I checked out Oil On Canvas because the cover reminded me of a Memphis horrorcore cassette... It's not that at all. It pays to be wrong sometimes though. Oil On Canvas is apparently the third release this year from Seatle rapper AJ Suede and it's just kind of straightforwardly good. The self-produced album mainly leans into smokey, hypnotic repetitions of old cinema soundtracks and excerpts of jazz with an undertow of boom-bap to keep it apace. That's just the backdrop though- AJ's rhymes are at the fore. He has a gliding, verbose flow, that allows him to easily stack complex bars without breaking rhythm or a sweat. He's one of those MCs who it seems like words just emerge out, without any really exertion of effort on his part. It's the sign of a true master- a combination of natural ability and the practiced form of a martial artist who can turn you inside out and make it look as simple an unconscious of an act as pulling the tab on a can of soda (or whoop-ass in this case). Although, It's not like AJ is on the attack with Oil On Canvas as the mood of the album is closer to a hooka bar where you're carousing in beanbag chairs while submerged in purple billows of smoke, following conversations by ear because you can only really makes out the outlines of the people around you. As an aside, it smells good in there too! This is not something I can say about the symbolic space every rap album makes for itself (even one's I like!). A kind of a mix of sweet, but not overly sweet, oil and herb that really mellows out your situation. What I'm trying to get at here, is that this Oil On Canvas is a whole vibe and a minor masterpiece.
