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On The Arm Review

While some conscious heads may shun this entire project because the intro is about “pimping hoes and getting dough,” the album is dope. Dub Sonata is a New York producer with smooth and heavy beats, occasionally outshining an array of street rappers, including J-Hood and Thirstin’ Howl. On The Arm showcases beats that reflect both versatility and a sense of what today’s hip-hop listener wants to hear. “Philosophical Gangsta” presents Bizzy Bone on the album’s best track, and “Greatest Love” is a close second. Pick this album up if you have recently complained about the death of hip-hop; you’ll feel the presence. (Independent)

On The Arm Review

by Chris Pacifico
A young buck from L.A. has consolidated himself as one of rap’s most prolific and overlooked beat crafters. This debut album is strewn with guest spots from the crème de la crème of underground emcees, most of whom rhyme with a tight knit flow and lyrics on socially conscious platforms. Dub Sonata’s beats are composed from soaring and stoned grooves; deeply ornamental and reflective of harsh urban realities while wholly vicarious of each track’s subject matter. “Murderers” is a standout where Rich Mo describes his grandmother’s battle with emphysema in graphic detail - “I call it legal murder because I doubt that anybody was anybody was gettin’ time if they’re still givin’ out packs/ And y’all worry about crack/ A hit is 5 bucks/ A pack is 7.50 and that’s without tax/ Yeah how bout’ that/ Yet its legal to sell but if we do it than we goin’ to jail.” Mo rhymes explain the hypocrisy of laws designed to stamp out drug dealing but allow corporations to rake in money from substances are just as, if not more, deadly. On the other hand, “Revolution” has Double AB coolly venting his chagrin over what a giant fuck-up of a society America has become in the post-Katrina and post 9/11 days of the Bush Administration, venting at their erosion checks and balances while leaving the poor to rot. The beat is chilling with roots reggae loops and a sample of a keen soprano singer marking “Revolution” as the one-and-only hip-hop song that matters in 2007.

On The Arm Review

When I was a kid, I remember hearing people attempt to discredit hip-hop all the time. A lot of musicians would especially diss the music, saying that hip-hop was a borrowed art form because it relied on a DJ who used other people’s records to make the music. Anyone, they would say, could put a couple old records on some turntables and make a hip-hop beat.

And to be honest with you, I bought that for a long time. I never really considered the skills of deejaying or turntablism very complicated or overly-talented art forms when I was a kid. That was, of course, until the first time I tried to do a simple beat match on a set of turntables. The experience made me instantly realize how amazingly difficult it is to sample other people’s music and create your own sound.

Dub Sonata’s “On The Arm” is one of those producer albums that will make anyone who is even remotely familiar with the art of deejaying say, “Damn, that kid has some skills homie.” While simply looking at Dub Sonata’s portfolio and list of guest emcees allowed me to assume that he could make some good beats, it was his ability to use a wide array of samples so successfully from track to track that continuously took me by surprise while listening to “On The Arm.” Several times, everything meshed so well together that I had to rewind through tracks to figure out whether he was sampling something or somehow creating it himself with instruments or background vocalists.
In “On The Arm,” Dub Sonata utilizes all kinds of sounds and samples to create often-complex and head-nodding musical compositions. And even more impressive was his ability to do this and create such crisp, clear and uniform sound arrangements. The production on this album flows so well that it’s often hard to imagine it being created by just one person. We could very well be listening to one of hip-hop’s next generation of beat-making, turntablist-friendly producers.

Regardless of what those who may be ignorant to the true art of deejaying might say about the art form, I believe a set of turntables and a mixer are arguably the most difficult instruments to play on Earth. Unfortunately, Dub Sonata makes it look so easy with “On The Arm” that people probably won’t learn that lesson from listening to this album. Either way, anyone familiar with the difficult art of true hip-hop production will be able to appreciate this album. I recommend checking it out. Peace.

On The Arm Review

New York-based producer Dub Sonata has produced for the likes of The Aztext and C-Rayz Walz as well as presiding over a number of underground mixtapes which have served to cement his image as one of the rising stars of New York’s burgeoning underground scene. Across the 17 tracks making up ‘On The Arm’, Dub Sonata refreshingly opts out of smattering the release with skits and instead launches straight into 62 minutes of slick and thumping beats laid down for an interesting mix of lyricists which range from indie-hop A-Listers such as Vast Aire (Cannibal Ox) and Bizzy Bone (Bone Thugs) to upcoming acts such as Double A.B. and J-Hood. Shifting from commercially tinged gangsta-rap beats to soulful, sample-heavy underground beats, Dub Sonata certainly knows how to extract the most energy from the lyricists whose raps vary from politically themed adages to straight up gangsta business.

On ‘No Sir’, J-Hood’s relaxed yet on-point flowage rides atop of a Dre-inspired soundscape of elongated synths, exotic and resonant melodic strings, brushed snares and a deep groove that join forces to make a top-draw soundtrack to midnight gear-shifting on the open highway. On the rousing ‘New York’, featuring Swave Sevah, Double A.B. & C-Rayz Walz, Dub Sonata, perfectly encapsulates the contrast between the captivating neon-glow of New York’s commercial centre and its murderous, grimey underworld. Featuring melancholic keys which meander over sharp snares and tight bass drops, the vibrant early-Mobb Deep aesthetic is fully evident and the trio’s gritty, syllable-perfect raps will have you nodding your head and rapping along again and again. Elsewhere, the vivacious big-beat, synth-expanding grandeur of Billy G’s ‘Young ‘N Filthy’ contrasts nicely with underground numbers such as the dark and claustrophobic backpack hip-hop of ‘Hit Em’ which plys the cut-up, switch-heavy leftfield aesthetic that so successfully adorned Cannibal Ox’s ‘The Cold Vein’. The epic war-themed beats and scratch-heavy excursions of Deadly Divisionz ‘Riot Gear’ wouldn’t be out of place on a Jedi Mind Tricks or Immortal Technique release whilst the hazed instrumentation and muddied yet driving bass lines of ‘So Fly’ fuse perfectly with J-Hood’s and A.P’s vaporous flows to create a Mase-inspired vision of luxurious big-pimping in a cloud of weed smoke.

With ‘On The Arm’, Dub Sonata proves to be a master of both commercial and underground beat-crafting, creating soundscapes that extract every degree of energy from the bustling vocal arrangements. From the more laidback soulful instrumentations to the highly charged commercial bangers, from the contemporised sample-heavy old-skool beats to the sci-fi leftfield arrangements, Dub Sonata puts his own unique mark on his beats and makes ‘On The Arm’ a future classic. Furthermore, by bringing together such a highly talented army of rappers, he has created a compilation album that is as consistent, significant and inspiring as DJ Premier’s seminal ’New York Reality Check 101’ release. (AM)