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  Release Date: February 8, 2005
  Website: One.Be.Lo Website
  Label: Fatbeats

OneBeLo “Sonogram” Album Review
Underground hip-hop just isn’t understood like it used to be. Nowadays, it’s almost as popular to be underground as it is to be pop. Hip-hop fans are realizing the difference between the hip-hop we see on MTV and the real stuff, and are now finding it fashionable to listen to the more introspective side of the art form and its culture. While this is good, I do think this acknowledgement has created another major genre of hip-hop, one that exists in between underground and pop.

A lot of music that shouldn’t really be considered underground is labeled underground, just because it’s not like the pop brand of hip-hop so popular among the MTV generation.

In reality, the underground genre revolves more around music that is less invested in financially. If you see a video for a particular artist or group, chances are that group is not really underground, even if the video lacks the flashy production of the mainstream, because a video is expensive even in low quality. If you hear a song on the radio, despite what it might say, it is probably not truly underground, because underground artists don’t usually have agents to promote their music to the stations. If you see an album advertised on TV or posted up at Best Buy, it is probably not underground, because underground artists usually don’t have the budget for that type of marketing.

In other words, underground hip-hop is for the love, not the money. It is music the artists would make whether or not they had a record deal. It is not heavily promoted or marketed, because many artists do not wish to have their music showcased to a majority that does not appreciate its value.

Now it’s not like the underground doesn’t want money, like they’ve taken a vow of poverty or something. It’s just that the values of underground hip-hop don’t approve of the moneymaking entities in music, including big time record labels, marketing companies, TV and radio stations, as these entities normally take larger percentages of and have more influence on an artist’s work than the artists themselves. And instead of allowing some greedy corporate force to control and profit from their work, underground artists often operate independently, handling their own production, promotion and distribution.

One.Be.Lo’s “s.o.n.o.g.r.a.m.” is a great example of pure underground hip-hop, and possibly the best underground album of the year thus far. Not only did One.Be.Lo head all production and creative direction of the album, even publishing under his own label, but he also comes correct lyrically, covering many underground and urban-related topics, including poppy rappers and their labels, government scandal, materialism and urban struggle. One.Be.Lo represents the evolution of underground hip-hop, of an artist who loves his music so much that he refuses to give away any creative influence or profits to hip-hop’s moneymaking entities, even if it means sacrificing riches, fame or success.

Pop Rappers and Big Time Record Labels
Underground rap is often characterized by a kind of urban rhetoric battle rap, which showcases lyrical skill and wordplay in a competitive manner to prove one’s superiority over his opponent or enemy. In “s.o.n.o.g.r.a.m.,” One.Be.Lo uses this underground style to prove himself above the rich rappers and their record labels.

This apple’s hard to the core, this ain’t about metaphors
Given the spiritual war, we all a part of it
So much emotion inside, I spit with passion and pride
You feel the rhythms I ride? I put my heart in it
Originality grace, my personality traits
Nourish reality based, see how my world turns
Sets anybody in weeks, I practice first what I preach
Experience what I teach, you gotta live and learn

Who’s ready for us
Most stations’ rotations ain’t heavy enough
God driven, even non believers wishing me luck
Cause pure skills don’t balance when the business corrupt
Underground cause I’m in this not to bend and get fucked
For the love that won’t even get me Wimbledon’s cup
Most rappers got you thinking they be living it up

Wack emcees wanna act stuck-up when you kick it with ‘em
Thinkin’ I’m dissin’ ’cause I ain’t feelin’ the shit they spittin’
Know the difference between dissin’ and constructive criticism
They should try to pen a written that can fit the rhythm
Too busy tryin’ to hit the ism, hit the women
Feminine get the Benjamins

Rappers speaking about how they packing nines in a beat
Pat him down that’s the clown that be quiet in streets
Ask around blast around he’s crying for peace

Never really trusted cats who couldn’t stare in my eye
No surprise, yo, even blessings wear a disguise
Sometimes I’m riding in the hood, me and my man saw
Some big teeth, hands and feet, yo that ain’t grandma
Big chains, cars and clothes, yo that ain’t hip hop
Spit your flow backwards, huff and puff your blunts
But you still ain’t big or bad enough to blow up my bridge spot

These new jacks getting lost in the shuffle
Cause they didn’t know the game was a hustle
But watching all the card sharks ain’t the hard part
The hard part is knowing how to play your cards smart
These greedy record labels make me so damn sick
Not only signing wack MCs but they whole damn click
I’m trying to make an honest living from expressing in soul
These record labels only using me to register wealth
Promised to buy moms a house, a large bank account
If I Kris-Kross it over, rocking inside out
Some rappers can’t get enough of it

Tired of rappers, smoking phillies
Not really sayin’ nothin’, like Milli Vanilli, my style? Don’t be silly
Don’t need a filthy record deal, people still feel me

Whether its polished, religious or street knowledge
I wanna hear them lyrics make sense, no stink garbage
Listen, whatever you doing, just do it with skill
Just because it’s positive don’t means it’s something I feel
Keep it real

One.Be.Lo speaks of his “spiritual war” instead of other rappers’ wars of violence or material, how he’s “tired of rappers . not really saying nothing,” and how “big chains, cars and clothes, yo that ain’t hip-hop.” He also blames “these greedy record labels” who “only use me to register wealth.” All the while, One.Be.Lo embraces his underground roots, by “trying to make an honest living by expressing in soul” and refusing to “Kris-Kross it over” and “get lost in the shuffle.”

Government Scandal
Underground hip-hop is often characterized by a belief in somewhat of a government or majority conspiracy against urban culture and the lower class masses. This conspiracy involves many factors, including the instilling of fear in the hearts of Americans, using the media to mislead the masses while covering up the truth, allowing drugs into the country, and brainwashing the children with different forms of entertainment.

Aiyyo we deaf, dumb and blind in this world we live cause
We don’t understand how they robbing and killing us
They got us watching backs and locking our front doors
Especially time got ‘em working on your soul they come for
Disguise entertainment, psychological fund war
So many different channels and they using to hunt yours
So turn off the box, watch the program stop
See how the X marks the block

You used to be the person getting caught in the hype
Like if I read it in the paper then it gotta be news, right?
Or maybe CNN had you glued to the tube tight
Thinking you was watching the government’s every move, right?
Stay tuned for props the helicopter crew’s flight
Reported we saw it now the way to teach you new heights
So many programs you watch on the sofa
But the real programs sit on top of your shoulders
Remote control your brain with all of this entertainment
Cable channels basic, you plug you in the Matrix
Face it, even cartoons and PlayStations
X-Box, target your tots with “X” ratings
Worse than Hollywood with that Hidden Agenda
No propaganda inserts didn’t get censored
Same reason magazines show the homicide view
To desensitize you, so nothing surprise you
Portray the victim as those who victimize you
Despise you, religious extremes to terrorize you
Everywhere you go is the same old news, right?
And everything I mentioned get controlled by the Jews, right?
Freedom of press but if you try to confess
That’s like a hungry fat man throwing steak in a food fight

The media be feeding us napalm atomics
While the schools brainwash us, the crayons is toxic
Don’t believe the hype, they can save all the drama
Cause them apes not evolving, I can’t swallow ya vomit
My rights as a human they change laws in congress
Now Satan in office, we can’t call him honest
What part of the game do they play, cops or robbers?
In this land of Pocahontas, natives lost to conquest
Your false gods get framed, buffed and polished
If you ask who the prophet, they say Nostradamas
No ways of Muhammad, no pray five at Kabbah
Definition of a terrorist, they call Islamic
So many brothers puzzled and can’t solve they problems
Smuggle crack, juggle rap, or play ball in college
But Uncle Sam, hustle man, take all your dollars

One.Be.Lo speaks of fear and conspiracy, claiming that “the media be feeding us napalm atomics” and that “magazines show the homicide view,” while “CNN had you glued to the tube” so that “they got us watching backs and locking our front doors.” He hopes for people to stay away from this brainwash campaign by urging them to “don’t believe the hype” and “turn off the box, watch the program stop.”

Materialism
Perhaps the biggest present day movement in underground rap is the one that battles materialism and greed in hip-hop. One.Be.Lo spends a great deal of time on this album discussing this country’s uneven distribution of wealth, the negativity and violence that it produces, and tells many stories about real life experiences in which people end up in trouble due to this greed and materialism.

Who got the props? Who got the props?
Magazines and Hollywood backdrops
Who got the props? Who got the props?
Radio and TV crews, it don’t stop
Who got the props? Who got the props?
The internet, the newspaper snapshots
Who go the props? Who got the props?
Even in your schools and church, it don’t stop

Landlords don’t do nothing but collect rent
Police don’t patrol, serve or protect it
Brothers don’t allow others to hustle on they block
Always carry heat cause the beef don’t stop
And it don’t quit, everyday the same shit
Hustling to get you what your job can’t get
And I ain’t even talking ’bout a Benz or Mercedes
I’m talking about toothpaste, diapers for your babies
The basic necessities of life
The homeless sleeping in a cardboard box every night
The only playgrounds is vacant lots and burned buildings
You gotta feel sorry for the children
How they gonna do they homework when they homes don’t work?
They can’t read books cause the lights don’t work
They can’t take a bath cause the water don’t work
The stove in the kitchen, plus the heat don’t work
It’s cold at night, they mommas can’t afford jackets
She too busy trying to support the crack habit
The State took her kids, now they all doing bids
I know it sound crazy but that’s how it is, in the ghetto

It don’t take a professor
To see the oppressor got the whole treasure
Now how many Africans slain for one platinum chain on yo’ dresser?
I’m no better just because I think I know better
Tell me who you trust when you’re in your new trucks
Some of us dying over a few bucks, killers old enough to ride a school bus
With brothers like these tell me, who needs the Ku Klux?
Women walking with titties out cause the truth sucks

You get a CD for ten but I sign it for free
Capitalism, have our children dying for cheese
Damn fashion grand dragon be designing your jeans
Local pants sagging Uncle Sam taxing me describing a thief
Bar codes that’s the sign of the beast
Now the latest pagan faces be the flyest MCs

Living in the fast lane and can’t slow down
Some people can’t get enough of it
Even if you living slow lane take your chain cause they
Can’t get enough of it
The FBI smuggle the crack to your city cause they
Can’t get enough of it
Got niggas on the block every day all day cause they
Can’t get enough of it
Shorties in the club shaking ass for cash because they
Can’t get enough of it
All up in the casino watch your luck run out because you
Can’t get enough of it
The poor stay poor the rich keep getting richer cause they
Can’t get enough of it
Blood stain brothers like Abel and Cain because they
Can’t get enough of it

Schools full of students cause they screwed us for our wealth
Got 7, 8 figures but they can’t afford health
Soon as you meet your death, soldier
This country sacrificed millions for the millions while your family scrap for leftovers
Check’s in the mail, cause they can’t get enough of your dollars
Hustle schemes and crimes is plotted

Okay, some things change, some things stay the same
I once knew this kid who was caught up in the game
His wallet and his chain was the promise in his brain
20 inch speakers, amps got his wattage and his range
Smooth operator, player rocking with the ‘caine
Fiends hollering his name
Got his product in they veins
He said - “Living clean only get you simple things”
So he balanced triple beams, now the block is feeling flames
Hot enough to make the Devil cop a lemonade
Cops popping out a shade, now the spot is getting Raid
Like roaches, night approach us, gotta get away
Quicksand, snitch ran to the cops to give his name
Picture his wife and kids not up in the frames
Stay dry, get wet, the only option’s in the rain

One.Be.Lo calls out our society’s obsession with money, claiming that “the poor stay poor and the rich keep getting richer” because “the oppressor got the whole treasure” and that “capitalism have our children dying for cheese.” One.Be.Lo asserts that these are results of materialism and greed, as “this country sacrificed millions for the millions while your family scrap for leftovers,” forcing people into “hustling to get you what your job can’t get.”

Urban Struggle
I’ve always believed that hip-hop is an art form that can never be copied in full or duplicated due to its unavoidable connection to the urban culture and struggle in which the movement is rooted. And the one aspect of underground hip-hop that makes it a truly unique art form is its ability to act as a method of communicating that culture from somewhat of a sideline point of view. One.Be.Lo further solidified his underground status in this way, by sharing his stories and theories on this struggle, with the voice of one who has actually lived it.

Violence the number one form of entertainment
Guidance we need to free us from mental enslavement
Alcohol, sex, drugs, guns
A few tools the devil uses to entice what you love
It seems dramatic scenes in a movie make you cry
But no remorse for the garbage that we see throughout our lives
We got eyes but can we really see
Or see what we wanna see
Hear what we wanna hear
Act how we wanna be
Guard your faculties
You can’t afford to live haphazardly
Young kids with potential not knowing their capabilities

This is dedicated to the third George, aiyyo I miss him in the worst way
The bullet killed him on his nineteenth birthday
Now what a sad way to lose your life
At that time he had a newborn daughter and a future wife
I never got a chance to say goodbye
I heard the news from a county jail cell facing twenty-five
Can’t explain how I feel inside
Can’t explain the actions of the trigger guy, but still I try
Did I cry? Man I probably ran a river dry
Thinking to myself, trying to figure why
They say it’s always the good ones that have to die

Once dumb now I got a lot to say
Once blind now I focus on the world today
Don’t think you got wisdom; life’ll pull your teeth
I got peeps in the dirt from some bullshit beef
Walking a straight path these last days is even steeper
Action inflated, talk is even cheaper

Let me take you to a place where the sun don’t shine
Killers don’t talk, little kids don’t mind
Men don’t work, don’t take care of babies
You bought my album but bootleggers don’t pay me
City running wild, cats don’t give a fuck
Junior High students don’t say no to drugs
Liquor stores don’t ask shorties for their ID
This is a place where don’t nothing surprise me
The ghetto

Now in the present day, I’m blessed to say let the record play
Using my music as a movement to correct mistakes
Knowing my death awaits, I hesitate to question fate
Boys and girls, this world is nothing but a test of faith
So now I’m planning every step I take, must be a better way
Deeply meditate on these ahead I pray
Seek to elevate being lead astray, flee the devil’s face
Evil separates, reach the heaven gates

Now you can get shot, everyday it’s a struggle to be alive
Mentally, physically, only the strong survive
Can’t hide from the fact ghettos is filled with blacks
Crack, smack, roaches and rats
Thugs toting they gats, this ain’t a nice place to visit
The people that you live with, hearts cold and frigid

One.Be.Lo speaks in great detail of his surroundings, “a place where the sun don’t shine” and “everyday it’s a struggle to survive.” He talks of the violence and poverty of this environment, with “thugs toting they gats” and where “violence (is) the number one form of entertainment,” probably the reasons why he “got peeps in the dirt from some bullshit beef.” Yet as with most underground rappers, One.Be.Lo has not let this urban struggle anger him, but has instead used it as motivation. He seems to view this struggle as “nothing but a test of faith,” and hopes only to “let the record play . using my music as a movement to correct mistakes.”

A lot of listeners will claim that these topics have been beaten into the ground by the hip-hop underground. That everyone understands urban struggle, knows about government scandal, and realizes the difference between real hip-hop and the materialistic poppy rappers and their labels. Maybe so. But if these topics have indeed been beaten into the ground, why do the problems still exist? Why does America remain victim to its materialistic roots, bump phony rap music and buy marketing scam records, and continue to embrace a style of life that creates more and more poor, struggling people? Probably because no one is listening.

However, I do believe that these trends will end, and underground rap could very well play a major part. As this country’s ever-increasing urban society continues to grow and adapt a sense of community, the people will start to listen and learn, and will create a better way of life for themselves. Until then, it is necessary for underground hip-hop to carry the torch: To continue to make music that reflects their style of life; To continue to make music for reason instead of money; To make music that will heighten people’s awareness while allowing them to relaxingly bump their heads in recognition.

One.Be.Lo does indeed represent this evolution of underground hip-hop, of an art form based on community, struggle and acknowledgement. Of artists who love their music so much that they refuse to give away any creative influence or profits to hip-hop’s moneymaking entities, even if it means sacrificing riches, fame or success, because it is more important and rewarding to contribute to the voice of society.