Aileron

Vancouver, BC - Every once in a while hip-hop manages to pull it’s head out of it’s own ass and smell the roses. It’s able to take a breath of fresh air and consider someone or something other than itself. On Aileron’s second official studio album Flight Risk, he has managed to bring true hip-hop to the surface and show us a a brighter, more intelligent side of it.

Aileron - Flight Risk [Review] - HipHopCanada.com


Take for example the lead single “Praise the Lord”. Hip-hop has never been good a being modest, but the trio from Kamloops have done just that and the result is a conscious, selfless view of life with a positive message.

“I take this moment, make it better so I gotta say/ All of those things you take for granted makes me wonder/ It’s like I’m feeling something bigger than just you and I”

The whole album has this feel of love and the intention to spread knowledge. So, yeah, mad props, boys. While everyone else is rapping about last night’s ass and alcohol they can’t even pronounce, Aileron are taking the bold step to be different and making it work in their favour.

Flight Risk is jam packed with first class instrumentation. Everything from live horns, electric guitars, bass, and strings appear on virtually every song and add layers and layers of depth and soul to the album. Guest producers Rob The Viking, Amp Live and Gianni Cash bring their own flavour and provide a lot of excellent drums and rhythms for the boys to rap to. It would be hard to classify this as a party album – a lot of the beats are pretty chilled out and make great use of atmospheric synths and pads. That’s not to say that they’re sleepers though, the arrangements will keep you gripped from start to finish.

Stand out tracks include “Whole New Page” which features ¡MAYDAY!, and “With Love”, but the album’s tone really climax’s with the song “I Forgive You”, which is a sort of narrative in first person where the emcee’s look back on their hardships and mistakes and make a vow to forgive themselves. This is some serious stuff folks, we’re talking like country-music-honest here, but seriously though. This is outstanding song writing.

“I forgive you for going too far and not waiting your turn, and choosing this cold life where bad karma returns/ It’s never too late, some people have to learn without help/ I forgive you because I love you, a letter to myself”

Or how about this:

“I forgive you, for thinking less of yourself, then holding that inside and turning it on everybody else/ It’s time to let it go, you gotta move on, I know you love to hate yourself but the past is done/ Let it go stop harbouring the hate, I’m learning to love myself and growing from my mistakes”

Chills. Right?

Hold up though. We haven’t even talked about the pop hooks yet. POP HOOKS! Yes. On almost every song. Flight Risk opens with a brief skit where an airplane pilot is announcing the pre flight schedule over the speakers and then drops right into the first track “Cloud 9” that might have you thinking “who invited the Backstreet Boys”? All jokes aside though, these guys love to sing. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. They hit the notes all right. But if you’re more of a Queens New York, Mobb Deep hip-hopper – Flight Risk might not be your brew of choice. Props again though, these dudes make it work.

There’s no shortage of pure wholesomeness to Flight Risk. They may not be the most technically skilled emcees ever to grace the mic – the guest features rap laps around their hosts with especially strong verses coming from Pep Love and Zumbi – but at the end of the day the effort and intention that went into making Flight Risk will not go unnoticed. Eros, Ascend, and Aesthetic Deliverance have crafted a gem of an album that not only sounds sonically outstanding but makes a strong statement for conscious, non-mainstream hip-hop. Genuine.

Written by Max Dishaw for HipHopCanada - Max Dishaw (Hip Hop Canada)

On Saturday Oct. 18th/14, Fortune Sound Club in Vancouver was jam packed early to see none other than Bay Area representatives Zumbi and Amp Live, better known to many as Zion I. I’ve seen these dudes perform a handful of times and each and every occasion I’ve seen them rock a stage, Zion I gets plenty of love and respect from the Canadian West Coast fans. This night at Fortune Sound would be no different.

Joining them on this Canadian tour, which spanned across cities and towns from Winnipeg to Van City, would be Vancouver hip hop trio Aileron [ai·ler·on - a hinged surface in the trailing edge of an airplane wing, used to control lateral balance.. in case you were wondering.] Aileron consists of members Eros, Ascend and Aesthetic Deliverance and they joined forces with Zion I to hit the road and promote their new album, Flight Risk. No stranger to Zion I’s crowds (this would be the 2nd time Aileron has toured extensively with Zion I), they eagerly hit the stage with enthusiastic confidence and were all smiles and handshakes as they performed such songs as “Cloud 9”, “Prima Donna”, “Get Real”, “Fall In Place” and “Praise The Lord”, just to name a few.

Shortly after Aileron finished heating things up, Zion I took to the stage to the adoring applause from the familiar and supportive Vancouver audience. Zumbi sporting an Oakland Athletics styled green shirt with the words “Oakland vs. Everybody” across it and a haircut about as wild and live as his on-stage persona. While Amp Live quietly took his place behind his beat machine in the most humble manner possible, waving once to the crowd before hitting play and getting the show started.


It didn’t take long to get the crowd at Fortune Sound on their side as the West Coast vets ripped through such fan favorite cuts as “One (Santigold Remix)”, “Human Being”, “Don’t Lose Your Head”, “Fresh”, “Masters Of The Ceremony”, “Trippin” and more, before eventually jumping into the Zion I classics joints “Coastin” and “The Bay”.


At times Zumbi took breaks to address the crowd and explain his passion and love for the culture Hip Hop and to break down what being a Real MC is all about. One of those points being the element of improvisation and the ability to conduct a freestyle off the top of your head without any planning or preparation. Soon after this explanation, Zumbi asked Amp to drop a heavy 808 style drum beat and without hesitation he would begin freestyling raw bars off the top of his head. Now if you’ve ever been around or involved in a true cypher then you know that the more people able to participate the better, so Zumbi invited Aileron members Eros and A.D. to join him on stage for a back to back trade-off freestyle jam that lasted several minutes. This was one of my own personal favorite moments of the show because it wasn’t rehearsed at all and it really showed the fun, silly, party rocking side of Zion I, Aileron and of hip hop culture in a whole. It also showed that Aileron was more than just an opening rap group for Zion I on this tour, but that they were friends and that Zumbi respected them enough to bring them up on stage and share portions of Zion I’s stage time with them. Very dope!

All in all this was a great hip hop show from a group that I never seem to grow tired of watching and listening too. Zion I isn’t afraid to push the boundaries of what a rap show should be and it’s that experimental, forward style of thinking towards music and performing that brings me back time and time again to not only their live shows, but to their albums as well. I think it’s safe to say that Zumbi and Amp Live left the crowd feeling loved and appreciated, an emotion I’m sure that was well-received from the crowd to them as well. Oh and props to Amp for actually stuck around on stage when Zion I was finished for 15 minutes and doing some DJing and playing some tunes to ease us out of the rap show and back into the club atmosphere. Something that shouldn’t be surprising, but lately I’m finding more and more touring DJ’s (that are on tour as the rappers button pusher) are not doing this at all and it really causes for an abrupt ending to a show. Just another reason to love Zion I, they seem to pay attention to the details… Respect.

Thanks to BlueprintLive and Fortune Sound for having Spliff Breaks out for this one. - John Zee (Spliff Breaks)

Here’s some more verses from the boys in ¡MAYDAY! to hold you over until you see them in a city near you!

Check out this video from Aileron and Ascend for the song “Fall In Place”. It’s all about maintaining your inner peace no matter what’s going on around you, something the boys from ¡MAYDAY! can only speak on too well. Taking place on the chillest of Miami days, this video will get you in the right frame of mind in no time. - Jeff Nelson (Strange Music) U.S.A.