Friday, December 7, 2012

Honorable Mention: Strong Arm Steady & Oh No - Stereo Jr.


The members of Strong Arm Steady are not amazing rappers.  Most of their albums are average, but they struck gold in 2010 with their Madlib collaboration In Search of Stoney Jackson.  Something about Madlib’s beats brought out the best in Krondon and Phil Da Agony, and they were able to put together the best album of their career by a wide margin.  In 2011 the Strong Arm Steady gang followed it up with the average Arms & Hammers.  Without Madlib beats, they reverted to their old, unimpressive ways.  This year’s StereoType, a full length with Statik Selektah on the boards, was much better, but I forgot all about it pretty soon after it came out (Statik Selektah’s beats unfortunately have a way of initially impressing while simultaneously being completely forgettable).  Stones Throw recently released this remix of the StereoType album with Oh No beats.  The rapping hasn’t improved, obviously, but Stereo Jr. and StereoType aren’t even comparable.  For some reason, the brothers Jackson just make Strong Arm Steady’s decent rapping sound so much better.  Here’s hoping that a Stoney Jackson sequel or a collaborative album with Oh No is in the works.





Strong Arm Steady & Oh No - "No Sky Limit (Smoke On Remix)" (feat. Dom Kennedy & Baby D)


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