El Angel Mexaton – On The Rise

El Angel Mexaton – On The Rise / 2006 Tryon Park / 10 Tracks / [email protected] / Reviewed 10 August 2006

So, I have one other Mexican rap act to compare to N.S.B.. El Angel Mexaton does not start that strongly, as “25 To Life” is a track that has a flow that feels like El Angel Mexaton is chewing on eir words. Don’t get me wrong, the flow makes sense with the backing beat that was chosen for the track, but there feels like there is a little too much pandering to the low reaches of the scale instead of offering a more balanced approach to things. After Columbo throws in on the track, the overall sound increases a little in quality.

This is due to the fact that the flow is a little more balanced and the Spartan sound of the backing beat is helped out in trying to cover all the blank space at the top of things. Saying that, the much more Spanish-based “Libertad” is a track that I can get behind. The much more active and full backing beat allow El Angel Mexaton to do what ey wants instead of having to bring in guest stars and specifically tailor eir flow to not allow the open spaces in the backing beat to glare too much. As El Angel Mexaton is allowed to settle down during the following tracks on “On The Rise”, the quality of the tracks increases. “Mexico” is a track that has the backing beat throw in at all the right places as El Angel Mexaton increases eir vocal delivery.

By the time the track ends, ey is almost at a Bone Thugs rate of speed. This is perhaps the best determinant for the ability of a rapper in my eyes, and regarding that, El Angel Mexaton has a pretty strong hand. There are a few more stumbling blocks that El Angel Mexaton has to fight through; the extended instrumental interlude during “Sex” is one of these. This is especially unfortunate considering that this track is stuck right in the middle of the disc. The fact that this track is over six minutes hamstrings things further, as individuals have to go through the entirety of this track to get to the second half of this disc. There are a few solid tracks during this disc, but there is a lot of chaff present that makes it much more hard to properly enjoy the diamonds that are in the rough. Here’s to hoping that El Angel Mexaton can create something a little stronger the next time .

Top Tracks: 25 To Life, Mexico

Rating: 3.5/10

[JMcQ]