The year is 1993 and you’re 15 years old bumpin’ some Tribe or Pete Rock in your oversized headphones.  Samples are chopped to perfection so you have no idea what the original song is.  The drums are heavy and take over the track as an ill emcee focuses on spitting lyrics with meat on them as opposed to tickling your ears with creative delivery or vocal effects.  The hooks don’t have high priced, super talented vocalists, just the artist and maybe some perfectly timed scratches.   The subject matter is actually something the listener could use in life in years to come as opposed to what sounds good in the moment.  

You wake up from your dream and realize you’re back in 2011 and you’re surrounded by a lot of “Hip Hop” that no longer does for you what it used to.  Then you stumble upon The Battery’s One and you realize there’s hope to returning to the former greatness of what Hip Hop used to be.  Now, this isn’t to say the album is perfect because it’s not.  But it sure felt good to hear an artist focus on spitting from the heart about what’s real to him and not so much on impressing the listener or selling records by following silly fads.

My favorite track on this EP is “Vincent Reynosa”.  At first listen this track sounds very different and reminds me of some old Wu-Tang with the way the vocal samples are being used to tell a story.  Absent is a steady drum track but that allowed me to focus on what is being said.  Dude, drops some major knowledge on this track.  I would almost use every lyric as a hip-hop quotable if I could.  For instance: “Why it always come down to skills?  Why it ain’t much ministry in what you spill?  This braggin’ gon’ kill the youth for real.  Well, well, to be honest, it does less harm than the garbage that you let form.  You target Christian kids cause they not hard to please at all.  In fact, I know I have some fans if only by default.  They heard I’m on a Gospel label so they called…” This song is filled with gems of truth and conviction like this.

My least favorite track is "Pavlov’s Dog".  If you don’t know the story of Pavlov’s dog then you may wonder why on earth is there an annoying bell ringing in this track for pretty much the duration of the track.  Even if you do know the story of Pavlov’s dog you’ll still be wondering the same thing.  The Hook is weak even though I get the message.  Lyrically it’s strong but would’ve been better over a completely different beat with a hook that’s less bland as this one.

The production may not jump out to those who were not around to hear production in the early 90’s.   This album sounds like a concept album when compared to the music of today.  I like how each track has about minute or two of just music to vibe to at the end.  The producer added an instrument or two and even changed the key in some tracks just for the vamp.  The drums bang and the samples and pads mesh well together.  This is early 90’s east coast music at it’s finest with the exception of Pavlov’s Dog.

Overall, this is a blast from the past for the hip-hop head or those looking to become hip-hop heads.  The focus is on creating a sound that is different and focuses on the message as opposed to tickling your ears.  Sadly, this album may get skipped by today’s generation but it’s only because they’re so used to 808s, synth horns blazing, and auto-tuned vocals that they no longer have to have a message in order to be satisfied.  Though a short offering (only 5 songs since the intro has no rapping on it) it is packed with meat without processed sweets that will make it’s listeners think and ask questions that need to be answered in today’s society.