Review Summary: “It’s All Alright”
G Band Free are pretty unconventional when you get down to it. They are able to mix a variety of Hip Hop elements with instrumentation you can expect from the best of bands to create an album unlike any other.
Interestingly enough G band Free aren’t well known. They aren’t famous and they never were, this is both unfortunate and fortunate as this album was never made for the mainstream and it seems clichéd and silly to say but this album is different. It isn’t just your run of the mill hip hop album. With this being their sole album you would expect the production to suck, but it doesn't, quite the contrary actually. The production is a fresh of breath air incorporating simple beats and mixing them with some brilliant bass lines and a range of other skilled instrumentation in that which comes together like a puzzle. It feels relaxing and groovy but if necessary G Band aren't afraid to switch the beats upside down using risky lines and they are all the better for it.
The lyrics in this album are a new god in their own right, they can transform you. When you listen to this album you are no longer just a listener, you are part of it. The lyrics alone can shape you left and right, they can transform your emotions, invert the thought in your head, the lyrics alone will change you from an observer into an artist and then as soon as you become this new character it will change you into a teenage version of yourself, you bask in your old self but have no time because you are now a swimmer climbing up the tallest waterfall. my point here is that you could become anything, your hopes and dreams could be fulfilled and then crushed in a time zone of 5 minutes (easily at that point), It’s different for everyone.
The album isn't perfect because at times it can seem inconsistent changing from a fast paced flow into a soulful hook but in some ways this adds to the charm of the album, in others it takes away some of it. And while nitpicking the album can feel slightly sudden in that some songs are unnecessarily long while others are unfortunately short. Backwards Crown stays at only 38 minutes which is unfortunate because they could have developed some of these songs into classics, still these are such small factors in the bigger picture.
From the first track this band know where you are, they can seduce you into listening, gripping your full attention they twist and turn your emotions, they will serve and return you into all different realms of feelings. At one time you could feel relaxed then the next you’ll be transcript into an area of sadness. It’s a nostalgic album from the first time you listen to it because it easily uses elements of 90s hip hop mixed with some current production styles and some timeless instrumentals, it makes it look like doing this is a piece of cake because of how good they are at it. The album is as relaxing as it is beautiful; it’s smooth and subtle but gripping and melancholy, they mold an original style which you will have never seen before but aren’t afraid to go back to some inspirations of theirs for relevance. This is a once in a life time experience.
“I’m not what my genre promises that I would be”
