Album of the Day: Camp Lo

Home » News » Album of the Day: Camp Lo

Ozomatli bring the artsy agit-prop on new album »

Album of the Day: Camp Lo

November 28, 2006 2:22 p.m. by Matthew Gasteier

Camp Lo - Uptown Saturday Night
A lot of my favorite moments around Camp Lo's first and unquestionably best record have come when I wasn't listening to the record: the moment when I picked up Marvin Gaye's I Want You and caught the cover homage, the time only a few months ago when the usually top-40-focused Entourage picked the group's "Luchini" for their Vegas ep, and - most importantly - the first time I heard The Avalanches' brilliant Since I Left You weave samples from "Sparkle" into its tapestry. But my absolute favorite moment is still a listen to the entire record I had four or five years ago. Walking around New York City, I put on the record, and one after another, every song came out a classic to my ears, and I immediately remembered why I had fallen in love with hip hop in the first place. Uptown Saturday Night is the perfect laid-back party vibe mixed with an updated jazzy hip hop sound that came off as fresh and unique years after the trend seemed played out. Listening to it now, it's still one of the best hip hop records of the 90s, and that same childlike enthusiasm for the genre comes rushing back.

Posted in: ALBUM OF THE DAY , HIP-HOP

More news »

7 Responses

November 28, 2006 at 2:27 p.m.

Dave Park

Yeah, everything including the cover art was amazing for this album. Nothing sounded like it at the time and even today when I put it on it brings me back. I think I'll play it now actually.

November 28, 2006 at 2:54 p.m.

Brent Starks

I completely disagree with this. While there are some memorable production moments on this album, lyrically they were lacking. The one mc was sorry, and the other was only serviceable. The most memorable lyrical moment was a joke ("yeah the sonny cheeba he be sipping amareDDa").I have this record because the singles were hot, in spite of the rhymes in my opinion. They did not carry the whole record though. In my opinion this was not a good album, and certainly not one of the best of the 90s given the records that came out during that time period (illmatic, the chronic, the low end theory, enter the 36 chambers . . . just to name a few.).Just my opinion.

November 28, 2006 at 3:07 p.m.

Dave Park

I agree that the production was stronger than the lyrics, but the dialect they used helped create the feeling that you were really in this funky 70s environment. I don't think there are many hip hop albums as creative as it and few that brought you into such a different environment.

November 28, 2006 at 3:14 p.m.

Adrian Covert

great choice. there are times the sum is greater than its parts. this is one of them. this album is criminally ignored.

November 28, 2006 at 8:18 p.m.

Matthew Gasteier

Brent, while I don't agree with your overall opinion of the record, I do think it was more the feeling and flow of the lyrics than any lyrical quality that made the record for me.That said, thanks for the comment, and let me add that in the world of the internet, you are civility defined.

November 28, 2006 at 9:15 p.m.

Eric Solomon

Some groups come up with something so distinctive any further albums are doomed to fail. The lyrics, with their inflection, verbiage, they were stylish gibberish. It worked brilliantly for one album and that was pretty much all one could expect from Camp Lo.Honestly, I didn't even remember they had a second album.

April 30, 2007 at 11:13 a.m.

» Camp Lo return with ‘Another Heist&#

[...] put on “Luchini AKA This Is It” and my level of happiness hit its peak for the night. Uptown Saturday Night is one of the most unique hip-hop albums of all-time and while I don’t necessarily expect a [...]