Kev recently posted up anything you need to know about Element of the LA group Custom Made. A fairly popular group, Custom Made has been heavy on their Mixtape hustle and are expected to drop an album on Babygrande records soon enough. Element comes out on his own tip with Great Expectations (Part 5 of the “Street Cinema” collection) and counterpart Abstrakt Soundz provides most of the production.

Abstrakt is most popular for his Jay-z Remix albums, but certainly shows he can hold his own away from the Jigga remix scene. He provides great strings on “Club Epidemic” that could even resemble that of Dr. Dre, but the rest of the song is rather mediocre in comparison to the haunting beat. “Chucks” however is a beat that leaves you wanting more. The drums are nice and the voice sample is placed perfectly, but it’s missing somewhat of a backdrop that might not make the listener anticipate more. Especially a song with typical BET subject matter, the beat has to be the stand out on a song about shoes. He makes up for it on the heartfelt “I’m Sorry” which is so soulful; the proper piano keys, the strings, the voice sample are all perfect placement. Element certainly does this beat justice fulfilling the soulful matter of the chorus and the beat.

The heat given by Abstrakt set the bar high for Element as a rapper. An emcee never wants to be outdone by a producer and Element runs into this problem quite frequently on this album because of the generally solid production. The opening track, “Before I Wake” beats a dead horse with the ‘Hip Hop is Dead’ topic once again (Nas can move on from it, when can’t everyone else?) and “Overkill” shows Element not sticking to one element and literally does overkill us with a bunch of subject matter all over the place.

What I really do like about Element is his ability to grab you and I must admit Nottinghammers, I’m somewhat of a fan. Although there are ‘ehhhh’ moments, tracks like “As the World Turns” and “I Am” are really passionate, on point and certainly make up for the mistakes. The standout track comes courtesy of Allan Parsons production on “The Element Project” has Element spitting at light speed while maintaining a plot to take over the hip hop world on horns suited for a Jet Li action scene.

The biggest flaw with Element is that he is what I like to call a “Brainstorm Rapper.” This just means that he raps as if there are a bunch of topics/words/phrases all over the place and it is simply just being recited. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Eminem on Infinite was one, Common on Can I Borrow a Dollar was one and Canibus on Can-I-Bus was one. All of these have one thing in common: debuts that led to a very successful career. Small flaws such as flow might stall Element because like his subject matter, he is all over the place. “The Dark Knight” calls for a rather solemn tone but he goes all Percee P on it which I don’t think is his niche. This is an all around good album, but there is still plenty of work to be done on the part of Element. One thing that won’t need much tuning is his ear for beats because if his floating subject matter doesn’t keep you listening, the beats will. There is tremendous potential in this artist and Babygrande can add another great artist to their lineup.

Overall Rating: 69/100

Standout Tracks:

The Element Project

I’m Sorry

Beautiful End

Cop Great Expectations now through one of the following links:

• Element’s MySpace Page
• Abstrakt Soundz MySpace Page
• Custom Made’s MySpace Page
• Custom Made’s Official Web Site

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