Tes Uno goes deep with “Go Blonde”

by Susan Shelton

Running through the sewers of your city is an electric underground and it looks like Tes Uno’s new album Go Blonde. Signed under The Crime League, Tes Uno has tapped into the current trend of experimental hip hop and created a truly independent sound using sound bytes between tracks and catchy beats underlying repetitive verses. As a unit, the album comes off like a well-researched commentary on why America is stupid, which comes off a lot less cliché than it sounds.

To start by getting the cons of the album out of the way, there are a few annoying hallmarks of a small hip hop artist that Tes Uno clings to. He repeats his own name often and has a few sloppy rhymes that could be tightened up. Mostly, the lyrics go harder than a guy strung out at a gas station with a DJ blasting from his speakers. Tes Uno borrows a lot of phrases from pop culture and uses them to make his messages familiar. His beats are phenomenal for a guy who is so small as an artist and it is obvious that a lot of time went into making the album flow together nicely. Famous pop culture clips of blondes saying or doing dumb things tie the album together and it has a clear theme throughout while still maintaining a distinct sound in each track.

It is hard to choose a favorite track on Go Blonde. It seems like one of those albums where anyone who digs it might find a new favorite song every day. “PEMDAS” is possibly the best known track from the album because of its promotion; it has a great sound and feel to it, but because the other tracks are also so good, it is hard to single it out as the absolute best.

Go Blonde is available now on Bandcamp, but be warned that if downloaded, it may be the only thing you listen to for a while.