Ooc: looks really good mate :)

Abie: Really great! I love this kind of albums, sounds sort of an Opera Rock!

OOC: Flashback memory, I remember this character!

OOC: I know it is a hip hop character, It sounds like a opera rock, because it is telling a story between the songs... you know... that's why I told, it sounds like an opera rock, maybe I should have explained better my thoughts.. LOL ;)

Review of Revelations: Part I

Ramon Omari
Revelations: Part I
Out 10th of August on Tric-Jam Records

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting anything fresh from Ramon Omari when I was asked to listen to an advanced copy and give a review. Personal expectations for his debut album Revelations: Part I were low. I wrote him off as just another blog fad, riding the electro wave to its crash after I watched a video on YouTube of a bootlegged demo from years ago. I believed he had no artistic merit. His flow was too awkward, too much of a pale imitation of Hip-Hop superstar Kanye West (and we all know by now the world only needs one Kanye West). But after giving the album a solid listen and more, the music has spoken and I’ve had a change of heart: Omari is for real.

But before we begin, and as this is my first review, a preface. People who know me know I’m a sucker for this intangible musical quality which I like to call sincerity. What I mean by that is the music isn’t just a critic or fan pleaser but it’s clear that what the artist wanted most was to make a recording that actually carries some vestige of meaningful personal depth. A truly excellent work sounds like putting a stethoscope up to the heart and mind of its creator. Anyone who has ever labored over something that personal knows the vulnerability of putting whatever it is ‘out there.’

Omari has put an album out there that is raw, expressing throughout his own deepest fears, especially his lifelong vulnerability to failure and loneliness. And he’s done so in an original way. First, there’s the track list. The album is split into six, each act transitioning with spoken word narrations by himself. They form a vague narrative about his childhood as a loner to his present-day search for identity and pressure to be great. The precise meaning of it all will be better left resolved amongst stoner circles and blunts in the coming months. Which is probably how Omari would want it anyways, considering how often the dude raps about weed, but it’s exactly that kind of honesty about his own life I’ve come to love about the guy.

But how does it sound? The very few people who have been following his slow rise to fame saw it is only logical to think that Revelations would be Omari’s version of Kanye West’s critically acclaimed debut album College Dropout. But the album is more 808s and Heartbreaks than College Dropout, a genre-bending release that exists in that musically ambiguous gray area between hip hop, R&B, pop, and electronica. Instead of taking the easy way out and depending heavily collaborations with other artists, Omari shows a commitment to originality by keeping the production fresh and only collaborating with a small Orchestra from New York. Omari was the sole producer on the album he shows some real talent with tracks like ‘Ms. Hollywood’, ‘Night Terrors’, ‘Mind Eraser (Shake & Bake)’, ‘Addiction’, and ‘Cool Head’. Together, the album has a consistent ambient, down-tempo, spacey feel that compliments Omari’s flow and persona perfectly.

But for all its freshness and innovation, I would hardly call the album a masterpiece. Nineteen tracks seems too long, with the album dipping in quality after the second act before picking up again seven tracks later in the sixth, which is easily the best. Still, for all its ambition, Omari deserves some recognition, if not a second or third listen. The way the album is put together means its quality is definitely enhanced by listening to it all the way through, from beginning to end. That way, even the worst, most awkward songs sound better in context.

If anything at all, the album has four or five standout tracks that make it at the very least more than worthwhile to check out. To name a few: ‘Night Terrors’ (Omari at his rawest and with the best opening lines of a hip hop song I’ve in years), “Cool Head” (an amazing way to end an album), and ‘We Can’t Stop Here’, which is a hybrid of rap and rock that I’ve never heard pulled off fantastically, but I give Omari mad respect for making it sound more than decent. Then there’s the stuff that’ll be playing in clubs around the world for years to come, ‘Ms. Hollywood’ and ‘Speed Ticket’.

All in all, while it’s not on the same level of game-changing debut that College Dropout was, Revelations is definitely one of the most original and exciting new sounds of this year. It is definitely a promising start to Omari’s career as an artist, a career that is about to take off and take Omari out of his lonely room and straight into the spotlight.

79/100

Edited by user 24 July 2011 21:20:03(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Thanks dude. Your music is a big inspiration for me.

- Ramon Omari

Haha absolutely. Just hit us up if you ever wanna do anything.

- Ramon Omari

Hayden: Ha ha you interest me. Most hip hop sucks but I think you finally get the picture. Cant wait to hear some more of your music.

OOC: love the irony...

Ramon Omari interview with 5StarHipHop.com.



Congratulations on the release of your debut album, Revelations: Part I.
Thanks, man. I’m really stoked about it finally being released and the fans seem to be reacting pretty well to it so yeah, I’m really excited about it at the moment.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
My name’s Ramon Omari, I’m from Cleveland originally, I moved to New York when I was 20 years old and I had a dream like everybody else in the world that wants to do something with their life and now I’m in the process of making that dream a reality. It’s taken a lot of hard work and dedication and it’s been a really crazy journey and now in my music I kind of use those stories in some way, shape or form, but I also drop knowledge in ways that hasn’t been done before, and try to inspire people. And I’m trying to better myself through my music because music is really therapeutic for me so I try to put a lot of myself into my music and try to help out everyone else who’s been fucked with. Literally I feel like I’m in a whole different world by myself, you know? And now that the albums released it’s really crazy to just watch it unfold. I thought nobody would understand where I was coming from.

When did you first decide that you really wanted to pursue a career in music?
I was 15 years old when I figured out that this what I wanted to do, so I was a freshman in high school. Prior to that me and my buddies always used to freestyle around the neighbourhood but it wasn’t until I was 15 that I really believed that I could do it if I just focused and got my rhymes right. And I’m 25 now so that’s a solid 10 years of pursuing music and I’ve only just started to make my mark now which shows how much patience and drive it takes to really make it in the music industry.

How did your family and friends take it when you told them you wanted to be a musician?
Well when I told my mom I was in high school so she wasn’t too supportive ‘cause she wanted me to focus on school, you know. But then, I think once I hit 17 I was in that mode of being a juvenile delinquent I guess you could say, and I was just thinking that I could just do whatever I wanted. I went to college just to make her happy because I knew that she wanted me to, so I did a year at college, I was a film major and I loved all my film classes and hated all my other classes. After that year at college I took a year off cause I knew I wasn’t getting any younger and I still had this burning desire to do music professionally. So in October, 2007, I landed in New York and haven’t looked back since.

Talk to us about making the move from Cleveland to New York.
The reason why I made that move is because I just felt like I needed to be in a new vibe and it took a lot for me to make that jump, but, you know, being in Cleveland when I would do these open mic nights at bars and stuff like that I was getting a little bit of love and I wanted to kind of capitalize on that and get massive. And the shit that I was making at that time wasn’t easy to grasp, and I understood that most people wouldn’t necessarily get it, ‘cause I felt like my brain was like on some different wavelength, you know, when I was growing up I always felt like an outcast, but I was never really worried about that shit, I kind of embraced it and I think that’s why I’ve made such a leap creatively into my music. So ever since I’ve made that change from Cleveland to New York life’s been good for me.

What steps did you take to get where you are now?
There weren’t really steps taken, there’s no rulebook for this shit, you know what I mean? The path isn’t lit up for everybody, only a couple walk that path. And god blessed me and gave me this destiny. But I did make sure that I put myself in the right position and before I could even make a move with music I had to establish my living situation and get a job. And in the first 4 or 5 months in New York I didn’t do anything but try to get a job, and then when I finally found a job I would do little bit of acting in commercials and stuff like that, nothing too crazy.

You’ve said in previous interview that you’re not just influenced and interested by Hip-Hop and Rap music. Who are some of your favourite artists across any genre?
Oh man, there’s so many, the main stuff I’m listening to at the moment is like; all the guys from OFWGKTA and the British band Architects. But some of my all-time favourites are artists like; Jimi Hendrix, Nas, Wu-Tang, The Doors and blink-182.

What’s your favourite album of all time?
Again, there’s so many. Magical Mystery Tour is definitely one of them. Illmatic by Nas got me through some really bad times, you know, when I was really broke I would just listen to that record all the time, like it was the music that got me through the day. If I couldn’t feed myself, and I could just get one cigarette, I could at least listen to Illmatic and know that it was gonna be all good so really Nas was therapeutic for me during my grind.

If you could pick one person to collaborate with in the future, who would it be?
Eric Quillington. The man is just a genius. And other people like Alicia Lena, MattY, Ryan Ross Hernandez, Jason Smith, the list just goes on and on so i’ll stop it there.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
This is more of a quote than a piece of advice but it’s something that’s stuck with me ever since I was in 7th Grade, and I remember my gym teacher telling me this, the quote was ‘it’s better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.’ And I’ve never forgotten it and I use it as inspiration for when things get tough.

You’re signed with Tric-Jam Records, have they been a good label to work with?
Yeah, they’ve been great. They haven’t rushed me with the recording or anything at all, they just sit back and let you do your own thing which is great and they help out whenever you need help. I think it has the potential to be one of the top labels in the world with some of the talent they have signed at the moment.

Do you have any plans for maybe a tour to support the album?
I would love to go on tour as a support artist for someone. But that’s not up for me to decide, i’ll put my hand up if anyone needs a support act but if not then i’ll take a couple of months off before I start thinking about my follow-up album.

Describe a normal day in the life of Ramon Omari.
Wake up at around noon in a stranger’s bed, find my way home, smoke some dope, and go out to clubs with my buddies then the cycle just starts over again. I don’t do a whole lot of stuff.

Do you ever think that you do maybe a little too much partying?
No way, you’re only young once, I’ve got no plans on stopping until I’m a lot older.

What are your career expectations and where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I don’t want to be as big as Jay-Z or Nas or Wu-Tang Clan, I want to be bigger. It’s all about progression. If I just set a goal to be as big as Jay or Nas, that’s like setting my shit to a limit and selling myself short. I’m not necessarily saying that I’m better than them but you have to set the bar high if you want to last a long time in the music industry. So in 5 years I want to be still releasing music constantly but also have businesses and other ventures outside of music. I’d love to be doing acting as well.

You dress a lot different to most Hip-Hop artists. Any reason why?The traditional Hip-Hop look is just getting so tired and bland, you know what I mean? Everybody always looks like they’re going to the gym 24/7. I’m just being myself and that look that the majority of other rappers have is just not me.

How important is the visual side of music to you?
Visually everything that I do I want to be fresh and cutting edge and do stuff that hasn’t been done before. You’ll see as much creativity in the visuals as there is in the music.

Now let’s go into details about the album, I’d heard lots of rumours that it was going to be an album with collaborations, but it ended up not being like that. What happened?
I don’t really know to tell you the truth. When I was writing I was planning on collaborations and working with different artists but when I actually got into the studio I just went in a whole different direction.

Talk us through your writing process. How do you do it?
Well first off, the beat has to be something that really grabs my attention and the melody has to hit me right away and then I need to get a solid hook and that’s when I know that I have a song and I just need to execute the lyrics. It’s all about the melodies for me, I need to feel it right away and if I don’t feel it right away then I scrap it. If it takes me an hour to write a hook or an hour to write a verse then I scrap it.

The lyrical themes for the album are pretty dark and the music for the album is pretty dark too and that surprised me when I first listened to it because I think most modern debut albums, especially with Hip-Hop artists like yourself, seem to be more up-tempo and more fun, club-friendly stuff, why did you choose to do an album like this for your debut record?
Well, when I first started that idea I was planning on the album being really aggressive, up-tempo stuff. So I felt like, you know, what better way to do it then to just reach out to some of the artists that I admire and do a lot of up-tempo club stuff. But while I was recording I was, and I guess still am, having a lot of problems with addiction with both drugs and alcohol, so it wasn’t easy for me to focus, and the songs that I was writing were just totally dark, you know, and I just thought about it and I was like, man, I don’t wanna do all dark stuff, people are gonna think I’m so depressed, everyone’s gonna be calling me emo, I want people to see that I’m a good guy, I want them to feel my energy. But I was heavily on drugs so there was no energy, it wasn’t me.

On the track “Chicken Little,” you say there is no point in using dense lyrics. Why do you say that?
If you make lyrics too complicated, people sometimes don’t get them. If you make it them deep, people sometimes don’t get them. It seems like the only way you can win is if you simplify things. Musicians that really go for it and try to write intriguing and compelling music usually don’t get much props for it. So you’ve got to kind of dumb things down, which I did a bit, but on most of the album I’m really pushing the envelope and trying to make complicated and intriguing music appealing to everyday fans.

So people who write complicated lyrics like Jay-Z are just wasting their time?Jay came from a time when lyrics really mattered. So anything that he releases people are going to listien to and have an interest in. But new artists coming in these days won’t find it that easy anymore to be well receipted for having deep and powerful lyrics. And I understand that. But like I said I’m really trying to show people that there are ways to have complicated lyrics and still appeal to everyone.

What do you think is the most attractive and appealing part of your sound?
The originality and melodic tones of my songs and the vibes that they bring. All the songs on Revelations have a really intense feeling. Even when I’m just rapping, they all have an intense, intriguing feeling that I think people grab a hold of.

Your debut single, Ms. Hollywood, was release a few weeks ago, how do you think people reacted to it?
I love the reactions to it, both good and bad. If people weren’t talking about it at all, then I would be worried. But I’m pleased with the song and no write-ups or negative comments will make me feel any different. Not everyone will like what you do, known fact. All that matters is I love what I do, I have fun doing it, and I’ve got enough fans and believers that love my music and support my artistic vision and that’s all I could ask for. If you don’t like the song or my album, cool. That’s not gonna stop me from writing and making music.

What was the inspiration behind the song?
It’s the only song that I had written prior to when I first started writing material for the album about 6 months ago. When I wrote it I was at work doing security and I was in the security booth, it was freezing cold and I just started to analyse my life at that moment in time and I had a moment to just reflect. And then the lyrics and the melody came to me immediately and in that moment right then I was just inspired to write this song with this melody and it came very quickly.

Are you making a music video for it?
I am actually; I spent two days last week filming a video for Ms. Hollywood in an abandoned warehouse so I’m pretty stoked about that and I think we’re gonna release it on the 24th of this month so look out for it.

What’s the video about?
Well Ms. Hollywood is probably one of the more rock-sounding songs on Revelations so I decided to kind of channel the spirit of one of my musical heroes, Jimi Hendrix. So I got the big wig on with the hair band and it was a lot of fun to film.



How important is the visual side of music to you?
Visually everything that I do I want to be fresh and cutting edge and do stuff that hasn’t been done before. You’ll see as much creativity in the visuals as there is in the music.

What’s your favourite song off Revelations?
The songs that I’ve got the most love from the fans about are “We Can’t Stop Here,” and “Mind Eraser.” But my personal favourite would either be “Heartbreakers,” or “Addiction.”

The album is really spaced-out and it almost feels like you’re in a dream whilst listening to it. Was that intended or was that just because of the drug use?
Nah, it was intended. One of my main hobbies when I was growing up was sleeping. I just thought sleep was the best part of the day ‘cause I could just dream and imagine anything I wanted and I always had an ill imagination as a little boy. I used to have visions, I think around after the time my father died. I had these nightmares and night terrors and really bad dreams, but they felt very much real and they used to haunt me a lot. And they were a big inspiration for Revelations.

You don’t hold back emotions when writing lyrics, do you? Because on Revelations you go into details about some pretty deep and personal stuff that I don’t think other artists would be as open to let people hear.
When I was growing up my mom always taught me to express myself. So that’s what I do, I express myself and I’m never afraid of my feelings. I knew early on that I was a sensitive kid so I grew up and embraced that part of me. You can’t judge anybody on being sensitive. You can’t judge somebody on being honest with you. And I think that’s why people are really connecting with my music, because I don’t sugar-coat anything.

Okay, well that's all we have time for. Thanks for coming in Ramon and good luck with your future.
Thanks, dude.

Egor: May may may! Look at you, you are interesing. I will go pick up your album, mmmm.. nice looking...