"Soliloquy" LP [June, 2005]
reviewed by Linguistic

I’ll admit that I’m an impatient man. If I want something, I want it right now. For what has seemed like five years, I have wanted Prizm’s new album “Soliloquy”. Soliloquy… man every single time I try to type that word I get all hung up and have to think about it really hard. I mean really hard! My wife even asked me what the word means. All I could do was give the appearance that I was deep in thought before shooting back at her “You wouldn’t understand, honey. It’s a hip hop thing.”

With that being said, in my hands this very moment is a true blue copy of Prizm’s “Soliloquy”. 12 tracks seems like such a short album for such a long wait, but if you know anything about Prizm you know that he is just a little bit on the perfectionist side. He wanted this album to pack a ridiculous amount of meaning into a small but well produced package. In my humble opinion, he succeeded.

Prizm leaked three tracks (“Soliloquy”, “Rise”, “Drop”) from this album before it was released, not to mention a release of a remixed version of another track (“Remember”) from the album as well. I was a little cautious about this, because these tracks were good! If I already own a quarter of the album on MP3 then what is the other three-quarters going to be like? Well, here are my thoughts:

01 "Burn" ft Arowbe
"Soliloquy, some history's about to go down..."
The album starts out mellow with this introduction. Arowbe surprises me with his verse. I don’t think this track was meant to be extremely lyrical. Prizm and Arowbe give you a hint of what to expect tone wise over the album. (3 stars)

02 "Rise (like the Sun)" ft Haze
"I got the flow I got the soul, and now I got the direction, ya heard?"
The second track is familiar to anyone who has listened to Prizm anytime in the past six months. The track is nice. Terrorist is on the beat and as I type I am thinking of checking more beats from this cat. This beat combined with Prizm’s amazing flow and a surprise featuring from Haze (who OWNS up to his verse) makes this one of the better tracks on the album. (3.75 stars)

03 "Moment of Truth"
"I'd rather just do me, while they can do them -
we'll see later, who's beggin for favours"
This track has a definite reggae feel to it. Prizm is speaking on his current situation in rap and how this is his moment of truth. Unfortunately for the topic of the song, this track is one of the weaker on the album. A couple of nice lines it though. (2 stars)

04 "Fine Line (Portrait of a Man)"
"He made his wish - he prayed for this,
he took his chance, now there's no looking back"
I could be missing the point of what Prizm is trying to say on this song, but I think he is trying to give some insight into the mind of different people while at the same time showing different types of desperate men. I love this track because I can listen to it over and over again and pull more from it. In my opinion, this is the direction Prizm should be going with his lyrics. This song is very powerful. What’s even more telling about this track? The man himself, Prizm, produced the entire song. (5 stars)

05 "Be Alright"
"So everything we do? we do for the better, we do for good measure - coz we ain't gon be movin forever, truthful endeavours, lead us on..."
The old combination of Johnik and Prizm. Something from this song brings to mind something a friend of mine said a few months ago. He’s 35 years old and just rejoined the Army (he’d been out for 12 years). I asked him why he came back in and he said, “I got kids, ya know? I don’t want to pass our mess on to them. I don’t want them to fight in Iraq because we couldn’t get it done.” Once again I might be missing the point because I have a habit of doing that. This track does make you think, though. Not as powerful as “Fine Line” but definitely a good listen. (2.75 stars)

06 "Soliloquy"
"I don't care, what's done is done,
I don't forgive or forget - you can live in regret"
What this song lacks in bump-ability (yep, made that word up so don’t check the dictionary) it more than makes up for in lyrical impact. If you’re a guy who has actually thought a girl was there for you no matter what and then had her mess around on you, this song will knock you out of your seat. Makes me wonder if this actually happened to Prizm… it’s that believable! Admittedly, Prizm told me that this was his least favourite track. (3 stars)

07 "How I Feel"
"Take a moment just to chill, lemme tell you how I feel - it's jus a chance for me to keep shit real"
This is a fun track with shout outs to tons of mainstream and underground emcees and producers. Prizm talks about his influences and some of the things that annoy him. You’ll have fun listening to this track. I promise. (3.5 stars)

08 "Day One (Get Down)"
I think this is the club track that Prizm has been looking for. Does Prizm make this work? This needs to hit the radios, and fast! Hope that tells you know my opinion of the track. My head is still nodding to the beat that is stuck in my head. Once again, a track produced completely by Prizm. (4.25 stars)

09 "Remember" ft Arowbe
What’s messed up about this track is that I heard the remix before I heard the actual and I really like the remix better. I don’t know, maybe I think the flow from both Prizm and Arowbe works better with that beat. Nonetheless, this track works. Prizm’s flow and lyrics are solid and I thought Arowbe did one hell of a job with his verse. Prizm has a knack for featuring cats that really highlight his tracks. (3.25 stars)

10 "She"
"She was so exclusive, so elusive: her soul was ruthless, the truth is..."
I love the vibe on this track. Johnik hooks it up with another nice beat on this one. Prizm does a really good job changing up his comfortable flow, which gives this track a lot of life. I’m sure that everyone will have their own opinion of this track, but the fact of the matter is that this is not Prizm’s typical love track. This is more of an admirer song. I could definitely relate. (3.25 stars)

11 "Reflections"
"I spit that fire: by inspiring others, I keep on grinding, beside my brothers"
This was different in that it starts with a beat for one verse and then another verse is completely acapella. What I took from this track was that Prizm is continually striving to better his music. There isn’t a whole lot I can say about this. I thought this track was classy. (3.25 stars)

12 "Drop (the Anthem)"
"Nod to the sound, bob to the bounce - all the b-boys in the spot, man rock to the style"
This was the first track I remember being leaked by Prizm. I believe this track was actually before I realized he was working on another album. This was one of two songs (the other being “Get Funky Now”) that got me started listening to Prizm in the first place. The beat is nice and it does indeed have an “anthem” feel to it. I can’t help but think this one would have been just a little better with another cat on the final verse. Prizm got that swagger on “Drop”. It’s fun to listen to him like this. (3.5 stars)

FINAL COMMENTS
A coincidence that my two favourite tracks on this album are produced completely by Prizm? I think not. Prizm is headed in the right direction with his music. The albums pros and cons all center on the same general idea. This boy can rap, produce, and make business moves… there is no denying that… and he’s young so he has a lot of time to grow. At the same time, he seems reluctant to put anyone else on his tracks to help shoulder some of the burden as an emcee. I still think that “Day One” needs a push for some radio airplay… we’ll just have to wait and see what Prizm’s next move is.

Overall Rating: 3.5 stars

REVIEWED BY LINGUISTIC