"The Underdog" review by Nikki T. Duvall Owner/Executive Marketing Consultant Movacci (mo vah see) and founder of SocioSync™

"The Underdog" review by Nikki T. Duvall owner/executive marketing consultant Movacci (mo vah see) and founder of SOCIOSYNC.

Overall, on a scale from 1 to 10. Using in this case, a scale based upon artists, not currently signed to a major record label. I'd give the album "The Underdog" by Quanstar, a strong 8, and here's why:
The album overall, has a very main-stream edge to it, meaning it has a professional, and very nicely engineered and mastered sound, a good lyrical flow and at the same time, dynamic enough for a couple of the tracks to do well on radio, others to do well in concert, and yet others to do well in a video. Very comparable to much of the music that's out today, that's selling really well.
The style and sound of the Album, to me, is mostly East Coast, in the sense that it has an “Uptown” type-of-a-sound, which includes strong percussion and horns mixed into the music bed of many of the tracks.
At the same time, there are a few tracks on the album, that to me, do come across to sound very similar in nature. This I say, from the perspective of how, if you were to scan through an album quickly … forwarding from track to track … in a record store … trying to quickly hear, what’s on the CD; in order to quickly decide; whether to make a purchase (or not). Even with this in mind, I say that, out of the 15 tracks on the album, at least 8 of them really do stand-out; and are very solid.
The following is my review, of each of the individual songs on the album. I've placed an asterisk (*) by each track, using a 5 star system:
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**** Track 1 "The Intro" - actually catches you right away. It has a real cool, Summertime, "hanging with my people and them", at the BBQ, Family Reunion, House Party (or where-ever), Neo Soul swing, mixed with a Jazz Band set; type of a feel to it.

*** Track 2 "Underdog" - puts you in the mind of something that you may actually hear from an artist like Jay Z. This song is a, "how I came-up in the game", type of song. The vocalist harmonizing on the chorus of the song, makes you especially want to kick-back, and listen to this song even more.

***** Track 3 "Mr. Blue Collar" - is one of the songs, that makes you think back-to, back-in-the-days, of Super Fly and Foxy Brown. This song has got that type of, "I'm Fly, I'm Here … and On The Set”, type of sound. You can easily imagine rolling through the city, in an old school Delta 88. Drop-top. At night. Fresh and clean to this one.

*** Track 4 "Relax" - is also a laid-back, yet really smooth track.

**** Track 5 "Heard It All Before" - is one of those songs where you might just be kick-backed in your favorite chair, sipping on something, and meditating on the world, and the day to day ... all while visualizing, just how exactly, you're going to make your come-up. This song has a smooth sound, that has that just right chemistry of music, within the music.

*** Track 6 "Caffeine Hustlaz" - this song is one that you could imagine being performed, as a part of a live-set, in a quaint night club, that might also serve as a location for poetry readers, and other, live, loud and abstract -- but yet -- creative artists.

**** Track 7 "Blame Featuring Rock Most" - is almost nursery rhyme (in a good way) in terms of how easily the lyrics flow together, in order to tell the story. This song, is another one of the songs, on the album that you can lay-back-to, thinking … while putting the world in perspective. I really appreciate the “Jazz/Ragtime” Sound, inserted into the music bed of this song.

*** Track 8 "Cleansing" - you can hear the Jazz elements, real strong, in the music-bed of this song. Especially by way of the drums. Lyrically the song is also very catchy; especially the chorus, also known as “the hook”.

***** Track 9 "Bank Featuring Juicy The Emissary" - this song kind-of forces you to focus in and think about, right where you are … with your own hustle … and how you should really consider stepping things up just a tad-bit. The music track is aggressive enough to make you bounce your head while listening. And the feature by Emissary, is definitely right on time.

***** Track 10 "Revolution" - is a very passionate song about the struggle ... the struggle that we all face … the view points and the opinions that we all tend to develop ... as we see the day to day, take place, and happen around us. The Lyrics and Music are very much a good compliment, and right on time in this song. I'd give this song more than 5 stars, but, I've limited myself to a 5-star rating system.

**** Track 11 "American Dreams" - is a good solo representation of Quanstar's lyrical skills. His ability to deliver, in almost perfect syncopation, with the beat of the music track, are demonstrated very well through this song. This is another song to ride-to, late at night, with the top-down on the ride.

Track 12 “Jr. Doing Ice Ice Baby” --- Interlude ---

**** Track 13 "Raise The Bar" - is a song with a very Smooth Jazz Sound, and is understandably a very heart-felt track. You can hear the sincerity in the lyrics as Quanstar lyrically dedicates this song to his child.

Track 14 “Jernal Ho Ho Ho --- Interlude ---

*** Track 15 "Summertime" - is another track with purpose. Another one of those that has a Summertime type of feel to it.