- One half of famed MC duo, Latyrx, Lyrics Born flies solo for his new solo debut effort, Later That Day. The Japanese-American is an MC who is known for his sing-a-long lyrical delivery, while lashings of funk induced beats accompany his party style rhymes. Quannum fans will know of Lyrics when he first dropped his style on the anthemic "I Changed My Mind" from the Quannum Spectrum release from '99. The first 12" to be lifted from Later That Day is Callin' Out b/w Cold Call with the title track seeing heavy rotation on radio.
Callin' Out
Lyrics Born has taken on both the role of MC and producer for his debut album and Callin' Out revisits the funk based theme we heard back on I Changed My Mind. He's accompanied by vocalist Joyo Velarde who has worked with the Quannum/Solesides crew on many previous releases such as her own solo People Like Me. On Callin' Out she incites the people on the floor to get down and funky "... and start the show!" while Lyrics calls out to true hip hop heads. It's a tune that gets you feeling good again about listening to hip hop and has received many rewinds in my car stereo. On bass guitar Lyrics has enlisted the help of ex-pro skater turned producer, Tommy Guerrero to line the bottom ends with a funky ass bassline.
Cold Call
I didn't know what to make of when I first heard it, it sounded like a skit as we hear Lyrics Born and Blackalicious MC, Gift Of Gab go back and forth in what appears to sound like a phone conversation. In fact it's a spoken word joint with the two MC's going back and forth spitting lyrics, while Joyo Velarde interrupts the two with her "call waiting" notification - it's her gracefully singing "We want to talk to you!". The call ends with Lyrics apparently receiving a call from a persistant telemarketer who had just put him down for a purchase. It's a highly original tune and done very well by two MC's who seem like they can pull off hip hop rhymes while they're in mid conversation!
To top it all off, you get instrumentals and acapellas for that elusive bootleg or remix!