Sleep & Zelly Rock Combinaton Loaded (self-released)

[November 14th, 2007]

[HIP-HOP] Sometimes Sleep and Zelly Rock—a pairing as satisfying and unlikely as French fries and chocolate ice cream—are just too quick to catch. The silver-tongued MC and the dancehall stalwart (respectively) spend stretches of their new collaboration, Combination Loaded, challenging each other to lyrical races. It starts with the album’s opening bars, where Zelly ranks: “ComefordaWii comefordaWii comefordaWiiwaitinfordeefuture/ Fightsacrosseyedgirl likewejushaveononeshooza.” At least that’s what it sounds like—aside from awesome.

The idea of dancehall reggae and hip-hop co-habitating under the same beats is hardly new—remember Snow? But where most efforts of that variety target mainstream club-goers, Sleep and Zelly Rock’s collabo is positive and real. Instead of pawning gritty street stories for morally superior life lessons—a common gripe with positive hip-hop—Sleep and Zelly combine the two. And when they find joy, as on “It Feels Good to be Me” (a track propelled by a scrambled Common sample), they’re not afraid to share it.

The Portland-based pair isn’t a one-trick-pony, either—topics on Combination Loaded largely follow traditional rap themes; there’s the weed song (“Weedies”), the political cut (“Crooked”) and the true love track (“Looker”). The most entertaining of these familiar-sounding tracks is “Baby Walk,” a tribute to the pair’s favorite hip-hop artists. Produced by Oldominion’s Smoke, it beeps and kicks like something SoulSonic Force might have crafted in its heyday. It’s not the producer’s only blast from the past: “Looker” has more in common with big band swing than with the minimal production of most recent hip-hop, while “Living For Today” ventures into Flamenco territory. Smoke’s skills are formidable, and it’s a testament to the MCs’ prowess that they can keep up.

Even at its busiest, though, the album exudes fun. It’s evidenced by the multiple Goonies samples, the inside joke mini-skits and the two MCs’ highly fluid style of trading verses—Combination Loaded is a document of two friends having a good time. If they blow minds in the process, so be it.