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UNI: Beautiful Day

I’ve always been one to like my Cali raps more Ice Cube than Jurassic 5, or more Dogg Pound than Del the Funky Homosapien. Even other underground representatives of California don’t do as much for me as other people. Either way, I was pretty caught off-guard when I first heard the single for the Inglewood based group, UNI.

The group consists of Inglewood native Thurzday and Seattle native Y-O. Rapping together as a group since High School, the group is out promoting their street album, “Fried Chicken and Watermelon.”I think I might have seen references to the album a few weeks ago, but the title didn’t seem that appealing to me at the time. The second time I heard the group was on El Prez’s video for “Uaintuponthis!” that featured the group. Despite some quality rhymes, I still wasn’t put on by the battle raps and didn’t check into the group further. It wasn’t until I saw the video for the lead single “Beautiful Day” that my ears really perked up.

Video Link

It’s probably the high quality video, at least when compared to other independent rappers, or maybe that I have a weak spot for summer time/feel good sounding hip hop music. It seems to me a bit of a nod to Spike Jonez’s “Drop” but with the feel good vibe and tone of Cube’s “Good Day.” Either way, the video is officially dropping on Mtv Suckafree Thursday March 27, so don’t sleep. I went ahead and checked out the street album, and at first listen (although a bit rough around the edges) you can see that the talent, charisma and star potential is there. From knocking beat on “Lapdance” to the sense of humor from the group on “Fat Girls”, the album is definitely enjoyable. Let’s hope that they keep making good music and don’t just get lumped into to what appears to be a sudden rise of retro raps and get lost in the mess. Peace.

Downloads
Beautiful Day by UNI
Fried Chicken and Watermelon by UNI

Links
UNI Myspace
UNI on ilike

Graphic for story by The Honest Ape. Photo of UNI courtesy of UNI