Electrical Circus value and received Frequent some followers. It was very exploratory, particularly so for a rap album launched in 2002, containing developments – a few of which soared, a few of which sank – that few longtime followers might have foreseen. Listeners both felt Frequent was choosing up contemporary, new inspirations, or that he was simply being distracted by an entire lot of ill-fitting nonsense. With Be, it appears the MC has realized that not each album that is sprawling and eclectic is pretty much as good as Electrical Ladyland or Songs within the Key of Life. Extra notably, he would possibly’ve been struck with the truth that a excessive share of fantastic albums are round 40 minutes in size and are constructed on a unified sound. Be is very concentrated, containing 11 songs and involving two producers and a small variety of visitors. It is a 180 diploma flip from Electrical Circus, and in a weird manner it is each a development and a back-to-basics transfer. Kanye West and Dilla are key to the album’s steadiness, rooting the sound in ’70s soul and soul-jazz. That is no shakeup, however the two producers deserve some type of award for stringing collectively a constant sequence of productions that’s by no means monotonous, uninteresting, or all that flashy. Even lead single “The Nook,” heard properly earlier than Be’s launch, falls into the material of the album on first hear, as if that had been the place it belonged all alongside. Lyrically, Frequent comes again all the way down to Earth – the narratives are sharp as ever, the gripes are extra like observations than screeds, and the eccentricities must be teased out reasonably than swatted away. Be is not prone to be referred to by anybody as groundbreaking, nevertheless it’s considered one of Frequent’s finest, and it is also some of the tightly constructed albums of any kind inside current reminiscence Reissue of Frequent’s 2005 LP
