CasUno

CasUno first came to my attention as a member of the Non-Prophets message board, where he took great pride in pissing off their rapper, Sage Francis. With his solo debut, CasUno is ready to demonstrate to everyone the fine art of pissing people off and he does it this time with some help from Joey Beats, the producing half of Non-Prophets, who contributes the beat for the album’s first vocal cut, "The Greater Than Gawd Complex.” There’s also valid production contributions from a few others, with successes from Al Bums ("Me First Attitudes”), DJ Mekalek ("The Superior Slang Sultan” and "Independent Like A Ph*ck”) and Missing Elements ("Anti-Social Intervention”). But CasUno’s rapid-fire verbal attacks are best on the two drum-heavy tracks from Gibran, CasUno’s beat-making partner in The IF?, with "10 Things I Hate About You” and "I Ain’t Got Another Me To Be.” The rest of Gibran’s beats are used for the series of songs tagged as "The Art of Pissing x Off!!!” with variable rappers AmsUno, Romen Rok, Shawn Jackson, and Jezuz in rotation. In other words, CasUno has chosen to use The Art of Pissing People Off!!! as an opportunity to exhibit some of his Labeless Illtelligence homies by giving them each a Gibran beat to drop a verse over. AmsUno has some of the strongest moments with "The Art of Pissing Ams Off!!!” and on his guest verse for "I Ain’t Got Another Me To Be.” CasUno also gives the producers a chance to shine with a bunch of (often mellow) instrumental interludes that quickly become too many. It’s also worth noting the track listing on the back is difficult to read and doesn’t match up correctly to the proper one inside. Otherwise a solid "solo” debut that’s a more enjoyable substitute than reading Pissing People Off for Dummies or something.