Everywhere at Once

by Lyrics Born

Overview

Bay Area rapper Lyrics Born has never followed -- or tried to follow -- the typical musical route, first with his work with Lateef as Latyrx and continuing though his decision to back himself with a funk band during his shows, even releasing a live album (a rare thing in hip-hop) in 2006. Not content, apparently, to rest on the platform he made for himself, the Anti-issued Everywhere at Once moves even further away from the idea of the producer/MC team, using a band and plenty of background vocals to create something that ends up sounding a lot more like Gnarls Barkley's latest proclamation than anything rap related. Melody's of utmost importance here, so much so that Lyrics Born's already-singsongy rapping becomes nearly undistinguishable from the sung parts, to which he, his wife Joyo Velarde, and a cadre of others perform. It's not that he can't deliver on vocals, but as the first half of album plays as an almost-continuous track, with the instrumental parts hardly changing from song to song, Everywhere at Once takes on the regrettable feel of the new wave of jam bands, one on which the rapper gives his usual spiel on how he's persevered, which honestly, three albums in, is starting to get a little tired. To his credit, as things progress, Lyrics Born does incorporate new sounds and ideas, but unfortunately these decisions don't always end up being good ones. "Do U Buy It?," for example, is an awkward "Funplex"-era B-52's rip-off and "Top Shelf" is only lacking a vocoder to be the next T-Pain hit. He's all over the place (similarly to Snoop on the equally messy Ego Trippin'), from slow-drawled rhymes to faster funk pieces, which means that when something does come together -- the slow, jazzy "The Skin I'm In" or the perfect Odd Couple-complement "I Can't Decide (Everywhere at Once)" -- it seems accidental, even haphazard, that given enough chances something good's got to come out. Lyrics Born has always gotten by on being casually himself, no matter what he's doing, and that's in fact why Everywhere at Once doesn't work: it doesn't seem like Lyrics Born anymore. Sure, there are moments of personal insight and catchy hooks, but the album seems forced, the efforts of someone who's become so concerned with breaking out of boxes that he's forgotten sometimes, he still needs one to hold things in. In doing so, sadly, Everywhere at Once is reminiscent of what's already been done, either by the rapper himself or by another artist, almost derivative of itself, and as a whole, altogether disappointing. ~ Marisa Brown

Product Details

Release Date:	06/03/2008
Label:	Anti-
UPC:	0045778680412
Rank:	52879

Tracks

1. Intro Tag
2. Don't Change
3. Hott 2 Deff
4. Differences
5. Cakewalk
6. Shoe Hoes Anonymous
7. I'm a Phreak
8. I Like It, I Love It
9. The World is Calling
10. Top Shelf
11. Is It the Skin I'm In?
12. Homeland Security
13. Do U Buy It?
14. Rules Were Meant To Be Broken (Remix)
15. Whispers
16. I Can't Decide (Everywhere At Once)
17. Re-Intro
18. Let Me In, Let Me Out (Remix)

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Lyrics Born   Primary Artist,Vocals,Keyboards,Percussion,Scratching,Vocals (Background)
C. Holiday   Primary Artist,Vocals,Featured Artist,Vocals (Background)
DJ D Sharp   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Myron Glasper   Primary Artist,Vocals,Featured Artist,Vocals (Background)
Trackademiks   Primary Artist,Vocals,Keyboards,Percussion,Vocals (Background)
B'Nai   Primary Artist
Chali Tuna   Primary Artist
Baby Jaymes   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Joyo Velarde   Primary Artist,Vocals,Featured Artist,Vocals (Background)
Stanton Moore   Drums
Mike Marshall   Vocals (Background)
Chali 2na   Featured Artist
Kat Ouano   Keyboards
Mike Cresswell   Guitar
Mike Olmos   Horn Section
Evan Francis   Horn Section
Bing Ji Ling   Keyboards
Jake One   Keyboards
Max MacVeety   Drums
Jeremy Goody   Vocals (Background)
Adam Theis   Horn Section
Tommy Guerrero   Bass,Guitar
Steve Wyreman   Guitar,Soloist
Dave Lopez   Guitar
Zion   Vocals (Background)
Joe Cohen   Horn Section
J. Whitefield   Keyboards
Icewater   Vocals (Background)
Hiro Matsuo   Vocals (Background)
Uriah Duffy   Bass
Herve "RV" Salters   Keyboards
Dsharp   Vocals (Background)
Bnai Rebelfront   Guitar,Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Boris Boral   Percussion
Darius Minaee   Drums,Percussion
The Jazz Mafia Horns   Horn Section
Constance Lopez   Vocals,Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

B.T. Express   Composer
Kat Ouano   Arranger,Composer,Producer
Lyrics Born   Cut,Mixing,Arranger,Engineer,Producer,Remix Producer,Drum Programming,Executive Producer
Joyo Velarde   Arranger,Producer
Mike Cresswell   Mixing,Editing,Engineer
One Way   Composer
Eddy Schreyer   Mastering
B'Nai Rebelfront   Composer
Bo Baral   Composer
Jake One   Editing,Arranger,Engineer,Producer,Drum Programming
Jeremy Goody   Editing,Engineer
Adam Theis   Composer
Anthony Anderson   Composer
Tommy Guerrero   Composer
T. Shimura   Composer
Ramble Krohn   Composer
Max Weissenfeldt   Composer
Trackademiks   Arranger,Engineer,Producer,Drum Programming
Rodney Sino-Cruz   Editing,Engineer
Tom Shimura   Composer
Stephen Serrato   Design
Uriah Duffy   Composer
Brent Rollins   Design
Jrod Indigo   Composer
Jan Weissenfeldt   Composer
Jason Valerio   Composer
Jacob Dutton   Composer
Charles L. Stewart   Composer