Twenty Eleven, Renewable Energy

I know I can tend to be overly effusive when it comes to reviewing music, especially from local musicians, so I’ve made a vow to be more exacting, more harsh — less Fresh Prince and more Samuel L. Jackson.

And that’s going to happen right after this review, because now I know what it must have felt like to have met a young Roger Federer as a young teen, to be in the presence of such future Hall of Fame talent as a young Lebron James, Michael Phelps, or Tiger Woods. Because when I listened to Renewable Energy, the lastest EP from Twenty Eleven, I was smacked in the face with raw, innovative talent that, with a little polish, should take these five young guys a very long way.

Twenty Eleven is this hip-hop, neo-R&B, urban-rock smash-up. And if you don’t know what that is, then Wikipedia it. They have an energetic, charismatic sense of self, with a unpredictable, out-of-the-box approach to hip-hop that lends itself more to the iPods of college campuses than the boomboxes of Fifth Ward or Cloverland. Do they even make boomboxes anymore?

I’ve well stated that I’m not a rap connoisseur, so the question is, did Twenty Eleven turn me into a hip-hop enthusiast? No. It would take the second coming of Jesus, with glowing turntables and a platinum grill for that to happen. But what they did do was to give me an appreciation for the next generation of budding talent that the Houston rap scene has to look forward to. These guys are lyricists; they can sing, play instruments, and have a clever earnestness in their lyrics and songcraft that keeps their songs interesting.

Renewable Energy has twelve tracks featuring appearances by Houston’s own Fat Tony, Kyle Hubbard, and Simple Success. Anticipate that these guys are going to be a permanent fixture of the Houston’s rap scene for a very long time to come — and yes, I understand that statement is redundant.