The biggest surprise of the year thus far is undoubtedly Akrobatik’s Absolute Value. I loved seeing Akro, once again, step out of the highly respected spotlight of the Perceptionist and pursue his own solo work gathering help ranging from the late great J Dilla, 9th Wonder, Da Beatminerz, Talib Kweli, and Little Brother. Amongst these guests are also fellow Perceptionists members Mr. Lif and DJ Fakts One. The latter member more or less disappeared off the face of the earth at one point, leaving Ak and Life DJ-less and without a third important piece of the Perceptionists. 5 Years since beginning this project, Long Range finally will get released with an impressive list of features and a MIA author. How would this album shape up especially with so much drama behind the creation of the project?

It helps that Little Brother are the first features on “Grown Folks” because heat seems to follow wherever Phonte and Pooh go. This track sounds like a great extension of “Good Clothes” funny enough, and it’s simply a song about maturing and would have been a great feature on Getback. The other big track on Long Range features members of the Boot Camp Clik over a funky beat. Buckshot, Tek & Steele give enough on this track to keep you intrigued. The great production continues with the J-Live feature “Audiovisual” and seriously, people, DON’T EVER sleep on J-Live; it could be the biggest mistake you make as a hip hop fan. Lyrically, listen to him paint a picture about how he paints a picture…it’s mind-bending (his new album is out now too).

The guitar driven “Set the Mood” featuring Grayskul, another act people shouldn’t sleep on, is a great track with dope smack talking and flow. The production varies throughout the entire album and maintains a type of unique attribute. The ‘fakt’ is that Fakts One doesn’t have one particular sound to rely on. You would have no idea that it’s a Fakts One beat, but he does use a few familiar samples like the onc Nicolay used (”Powershift” by Median), joint for “OK” featured AOTP members King Syze and Outerspace, or the slowed down take on the G-Unit used sample (”I Know You Don’t Love Me”) on “Born For This.” One of the strongest tracks on the album is of a familiar variety, “The Showstarter” featuring The Perceptionists. I’ve always been a huge fan of Lif because he is always great, same with Ak. The track is energetic, cinematic and the chemistry between these 3 men is perfect.

The problem I have with a lot of producer albums with features on every track (Marco Polo’s “Port Authority”, Pete Rock’s “NY’s Finest”, Alchemist’s “1st Infantry”) is that the formula gets repetitive and boring. This album is not that long (14 tracks) but still managed to bore at times. The production is rather fresh and because there aren’t Fakts beats flying all over the place, this album gives you something to sponge. However, it is simply an overload of features, a problem that albums of this type can’t avoid. The great tracks will have you pressing repeat, but lyricism like J-Live’s or Phonte’s greatly overshadow that of Chan or Universal and bring down the album a little bit. It’s a very acceptable and noble effort from the Boston DJ/Producer and it would be a shame if he never steps foot in the music biz again like so many rumours claim.

Overall Score: 70/100

Standout tracks:

Audiovisual feat. J Live

Grown Folks feat. Little Brother

Set The Mood feat. Grayskul

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