Our host opens up with a quick jazzy musical interlude with a faint female voice introducing Sunny, the protagonist occasionally popping up throughout. Static quickly interrupts and a synth-heavy beat builds up the tension that Black Milk immediately breaks through his aggressive vocal delivery. (For him at least) His flow comes naturally, as he rhymes about your standard rap-intro material, carefully riding the instrumental.
Touching back on the darker tone, even some of the happier instrumentals are brought down by the grim outlook of Black Milk, which is certainly a positive. Calling this his darkest is no small feat either, Album of the Year was far from a feel good story, despite the brighter instrumentals. The touches of family loss and coming of age stories about growing up in the hood become a focal point here. Perhaps heaviest is "Codes and Cab Fare", a collaboration with Black Thought of The Roots. I'm a sucker for some good organ playing, and dear lord does it sound great on the album's third entree. Instead of the normally underlining base, the organ steps in, adding a layer of character to the track. The album wastes no time in flowing into "Ghetto Demf", where the album's psychedelic vibes reaches a head. Underground favorite Chris Quelle tags along for the ride, but this is still the Black Milk show. Each listen reveals another perfectly placed instrument, filling in every crevice imaginable with an interesting touch. "Black Sabbath", the only song touching this level of experimentation is one of the most admirable attempts of accompanying a little noise with old school soul. The juxtaposition works out beautifully.
I'd be at fault if I left out the influence of J Dilla. The fact that Black Milk hails from Detroit only confirm that Donuts was receiving more than a few spins during the recording of No Poison No Paradise. "Sonny Jr." and "X Chords" are both short instrumental cuts that wouldn't seem out of place on a Slum Village album. Dilla is one of my all time favorite producers, so his presence is more than welcome, but it's hard to call every track on here completely original. It's a connotation that will always follow our host, but with each record, the comparison will continue to faint.
Sunny is the character in focus, making the album more or less a concept. "Deion's House" is by far the most successful attempt of the story. The organ-heavy instrumental, one of the few triumphant ones, is one's of the album's best, which certainly helps track, but Black Milk is the reason the song works out so well. He's rhyming from the viewpoint of Deion, one of Sunny's friends. He views himself as a good influence on Sunny, but is apathetic of those seeing him as a bad influence. The dual single, "Sunday's Best", and "Monday's Worst", are also high points of the concept, showing the results of an overly religious childhood. After that, though, there's not much to touch on. The lack of personality Black Milk displays on the mic has always been a question mark and ends up being the the Achilles heel on No Poison No Paradise. There's no dying the technical abilities, his complex schemes and multi syllable rhymes would be obvious to someone with an Itunes full of Chief Keef and Waka Flocka. You can tell he's dying to get a message across, but he lacks in any signature style. Milk is no rookie, and with his golden ear for beats, it's becoming increasingly frustrating that his presence is so bland.
Still, he's showing signs of aggression and this is an obvious lyrical improvement over Album of the Year. There's still the determination that made me a fan in the first place. Most impressively, this album marks the first time I can really commend him on quotable lyrics. His sharp tone and confidence show an artist in clear control of where the album is heading. Even the lower tempo tracks showcase his ability of make a relaxed and mellow composition about a relationship. Of course I'm talking about "Parallels", where he gives us the latest news on his sex life. He goes with more of a Big Daddy Kane approach rather than simply fucking hoes for the hell of it. While staying cohesive, No Poison No Paradise has a little something for everyone. I suggest you take advantage, Black Milk is making the best music of his career.
Rating: 3.5/5