The Return Of the Return of K-Solo

Over the summer, we looked at K-Solo's indie comeback record from 1998, City of Shaft. Well, in 2004, K-Solo came back to make another go of it with this 12", "Wolf Tickets." He came out on Waste Management Records, which was his own label. They had a website all the way up 'till '07-'08 and he still reps Waste Management on his myspace, but so far this has been their only release.

I held off on picking this one up at first, because I heard a couple lackluster reviews; but actually it's pretty dope. The A-side, "Wolf Tickets," definitely wins this round. The beat is subtle but strong, with a killer rolling bassline. It kinda reminds me of a slower version of "Excalibur," but the lyrics remind me more of "System." That's probably because he recycles a whole verse from that song (the first verse of "Wolf Tickets" = the last verse of "System"). Yeah, it's kinda lame; but at least he chose the best verse, and the other two verses on this track are new.

There's no production credits on here, so I can't say who did what, but somebody did good. The hook is real simple, just a K-Solo repeating a couple lines between verses. The instrumental doesn't change up either; it's just all about Solo spitting over a hard track - like it should be.

The B-side isn't quite as strong, but it's ok. It's got a solid drum track, but otherwise relies on kind of a generic "gangsta rap studio sound" looped sample, and features a chanted hook, like a throwback to the early 90's. It seems to be a posse cut, but it's hard to tell, 'cause no one says their names, and they all sorta sound like Solo. But, no... it's definitely only him on verse four, so the other tracks must be some other dudes. And he outshines 'em all. I guess they're his Waste Management weed carriers crew? So, as a whole it's a little underwhelming; but you can't really complain about a rugged posse cut where each MC is just coming as hard as they can over a simple beat. Nothing exceptional, but it gets a respectable pass.

Both tracks come in Main, Edit and Inst. versions. For years, K-Solo said in interviews that he was coming with a full-length called There'll Be Hell To Pay, but it never materialized. Of course, since he's still repping Waste Management, maybe it's still coming. He also signed a couple other artists, including Canibus (which is why Solo appears on two of Canibus's later albums), but Can kept coming out on other labels during that time. So I guess maybe Waste Management Records has been acting more as a management company since this record? Anyway, both of his indie comebacks have been hot... so here's hoping there'll be a third.