div style=”text-align: justify;”OK So I’ve been going back and forth for a good few weeks about whether to feature this album on here… On the one hand, it is an amazing Hip-Hop album and everyone should have the pleasure of listening to the music BUT on the other hand, there’s so much history and so much going on behind the scenes with this album that listening to it gives me quite thenbsp;bitter-sweetnbsp;feeling every time and I’m sure it’s the same for anyone else who knows the ‘Sorry I’m Late’ back story! Alas we’re here strictly for the music and music this good, especially Hip-Hop music this good should ALWAYS be shared so without further ado, iPlug to you Culture VI Records + John Regan’s ‘Sorry I’m Late’br /br /div class=”separator” style=”clear: both; text-align: center;”a href=”http://different-kitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/John-Regan-Sorry-Im-Late.jpg” imageanchor=”1″ style=”margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;”img border=”0″ height=”400″ src=”http://different-kitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/John-Regan-Sorry-Im-Late.jpg” width=”400″ //a/divbr //divdiv style=”text-align: justify;”‘Sorry I’m Late’ is thenbsp;débutnbsp;solo album from 24-year old Baltimore native and Hip-Hop artist, a href=”http://www.johnislate.com/”ibJohn Regan/b/i/a released on Independent label a href=”http://twitter.com/#!/CULTUREVI”ibCulture VI/b/i/a which boasts features amp; production from some of US Hip-Hop’s established names such as Joell Ortiz, 88-Keys, Skyzoo, Sha Stimuli, Nottz, Ill Bill. Naledge (Kids In The Hall), Needlz as well as the amazing a href=”http://www.twitter.com/marshaambrosius”ibMarsha Ambrosius/b/i/a! Already for an Indie project, the calibre and quality of features and guest-producers Culture VI’s Wil Loesel managed to bring together on this album without the budget of a major label is a HUGE feat in itself… The question is does it work??? I guess only the music can answer that…/divdiv style=”text-align: justify;”br //divdiv style=”text-align: justify;”object height=”81″ width=”100%” param name=”movie” value=”http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F7336845secret_url=false”/paramparam name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”/paramembed allowscriptaccess=”always” height=”81″ src=”http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F7336845secret_url=false” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” width=”100%”/embed /object a href=”http://soundcloud.com/johnregan/john-regan-12-stars-feat-nicholas-howard-produced-by-needlz-yz”/a br /br /We proceed with one of my personal favourites on the 14-track ‘Sorry I’m Late’. This one is called ‘Stars’ with production from a href=”http://www.needlz.net/”Needlz/a amp; YZ and featuring British Singer a href=”http://www.nickhowardmusic.com/”biNicholas Howard/i/b/a who does PERFECTLY on vocals. On here, John Regan is at his introspective best and it makes for very compelling listening. John’s not a punch-line rapper, neither is he heavy on the smart/witty lines or double entendres BUT what you get is a brutal honesty with real heartfelt and relatable lyrics that’s really just refreshing and liberating to listen to amp; what can I say about the production on this song that you cannot hear for yourself… The musical backdrop on this is beautiful, thanks to Needlz amp; YZ!!!br /br /object height=”81″ width=”100%” param name=”movie” value=”http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F5530697secret_url=false”/paramparam name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”/paramembed allowscriptaccess=”always” height=”81″ src=”http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F5530697secret_url=false” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” width=”100%”/embed /object a href=”http://soundcloud.com/culturevi/onedayinheaven”/a br /br /You already know that I’m a sucker for a good Soulful Hip-Hop song and the song you just heard, ‘a href=”http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/one-day-in-heaven-feat-skyzoo/id398736831?i=398737435″ibOne Day In Heaven/b/i/a’ featuring a href=”http://www.skyzoo718.com/”biSkyzoo/i/b/a and Jaiden on vocals (another amazing vocal feature) is exactly that! One of my stand-out tracks of the album, another musical masterpiece of a backdrop from YZ with John Regan and Skyzoo especially (on that second vese) riding this one rather beautifully. Don’t you just love it when a Hip-Hop song actually tells a story and is written with purpose and craft rather than just plodding along trivially? Or am I just bugging? I keep replaying this song and can’t get over the realness of Skyzoo’s verse. A really good song from whatever front you look at it!br /br /object height=”81″ width=”100%” param name=”movie” value=”http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F5454279secret_url=false”/paramparam name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”/paramembed allowscriptaccess=”always” height=”81″ src=”http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F5454279secret_url=false” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” width=”100%”/embed /object a href=”http://soundcloud.com/culturevi/yesterday”/a br /br /Now for a slight change of pace unto the second single off of ‘Sorry I’m late’, a song titled ‘a href=”http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/john-regan-yesterday-feat/id397249321?i=397249398″ibYesterday/b/i/a’ featuring the colossal a href=”http://www.joellortiz.com/”biJoell Ortiz/i/b/anbsp;in adept amp; reflective story-telling mode about losing his ‘baby’ with the hauntingly gripping vocals of emerging Ramp;B artist Meylin on the hook to complete this YZ-produced rock-influenced number heavy on head thumping drum patterns and guitar riffs as similar to tracks like ‘a href=”http://soundcloud.com/culturevi/breathoffreshair”ibBreath of Fresh Air/b/i/a’ amp; ‘bia href=”http://soundcloud.com/culturevi/shelovesmenot”She Loves Me… Not/a/i/b’ which the album start off with…br /br /object height=”81″ width=”100%” param name=”movie” value=”http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F5120934secret_url=false”/paramparam name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”/paramembed allowscriptaccess=”always” height=”81″ src=”http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F5120934secret_url=false” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” width=”100%”/embed /object a href=”http://soundcloud.com/culturevi/painttheworld”/a br /br /The first single off of ‘Sorry I’m Late’, ‘Paint the World’ is as HIP-HOP as HIP-HOP gets plus it’s a song about John’s early years as a Graffiti artist! From the DJ scratches to the full-on rap hook to the head-bopping production courtesy YZ and let’s NOT even begin to talk about the cameo appearance from veteran emcee i style=”font-weight: bold;”a href=”http://qn5.com/artists/packfm/about”Pack FM/anbsp;/ion the hook just in case you didn’t notice. I ain’t even gonna lie, I was half hoping FM would lend a verse to this BUT alas, this song still comes HARD!br /br /Can I just take a moment though to say this… One of the overriding themes on this album is that the quality of production and music is just way UP there! For that, we especially have to thank YZ who is on production credits for 10 out of the 14 tracks on nbsp;the album as well as serving as Co-Executive Producer on ‘Sorry I’m Late’… I know you are waiting to hear the Marsha Ambrosius feature and even though I’ve already featured one song too many than I should, I’ll oblige you and share it with you before I get outta your hair.br /br /object height=”81″ width=”100%” param name=”movie” value=”http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F7336839secret_url=false”/paramparam name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”/paramembed allowscriptaccess=”always” height=”81″ src=”http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F7336839secret_url=false” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” width=”100%”/embed /object a href=”http://soundcloud.com/johnregan/john-regan-06-all-i-got-to-give-feat-marsha-ambrosius-produced-by-yz”/a br /br /OK so what’s the verdict? Is ‘Sorry I’m Late’ one of the best Hip-Hop albums of 2010? I would be inclined to say Yes! ‘Sorry I’m Late’ is certainly one of the best Indie Hip-Hop albums of 2010 without question. Moxie Black’s ‘a href=”https://www.wepluggoodmusic.com/2010/08/we-plug-2-you-moxie-black-how-did-this.html”ibHow Did This Happen?/b/i/a’ amp; Pack FM’s ‘a href=”http://qn5music.bandcamp.com/album/i-f-cking-hate-rappers”ibI F*cking Hate Rappers/b/i/a’ rank up there too for Indie projects this year (lemme know any more I should make mention of) but alas I digress, the point I’m trying to make is that ‘Sorry I’m Late’ is a very good album with AMAZING production, I cannot go on enough about how good the music is on this album, from a really good amp; honest rapper (Do they even make ‘honest’ rappers any more?). Granted John Regan hardly departs from talking or rapping about the hardships of balancing ornbsp;separatingnbsp;his music from his life and doing what he loves versus taking care of his family and ordinarily, there might be only so much of that you can listen to in just under an hour BUT John expresses himself nbsp;very excellently and with such honesty and realness that you cannot but help lend him your ears for all of those 60 odd minutes. I highly recommend it.br /br /Stream/Listen: a href=”http://soundcloud.com/culturevi/sets/sorryimlate/”John Regan – Sorry I’m Late/a/divdiv style=”text-align: justify;”br //divdiv style=”text-align: justify;”Purchase: a href=”http://www.amazon.co.uk/John-Regan-Sorry-Late-Explicit/dp/B004782B8U”John Regan – Sorry I’m Late/abr /br /Until the Next Time…br /br /Peace, Love amp; Good Musicnbsp;/div
Very Very Dope…..ilike