OLa – “One” (Album Review)
New York City is littered with hungry recording artists ready to make a lasting impression on the world and elevate to the majors. Today is Bronx’s very own OLa shot with the release of his latest effort, ‘One’.
‘One’ is a 8-track body of work engineered, mixed and mastered by XAV. The project’s tracklist is titled in stage acts. ‘One’ is OLa’s debut following his five year career of one-shot track releases, growing a popularity that lead to his 2018 full-length introduction.
OLa’s bars are solid throughout the album. Self-proclaiming as the return of that legendary New York City Hip-Hop; however, contradicts that statement with his heavy melodies and snippet short flows. Starting out on fire with tongue twisting wordplay but prematurely falls into a melody and ditches the great stride he began with as the song closes out. Confusing fans on if he is a lyricist or crooner. While telling his story, the multiple turns in vocal range from rapid fast to extremely slow, leaves listeners lost. Describing yourself as the hottest New York City has to offer and NYC being idolized for it’s rhymes, OLa should have stuck to the rhymeslaying this time around instead of showcasing his versatility.
Hear OLa New LP, ‘One’ below.
While engulfed in samples of old school New York hits, OLa’s production holds strong in the beginning with catchy flutes on “1.1”, “1.3”, and the Cole “Neighbors” raided “1.4”. But the production enjoyment collapse due to the failure to recreate that New York City sound. DJ scratching and dark tones were behind the boards but it failed to scratch the surface of that signature pitch black midnight hour dark sound that strike fears in fans that developed an iconic region. Aside from commercial hits, NYC isn’t known much for it’s sampled infused productions past, present, or foreseeable future. It’s probably best that OLa ditch his NYC path of resurgence and blaze his own trail the remainder of career.
‘One’ is a sample-driven quickie that is great practice for OLa’s rising career; however, the project is filled with flaws and lacks potential to showcase a bright future for the recording artist. Mediocre wordplay and failed proper structure with the album’s tracklist, leaving the project to be savaged by the mildly impressive production. While the tracklist titles is a intriguing touch, OLa sound is a work in progress that would have been more appreciated and better digested as his familiar one-shot single releases.
Ratings: 7/10
Highlights: Lyricism
Follow OLa on Twitter: @OlatheLyricist
