, and then suddenly Louis truly begins the album with a truly awesome track. I actually ended up replaying this one three times in a row after the first listen, although Louis spits perfectly articulated and easy to hear flows there’s just so much in there lyrically that it’s quite difficult to get everything on the first run through, one of my personal favorite’s out of a huge amount of great lines is “Who got a more skewed view and ambition/he’s only wishing beautiful women assume the position /it’s a real sad comment on the human condition when you’ve made screwing and licking into a new religion/”. At the end of this track there’s a little answering machine skit (which gives you about a minute to take in everything in from Captain Lou El Wino) that’s a funny little introduction to track 3: The Line.

The first thing I noticed about The Line was the very unique production work, although the beat is completely laid back (almost the opposite of track before) it still has the same kind of “feel” to it, which really starts to give you an idea of the way the album sounds as a whole. Louis continues to spit some great lyrics on this one, a kind of updated Jesse’s Girl (he even references the track), “This chick would really have to be one sweet lover that we’d actually punch each other.” By the end of this track I also started to get more of a feel for Louis’ rapping style and began to realize that at heart it is purely conversational, almost like he’s sitting there in front of you just telling you a story (a very relatable one at that, I’m sure many if not most of us have been in a similar situation to Louis on this one).

Then we run into track 4; Beginner’s Lust, a song about sex. I really can’t fully explain how perfect I think this track is; obviously there have been hundreds (if not thousands) of hip hop tracks about banging girls but this may be my favorite out of them all, its sexy, it’s funny and it sounds f***ing awesome. For an essentially shallow subject Louis manages to create an extremely versatile track, something you could listen to while having sex, put on a mix for a girl, or just kick back with a joint and laugh with your friends.

Next we have track 5 Rule by Fool; a rather scathing (yet still laid back) song about the posing, the troubles of fame and in general how many people in the public eye act ridiculous just for the sake of it. There’s nothing too amazing or mind blowing on this one but definitely another fun, lyrical and easy to listen to offering.

Track 6 is called All Girls Cheat and once again Louis tackles a subject that I’m sure all of us can relate to, women being unfaithful. “All girls cheat, even the good ones.” Louis tells us and in some ways he’s right. This track is a very blunt, honest view on said relationship issues; once again I just really love the way Louis talks to us like he’s well, really talking to us rather than rapping on a track. I also really love this beat, its amazingly “light” feeling (for lack of a better term) but still a huge part of the song. Now, almost halfway through the album I am still getting more and more impressed with the production, this album has its own specific sound that is different than anything else I have ever heard.

Track 7: The Withdrawal Method. First of all, this is one of my personal favorite beats on this album, an amazingly catchy, fun, beat which is almost entirely just one short piano riff. No need for a bunch of crazy bass and weird noises to keep your attention on this album, JJ Brown does a perfect job with the least amount of components possible. Lyrically this is also a pretty decent track but to be completely honest it really isn’t too much of a departure from the previous track, not to say it’s not a good track, just nothing new.

Track 8: A Perfect Circle. I would really love to continue showering praise on this album but I have to be honest, I don’t really like this track. It doesn’t flow well with the rest of the album, the flow isn’t great and the beat is average. Frankly, to me, it sounds more or less like knock off atmosphere. Sadly this is also the longest track on the album, coming in at a rather painful 6:28. This is without a doubt a disappointing road bump in the journey of Misery Loves Comedy.

Thankfully Louis and JJ come right back swinging hard with track 9; Classic Mcnasty, a baller little tune that really defines Louis Logic as an artist. A great back and forth track about the artists themselves and their style. Louis jumps in here to really flesh out the relationship between rapper and producer, JJ brown dropping the “classy” beats and Louis dropping the “nasty” flows. An awesome track with a unbelievably superb flow. This one thankfully manages to almost completely erase the previous track from our minds.

And now on to what is my personal favorite track on the album. The Great Divide (track 10) is at heart a love song. Beginning with an amazing simple piano line and then bringing in just enough bass, Louis then spits one of his greatest, “story” songs. In such a jaded/cynical world it’s always nice to hear an optimistic love song, it also comes as a nice little surprise after such tracks as All Girls Cheat and The Withdrawal Method. “This ain’t the brand of love Hallmark cards sell to you/seldom true whimsy for the not so well to do”.

Moving on to track 11: Up To No Good, Louis seems to revert back to the irritating, rather unimpressive style of A Perfect Circle, the flow itself isn’t actually too terrible and there are a couple witty lines but at heart this track really just seems like Louis trying for a style and idea that he for whatever reason, cannot pull off in the slightest.

And here we have track 12: Morning After, and right away this still sounds way too much like Slug from atmosphere from me. Thankfully this is still a decent track and I really dig a lot of the flow, although I definitely prefer the piano beats to this basic guitar line. To be fair there’s still not much special in this track but the hook is fun and it sounds pretty decent overall.

To the finale (and title track), Misery Loves Company; it’d decent, a nice ending but a little “quiet”. I was kind of hoping for something a bit more on the epic side to end the album, ala Captain Lou El Wino. The skit at the end is (in my opinion) pretty unimpressive as well. Altogether this is a disappointing end to a really decent album.

The Bonus Tracks: First we get an acoustic guitar cover of The Great Divide (The Great Reprise), it’s kind of cool but really just doesn’t have the feel of the original. Next is a rather boring remix of the line, I’m just going to give this one a straight thumbs down, barely different from the original, it just doesn’t sound good. Next we have Bully (this is listed as a remix but I’m not sure on which album the original appears); “In the school of hard knocks we’re at the top of our classes/**** even the bully’s kiss our ass’s”, starts out a cool little laid back “bragging” track. I dig it, definitely an above average track in every way; I really dig this flow even if it is a little mainstream sounding for Louis. And last but not least we have a remix of Up To No Good featuring Homeboy Sandman, although it’s hard to save such a fundamentally flawed track Homeboy Sandman and JJ Brown’s new beat manage to make this song a lot easier to listen to if nothing better. Also included on the album are all the instrumentals from the main album tracks, I love when artists do this. Thanks JJ Brown!

Overall I came out of this journey a little disappointed. Yes this album is undeniably great. The words unique and original keep coming to my mind when I describe it, a wonderful entertaining new sound in the world of hip hop. That being said there are a few big disappointments (Up To No Good, A Perfect Circle, etc..), not only do these tracks just more or less suck but they really disturb the flow and sound of the album. I still really love most of this piece though and feel completely comfortable giving it a 7/10.

Tracks
Must Listen: Captain Lou El Wino, Begginer's Lust, Classy Mcnasty, The Great Devide.

Skip: A Perfect Circle, Up To No Good.