Here is a link to the review of “pHone Home” by Okayplayer.com:

http://www.okayplayer.com/reviews (Posted on Feb 24th, 2011)

So to all of you who don’t know what Okayplayer.com is….psst it’s big fucking thing in Hip Hop. It’s ran by the highly respected and critically acclaimed drummer for The Roots,  ?uestlove (the doppest Hip Hop drummer period….okay coma, he even raps a bit). Okayplayer.com is the online equivalent (but i say more credible) of The Source Magazine (if you don’t know what The Source is i really don’t know what to say?) and just to put bluntly they don’t review all submissions.

Anyways my album “pHone Home” just got reviewed by Okayplayer.com and the critic was very critical of my basic, straight-forward approach on the album. He wrote ” his raps are quite literal and expected….For the most part, the production value of pHone Home also remains largely unchanged throughout…”. Also he trashed my abilities to follow my theme of “pHone Home” writing  “pHone Home would have been much more effective in a condensed overall product with a greater number of risks that allows the listener to expect the unexpected”.  To end his critic he also goes on to trash my inability to be alien enough for the name E.T. writing  “With a stage name like E.T. (Examine the Truth), one would expect his music to be particularly unique, alien-like if you will… Unfortunately, this is far from the case…”.

The guy was on point with every thing he writes, except the last 2 points about not getting the most out of the idea of “pHone Home” and not living up to my name, which is Examine the Truth, ET is only for short (which I will explain my name below at the link). Although I agree with him that the album is a very primitive sounding album, I don’t see this as a flaw since it was intended. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to do this, but it was the sound I envisioned when I thought of what it meant to “pHone Home” for a Hip Hop artist.

Also there where some great things he said about the album, such as ” E.T. tackles a wide array of topics on the album ranging from fulfilling his dreams (“I Have a Dream”) and legalizing marijuana (“Go Green”) to the love of his life (“Particular”) and his addiction to cigarettes (“Got Cigs?”)…..there are moments where E.T. does showcase a variety of vocal performances (“Profreshn’ill”)…”.

All in all it’s dope to get the exposure. Plus I didn’t feel so bad when I read the reviews of Zion-I and Blue Scholar’s early projects’ reviews…which you can see here:

Zion-I’s “True and Living” review:
http://www.okayplayer.com/reviews/zion-i-200506144125.html

Blue Scholars’ “Blue Scholars” review:
http://www.okayplayer.com/reviews/blue-scholars-200604034459.html

Just as these cats have grown, I am sure I will too. This is my first solo project (which I made during the biggest transistion of my life=fatherhood) and scored a very respectable 60 out of 100. If I was still in school that’s a solid D, which means I passed.

Joints up, lighters out, roast for a brief celebration….that was nice……. now it’s back to the grind.

If you have read the review at okayplayer.com and would like to know my responses to some of the critics click the link below or go to the “pHone Home” page on the above browser bar.

http://therealet.com/phonehome

Peace….ET