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HI-TEK
Hi-Teknology 3: Underground
Babygrande, 2007
6.0/10, Good [scale]

HI-TEK Hi-Teknology 3: Underground

Contributed by Ryan Strauss on 12/28/07

The opening screams on Hi-Tek’s new album might well scare the hell out of you. Giving fans a way to relate to a mother’s perspective on the growth of Tony Cottrell is a cool way to start the third installment in the Hi-Teknology series, but the actual execution is annoying enough to set the project off on the wrong foot. Unfortunately, the album’s accomplishments are outweighed by its overambitious execution.

This is undeniably Hi-Tek’s most ambitious project to date. Throughout, the beats hint at influences from his Cincinnati roots, the Aftermath camp, soul, spoken word, electronica, basically any genre that has the slightest tie to hip hop. And Hi-Tek arguably does maintain cohesion from beginning to end by keeping one foot grounded in his own trademark sound.

So it comes as no real surprise that the song that sounds like a Reflection Eternal cast-off is the album’s funkiest. On “Time,” Talib Kweli sees a return to form over a jazz-guitar-laced beat that is a remarkably fresh reminder of Hi-Tek’s sound earlier in the decade, as the beat flawlessly blends with the underrated voice of Dion and a perfect sample from the eternal Marvin Gaye. The subject matter is equally thought-provoking, part due to Kweli’s sense of urgency as he touches on just about every sense of the word “time,” and part due to Marvin’s sense of urgency on the hook: “I’ve been racing against time/ tryin’ the best to find my way/ change the world in just one day/ goin’ crazy.” Just ignore the shameless Blacksmith plug from Kweli, and the track is near-perfect.

As for Hi-Tek’s ever-evolving sound, there are the tracks that show cause for his longevity in the industry. The Wu-Tang-drenched “My Piano” includes verses from two of the group’s members over a RZA-influenced beat. It was a slight stroke of genius to get Ghostface and Raekwon on a track with a release date basically coinciding with both The Big Doe Rehab and 8 Diagrams, and the track itself is simplistic and driving, with a looped guitar riff that also sounds a bit like Trans-Siberian Orchestra this time of year. Hi-Tek’s greatly increased willingness to include verses from little-known MC’s, seen from track two to track ten, also provides the album’s most successful club-friendly track, “Ohio All-Stars.” Showing love to four MC’s you’ve never heard of from his home state, Hi-Tek sets the stage with a bouncy beat that T.I. could tear apart. The homegrown talents don’t really deliver any quotables, but melodically they hold their own.

Then there are the tracks that simply don’t work. “I’m Back” sounds like it’s straight off of Soundclick (never mind the fact that “I Get Money” was straight off of Soundclick). “Know Me” falls far short of Jonell’s “Round and Round” from the original Hi-Teknology. And “Come Get It” gives the impression that Hi-Tek left it as an instrumental because he ran out of time to finish it before the tracks had to get mastered - though it’s interesting to hear, in the background, T-Pain’s favorite vocal effect on a Hi-Tek track.

Aside from that, “Step Ya Game Up” is just as good as it was on Getback - good not great, Young Buck is a confusing guest on a Hi-Tek track, and notice the number of lines quoted in this review. None. It’s clear after listening to the disc in its entirety that Hi-Tek brought some creative concepts to the table, but the execution is a mixed bag. Either he tries too hard to stay relevant behind the boards or the guest MC’s are too inexperienced or too uninvolved to drop quotables. Most of the album is on point, but rarely are the results anything extraordinary.