Had never heard of these guys before. Out of Chicago, had a self titled debut in 2001, another album in 2004 then more or less disappeared (from what I can tell, at least) til recently when they dropped "3".
Anyway, this album is excellent. Listened on a recommendation from a friend. The production is top notch. Got that jazz/blues feel to it and they mix in a lot of beat switches, and beat interludes (a la Pete Rock/Soulquarians) which I'm a sucker for.
The MCs are pretty good, too, though I'm only on my second listen so as is typical for me on my first couple listens to most hip-hop albums, I've focused more on the overall sonic landscape without digging TOO deep into the lyrical content. I'll be listening for that on subsequent listens. These doods can flow tho, and from what I *have* digested lyrically, they aren't slouches there either.
Anyway, I'm listening on Spotify so I don't have any links to offer other than their wiki page for reference. Anyone heard this album, or heard of these guys before? Off the strength of this quality release I'll be listening to their other two albums this week/weekend as well. Interested to get some context on these doods.
1. "Qwel is pretty much a beast, and an all around good dude" In response to Reply # 0 Wed Oct-10-12 10:41 PM by Nodima
he's cool with one of the indie promoters here and a couple of the low profile indie hip-hop groups so he comes through Omaha/Lincoln pretty often, I wasn't really aware but I was doing a feature on one of the groups ( http://omahype.com/2012/09/qa-midtown-marauders-interview-9242012/ ) and ended up chopping it up with Qwel for a good half hour on the state of Chicago hip-hop.
I'd recommend Qwel & Maker's So Be It for a nice branching off point. I haven't dug too deeply into his other solo albums but he has a habit of picking a specific producer (he's done three with Maker) and rocking to a whole album of their beats, which is refreshing.
I'll definitely check that out. There's something to be said for someone who realizes how much more cohesive and better an album sounds when you have one or few producers.
I loved the self-titled, but missed the 04 release. I heard a few snippets from this and had to pony up
>Had never heard of these guys before. Out of Chicago, had a >self titled debut in 2001, another album in 2004 then more or >less disappeared (from what I can tell, at least) til recently >when they dropped "3". > >Anyway, this album is excellent. Listened on a recommendation >from a friend. The production is top notch. Got that >jazz/blues feel to it and they mix in a lot of beat switches, >and beat interludes (a la Pete Rock/Soulquarians) which I'm a >sucker for. > >The MCs are pretty good, too, though I'm only on my second >listen so as is typical for me on my first couple listens to >most hip-hop albums, I've focused more on the overall sonic >landscape without digging TOO deep into the lyrical content. >I'll be listening for that on subsequent listens. These doods >can flow tho, and from what I *have* digested lyrically, they >aren't slouches there either. > >Anyway, I'm listening on Spotify so I don't have any links to >offer other than their wiki page for reference. Anyone heard >this album, or heard of these guys before? Off the strength of >this quality release I'll be listening to their other two >albums this week/weekend as well. Interested to get some >context on these doods. > >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typical_Cats
Glad you re-upped this. This album deserves way more attention than it's getting. I'm still listening to it a few times a week. Let us know what you think.
5. "Several listens through " In response to Reply # 0
I like it a lot. I enjoy the live sounding drums and overall full sound. Plus the rapping is nice, as expected. These guys complement each other well. Album starts strongly and ends strongly too... Full Clip is a great song imo. The overall sound seems retro-fresh to me. I dig it a lot and this will stay in the rotation for a while, and I will probably revisit it just as often as the self-titled. Overall it is more polished than the self-titled and just as memorable.
8. "RE: Typical Cats - 3" In response to Reply # 0
wow! these dudes have truly grown since their earlier work. i've always been a fan but i feel like they were more about lyrics than delivery. the past few years i've noticed a lot of improvement (specifically Qwel) and this album confirms it.
9. "This hasn't left my rotation since it dropped" In response to Reply # 0 Tue Jan-22-13 09:33 PM by mrhood75
Truthfully, I've never really been in Typical Cats like that. Bought two Qwel albums in the early '00s and copped the Qwaazar/Batsauce album last year. But I copped this on the rec. of a good friend of mine who works at a record store, and was not disappointed. Shit seriously bangs.
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