Control System

Take a cue from biting tracks like \"Pineal Gland\" and \"SOPA\"—rapper Ab-Soul is as clever as he is crass, as sharp as he is straight-forward. Indeed, *Control System* is the high-concept dramedy to the unflinching drama of fellow Black Hippy member Kendrick Lamar\'s *good kid, m.A.A.d city*. (The refrain from \"Mixed Emotions,\" for example, is \"Who got a Sprite?\") Ab\'s rhymes can be unapologetically out-there at times, such as when he\'s rapping about Sumerians or nodding to *Seinfeld* on \"Nothing\'s Something,\" a song about, well, nothing. But a heart beats resoundingly at the center of *Control System*. You hear it most affectingly on \"The Book of Soul,\" on which Ab mourns the suicide of ex-girlfriend Alori Joh; she guests on multiple tracks here.

The least visible member of the Black Hippy collective, who Schoolboy Q has called a "human dictionary" and Kendrick Lamar "a wizardish genius," releases his exhilarating debut.

Ab-Soul - Control System review: Hip-hop fans have something to look forward to out of the west coast again