Just recently, Sean Born has provided the net-community with his mixtape »909 Jack: BTS Pause Mix«, on which he assembled his last years’ works for free. Now, with his album »Behind The Scale«, he’s taking the next logical step on his way to having an acclaimed rap-career. Those who know the Mello Music Group might have already stumbled across Sean Born, especially since he demonstrated his skills on Apollo Brown’s and Hassaan Mackey’s collabo-album »Daily Bread«. On »Behind The Scale«, the listener now finds a Sean Born who tells us stories about the daily struggle on the road (»Lights On«) without leaving out the obligatory drug dealing (»The Quartermaine«), while still coming across very authentically. Nothing is being glamorized, but instead, the record transmits the feeling that Sean Born works with autobiographical material without exaggerating anything (»Take It & Run«). The question of authenticity being answered, it needs pointing out that the beats on »Behind The Scale« are also very agreeable. On 14 tracks, him and his Mello-Music-colleagues are letting off steam and deliver real good work. Besides Oddisee, Kaimbr, Hassaan Mackey and Quartermaine, there are also Kenwood and Kev Brown who are responsible for the music. Especially the latter has proven to be exceptionally active by contributing seven beats to the album. Bangers are nowhere to be found, instead, it’s a somewhat gloomy and slightly melancholy atmosphere that’s dominating the record. An album that’s yearning for the spring.
Behind The Scale
