[MUSIC] The Peanut Gallery - "Tales From The Basement"
Tuesday, November 7, 2017 at 10:55AM 
With any pre-existing genre of music, there tends to be changes
that take place within the outreach of music artists and groups.
Whether you choose to use the term "reboot" or "evolution", it
all becomes a necessary point for those looking to leave a lasting
impression on fans. With The Peanut Gallery, this is also true - the
duo that composes the group is a testament to that. MC's Orlando
and Flee Jones come from different environments - the former being
a former Army soldier with a prep school background and the other
being an orator from the streets he came up in. These two bonded
over their shared love of hip-hop and a desire to help restore some
authenticity that they felt rap had been lacking in after Flee wound
up dating Orlando's sister leading to the two linking up. They would
go on to be part of 5ive, a group that consisted of five members that
fizzled due to internal conflict leaving Orlando and Flee to team up.
Tales From The Basement is their project that they look towards in
making that message clear, right down to the comic-based art that
the duo is known for - it beckons to fans with an aura of being highly
down to earth.
The Peanut Gallery - "Deep Thoughts"
Tales From The Basement starts out with a montage of clips in
the intro, before jumping into the bounciness of "Deep Thoughts"
Both MC's employ a flow that is plaintative, but punctuated with
snappy bars that do take influences from both old-school East
Coast rap artists as well as those who've made names for themselves
from the South. You get a strong sense of this on "Choppers",
with a distinct 808 thump that gets your neck to snapping. Each
rapper does employ unique characteristics with their flow - Orlando
tends to have more of a whimsy to his bars, coupled with an
aesthetic that's inspired by the kid's show character and popular
meme Arthur. Flee Jones's bars bring up influences from the days
of the Ruff Ryders. This is brought forth with his solo joint "Go"
where you can hear the tautness of his lyrics weave and bob like
a middleweight in the ring. As the album continues, their back and forth
shines in the hilarious track "Made Me Feel Good Today" which
details the two's escapades at a chicken joint and "Blessings", a
song that speaks to finding the positive on hard roads that may
lay ahead. The Peanut Gallery are out to make listeners be more
engaged not just in their music but in the world around them, and
this album is a step towards that mission going further. Tales From
The Basement is available now on iTunes.
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