Would you like a solid album? Maybe something full of whiskey slick-rhymes with a blunt smoke curling production value? And Then Everything Turned Grey, is what you’ll want. CL Sosa, a.k.a. Carlos Gonzalez, seems like someone you’d invite to your tamale parties so you can sneak a few puffs on a joint while the corn husks soak. On “Come and Go” he says, “I said that, I’m just trying to rhyme, but, forty hours overtime on top of a 9 to 5. I think things would be different if this was ‘95.”

Though, even 1995 wouldn’t be ready for this album. Coolio’s “Gangster Paradise” reigned supreme on the Billboard Top 100, Hootie and the Blowfish dropped their iconic, “Only Wanna Be With You”, and the Dallas Cowboys won the Super Bowl. And Then Everything Turned Grey, a 2011 release, seems to defy movements. Carlos, a skinny kid with thick glasses, who, by looks standards doesn’t appear a man with chops, cuts down his haters with defiant twists of lyricism. “Black guys tell me I shouldn’t rap, why? I’m one of the illest unsigned of my time, ready for red carpets, ready for red suiting….I be that thrift store drifter, next door hipster.” He continues, “Fuck indie Hip Hop, I’m not the poster-boy.”

Production on five of the twelve tracks is by a Marinate Media frequent, Stewrat. Both Sosa and Stewrat work as if they’ve shared a love for DJ Krush, Nightmares on Wax and Madlib (no biography necessary) since they’re inception. But, hats go off to producer, Mylkeyz, who provides production for, “Cannonball”, “Stormy Black”, and five other tracks. His mottled bass, trickling, industrial robot noise provides a dark backdrop for such a grey album.

Sosa makes video game, Futurama, and Lupe Fiasco references and they’re all oddly appropriate. It’s not a ‘95 album, not close, but it’s a 2011 debut worth a listen. 8/10