Sound: Underground hip hop with a fascination for the dark and sinister side of life. Unlike contemporaries like Aesop Rock, El-P and Cage, whose post-apocalyptic sounds tend to be dense and uncompromising, Grayskul’s music is much more streamlined. The songs are hookier, the beats are simpler, and elements of pop, rock and funk regularly work their way in. At times, they can be reminiscent of Outkast/The Dungeon Family.
Vocals: MCs Onry Ozzborn and JFK specialize in non-stop, breathless lyrical barrages and Onry’s nasal voice stands out prominently as an attention-grabbing hybrid of Tash (Tha Alkaholiks) and B-Real (Cypress Hill).
Heavy Rotation tracks: “The Office” featuring Slug & Aesop Rock; “Scarecrow”
Medium Rotation tracks: “Give Me Love”; “Missing” featuring Andrea Zollo (of Pretty Girls Make Graves); “Virginia N.M.2”; “Is It Me”
Recommended: The silly, fictitious radio station skits and the occasionally comic-book-like and gory rhymes can get too juvenile. And there are a couple tracks, particularly early on, that drag the album down a little. But when they’re on, Grayskul are one of the most exciting hip hop duos of today.
Grade: B+

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