Hi-Tek f/ Rem Dog - "I'm Back" (mp3)

Hi-Teknology 2 was a pretty low key album, but Hi-Teknology 3 takes whatever little excitement that album generated and just gears it down a little further. It only features a handful of the dozen or so high profile guests of its predecessor, mostly the same ones (Ghostface, Raekwon, Kweli), once again flogs Tek's R&B protege Dion big time, and gives a spot for MCs from the producer's home state to shine on "Ohio All Stars," which is pretty fun in spots but hard to sort the good from the bad among all the unknown names. That Ghost/Rae track, the single "My Piano," bangs, but for the most part even the highlights of the album are subdued head-nodders.

Mostly I keep checking for Hi-Tek hoping he'll come up with some more stuff as dazzling as the more creative production on the Reflection Eternal album, but there's not really much of that here, aside from the gorgeous, mostly instrumental "Come Get It." Maybe his best beats are all still tied up in Detox, who knows. Hi-Tek does at least reveal a little versatility with the skittery snares on "I'm Back," which isn't quite Southern-sounding or even a doubletime Timbo-type beat, but definitely has that kind of busy, loping rhythm to it. I'm not sure who Rem Dog is, or how he can be back if I've never heard of him, but it's a good song anyway. Hi-Teknology 3 is a decent album that just didn't stand out enough to even fit into my top 50 at the end of the year, but the only really bad thing about it is the insert ad in the CD case for yet another "hip-hop social networking site," this one called CrackSpace. I mean, that's almost as bad as Block Savvy.
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