The epitome of lyrical genius, poetic injustice, political satire. Callous makes the English language his bitch on his solo debut album.

18 MP3 Songs
HIP-HOP/RAP: West Coast Rap, HIP-HOP/RAP: Underground Rap

Show all album songs: One for the Note Books Songs


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Callous is one of the wall-paper tall emcees who perform with the Fortuna-based Dirty Rats crew. Under his ever-present fitted baseball cap, he blends in with the rest of the group. With the release of his first solo album, âOne for the Note Books,â he distinguishes himself as the group's reigning political critic and risk-taking poet.

Early on in the album Callous stakes his claim on dense hip-hop, in a song called âTake Thatâ:

âOh my God left when he saw the design flaws

Gone like five-and-dime shop and copies of Mein Kampf

Pine box armies getting slaughtered like livestock

Prodded along, then we stampede when the price dropsâ

Callous has the credentials to be a home-schooled emcee. He moved to Eureka in the second grade and wrote poetry through high school. He first considered performing those poems when he met hip-hop savvy Kush at UC Santa Barbara. The two became roommates, and started home recording.

Callous said this was a formative time, mostly for their persistence to learn how to rhyme and make music. âWe were jacking beats, but we stayed with it. Even with bad technology we would make something happen.â

Through Kush, Callous
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met the rest of the Fortuna hip-hop hoodlums including freestyle champ Franco, chairman of the board Sonny Wong and the chaotic and costume-savvy Stir Fry Willie. GMG advanced the beat-making and folks like the enigmatic Mr. Ocean, local DJ D-Rize, and the thunderous Mass Cypher added to the talented posse.

âOne for the Note Booksâ offers a chance to hear collaborations with Callous' bandmates on a few tunes, but mostly it is his voice. One that is more mature perhaps than expected. On tunes like âSweet Toothâ we get dense poetry -- metaphors and rhyme schemes a touch above the average emcee.

âUpgradeâ is a forcefully jump-around tune that has already been added to the Dirty Rats live set thanks in large part to the vocals of Mass Cypher.

âGreen streetsâ is a good example of the evolution of the Dirty Rat sound. The beat has a Theremin drone mixed with a punchy piano loop. As guitar sounds fade around the rest of the track, ambient struggles with the empty spaces to make an infectious sound. It doesn't hurt that both Callous and Franco offer world-class verses on âGreen Streets.â

There are a couple of nice head-nodding tunes on âOne for the Note Books.â âSound of sinâ shares a loping beat and great verses for D-Rize and Mr. Ocean. When Callous takes the microphone he doubles the time and twists the meter of the song into another dimension.

It is clear that Callous can make great songs, but even more importantly he isn't afraid to take some risks. He plays with tempos, and is confident that his rhymes will hold up. Borrowing from reggae, jazz (and a little Guns N' Roses) the beats are the best on any Dirty Rat album released so far.

âAudible Illusionâ is their challenge to consumer approach to hip-hop. Callous busts down fake rhymers, and Sonny Wong distinguishes real graffiti skills from posers. Despite the subject, neither come off preachy, almost as if they want folks coming up to keep doing hip-hop, but to do it right.

âThere is a lot of substance that is missing in music,â Callous explained.

This seems consistent with Callous' approach. When asked about the title of the album he said it was a no-brainer.

âI have all these notebooks. I've been writing for so many years,â he said. âNow-a-days I make a trillion songs and people just never hear them.â

The value of filtering out tunes to release only the best of the best certainly seems to be working for the artist on this album.

Callous is on a casual grind. Admitting that he âisn't looking for mainstream fame,â and that he isn't trying to make big money on hip-hop gives this emcee a chance to work on what is important -- his sound. âOne for the Note Booksâ is an evolution of a lot of poems, myriad shows and a lot of hours of work. The result is a champion album from this local emcee.

Maxwell Schnurer is a frequent contributor to Northern Lights. Contact him at northernlights@times-standard.com