Album Review: Rel Paul “Spoiler Alert”

Rel Paul “Spoiler Alert”
Released:  11/01/2011
Reviewed by: WyldBill The Khalifa
Rating:  7.9 (Out of 10)
[xrr rating=7.9/10]

Rel Paul is from the city known for MCs like Eminem, Big Sean & Royce Da 5’9, Motown, the Clark Sisters, and the late Aaliyah (aka Detroit). Spoiler Alert is the soundtrack of the great story of our existence and ending. The album features collabs from a stellar lineup: Canton Jones, Christy Johnson of Worth Dying For, Marvin Winans Jr., The Washington Projects, R-Swift, & Jeremy Spring of Abandon Kansas and the music production was provided by: J Bell, Don Digital, Shawn Woo, Terrence Moore and rapper and beat-maker Geeda.

You will be surprised how professional this album sounds. The top notch production features and mixing on this record will blow your mind. The album is a “beefy” offering with 20 tracks. I liked the album but I didn’t enjoy every song. The album starts with the victorious sounding Spoiler Alert…We Win. The people chanting “We Win” is so powerful. This is “fist pumping” certified. Still Here is another banger. Rel sounds like rapper KJ-52 on the hook. This track features Viktory and its right down Vik’s lane. Jade Harrell adds softness to the song. A radio worthy single right here! The beat on Forevermore sounds like a techno rap version of the beat for Jay-Z’s Young Forever. Elle Renee does her thing on this track. Sweet Painful Exodus is a head nodder. He changed up his flow on this one, and really went in. I really like this song. Jeremy Spring was a good addition to this record! He sweet talks the listener on the hook. Good look! The track Sinbad sound like a 116 type track. Cherry Pickers has that west coast sound, I just didn’t like some of the horns in the song. The high horns make the song. A track that has a “sick” intro is Citizenship Award. I wish he would have used the stripped down intro for the overall song. Less is more! I love the line on Citizenship Award: “You don’t win Dove Awards sayin’ this/ no Stellar Awards sayin’ this/.” Spoiler Alert!:  the collab of Stone Age with Rhyme Council’s own R-Swift is a certified banger. Geeda did his thing on the beat. Swift and Rel went in on this one. As I got to the end of this album, I thought it should have been shorter like an EP so the bangers on this offering could really standout. I think he should have switched up the flow more and the beats should have been more diverse. I can’t wait to see what’s next!

Key Tracks: Spoiler Alert…We Win, Sweet Painful Exodus, and Stone Age.

Comprehensive Ratings:

1. Music – 8
2. Flow – 7
3. Lyricism – 6
4. Content – 9
5. Creativity/Originality/Relevancy – 8
6. Credibility & Confidence – 9
7. Personality & Character – 8
8. Presentation Quality – 10
9. Overall Production Quality – 8
10. Potential Impact – 6