MUSIC REVIEWS
Ill Waters - Ill Waters Project Vol. 1
David Allun Jones
Seeing Ill Waters live was a neat experience with Portland rapper/ producer Illaj and Chicago singer/ rapper Chi Waters performing with a full band (including saxophonist) and offering hopes of a fresh new addition to the NW hip hop scene. Expecting the live band aspect to be found all over their fourteen track collection, I was instantly disappointed to find them bypassing that more original formula for standard beat machine/ synthesizer/ sampler rap production techniques, though the saxophone does appear every now and then. But something happened with this album that surprised me: I found myself returning to it again and again (something I only do with a small fraction of my three-to-four hundred album collection), finding comfort in the disc’s swirly hooks and soothing beats.
From the start, Ill Waters are likable just for the simple fact that they never aim for larger-than-life personas or spend too much time glamorizing street life. Instead they come across as everyday men dealing with real issues like following dreams, loving their mothers and trying to spit at the women at the club. No, they’re not bragging about their flashy rides on “Cadillac”, instead looking back fondly at their youth during simpler times “when Michael Jackson was dope” and they spent the afternoons playing the childhood favorite “That’s My Car”. “Issues” muses on the struggles of being raised Black in America (“Growing up I thought White folks was better than me”) while “Get In” pays homage to their musical influences. The album does tend to get a little weighted down with thought provoking references to slavery and gloomy inner city strain, but Ill Waters ease into those tracks with a nice balance of feel good fare. The blunt smoking relaxation of “Cold Glass of Lemonade” brings to mind sticky, summertime bliss while the disc’s finest moment, “Hey Shorty” is apt to get anybody giddy off it’s infectious handclaps and catchy half-sung refrains.
Ill Waters Project might not be the Roots-like album that I was expecting, but it definitely holds up as something to appreciate. The Midwest/ Northwest twosome arrive with a well-planned out sound and intellect bursting with hometown pride and an awarding bag of tricks that any label would be foolish to pass by.
