Moka Only is a guy who obviously loves to make albums. He cranks out more albums in one year than most artists do in their whole career, while not lowering the quality of his releases. Case in point: The Desired Effect, a terrific album that takes listeners on a soulful journey through Moka's thoughts. For this album, he enlisted help from producers like Jay Dilla, Oh No and Sixtoo, while MF Doom quests on one of the cuts, but this really is Moka's album. It's hard to name a standout track, since The Desired Effect does not really dip in quality at all (rare on an album nowadays), but tracks like the title track, Dilla produced One Time, Chill (helped by a beat that has been absent from Hiphop for too long), and MF Doom starrer More Soup triggered my replay-reflex most often. Albums like this are really too rare, combinations of interesting lyrics that handle more than one different subject, with jazzy, relaxed beats to compliment them. You might only know Moka Only from Swollen Members, but don't expect anything like that style on this small masterpiece. In my opinion, this outdoes anything Swollen Members have ever made, and even outdoes most of the rap albums released this year.
****½
R U kidding, you want raw rap... Real shit
www.myspace.com/sideshowthaonenonly
Posted by: Don't trip | May 28, 2009 at 06:08 AM