Editor’s Note: Our new, recurring “Albumism Recommends” series aims to shine a bright light on our favorite albums of the past, with an emphasis on the records that arguably never achieved the widespread or sustained attention they rightfully deserve. As you’ll see below, unlike our longer-form feature articles, we’ve intentionally kept the accompanying commentary to a minimum, so as to allow the great music to speak for itself.
We hope that you enjoy discovering (or rediscovering) these musical treasures and if you like what you hear, we encourage you to spread the good word far and wide so that others can experience these under-the-radar classics as well.
ARTIST: Oh No
TITLE: Ohnomite
RELEASED: June 5, 2012
LABEL: Brick Records
Michael “Oh No” Jackson may be the younger brother of Otis “Madlib” Jackson, Jr., but he’s certainly forged his own identity. He possesses seemingly boundless creativity and the knack for creating pure aural chaos with his productions. Arguably his best project to do is Ohnomite (2012), an ambitious endeavor featuring 25 different collaborators. The hook is that he was given license to draw liberally from the catalogue of one Rudy Ray Moore a.k.a. Dolomite, both his raunchy and funk-filled albums and his bizarre Blaxploitation films.
On Ohnomite, Oh No enlists many familiar friends with connections to his Oxnard crew, creating suitably raucous concoctions. However, some of the best tracks on the album come from unexpected collaborators. “Runnin’ the Show” is a pulsing adventure with Erick Sermon, while “Whoop Ass” with Sticky Fingaz sounds like it was lifted from an unreleased Dolomite kung-fu vehicle. The jazzy “Dues N Don’ts,” featuring Phife Dawg and José James, is a chilled-out change of pace, featuring ethereal trumpet and guitar, and an amped verse from the 5-Foot Assassin (R.I.P.)
Soon after, Oh No would release Dr. No's Kali Tornado Funk, an instrumental and expanded companion piece to Ohnomite. But the vocal version is great on its own and the perfect soundtrack for beating down any no-business-born, rat-soup eating, insecure motherfucka that gets in your way.
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