XO’s One One Ten was one of the many mixtapes dropped on January 1st. It was also mentioned in the LA Times, along with my favorite project of the new year, Yelawolf’s Trunk Muzik.
The D.C. native’s previous project, Monumental, had a cohesive feel, since it only featured tracks from AB The Producer. However, with this project, Oddisee and Soulful join in on the production and still manage to keep that “complete project” feel.
Since I already wrote about One One Ten’s first video, “Do It,” in my profile on XO, I won’t duplicate the content here. I will, however, provide you with the visuals one more time.
XO – “Do It”
That video from Philthegod has been turning listeners who were on the fence about XO, into fans. Big shout out to AB The Producer on the beat!
Now let’s get into more tracks from the project:
XO – I Want In
This track reminds me of something The Neptunes would cook up for The Clipse, and it’s feel-good chorus will have you singing along:
“It’s bigger than the money,
Bigger than the clothes,
Bigger than the cars, and they come with the hoes,
Man I want in, I want in.
The game is the road,
And so we ride slow,
Sippin’ on Moe,
and still I want mo’,
Man I want in, I want in.”
Definitely one of the catchiest tracks on the project.
XO – “She Posed To”
Soulful did a great job producing this track, which I often find myself subconsciously heading toward while listening to my Zune.
XO speaks about the women in his life with “She Posed To,” first spitting a verse about a female companion and then one about his mother.
Here’s an excerpt:
“Born in Howard University hospital,
As a youngin’ ask’d mom, mom why we had little,
Why we livin in the hood, they letting off shots did you,
Hear the ones last night, almost came through our window,
Mama had to make her way,
Evicted with no place to lay,
Always still had food on me and my brother’s plate,
Single parent household, hustled just to help her pay the bills,
Kicked me out though,
Tryin to be a Alpoe.”
It looks like a lot of people in the D.C. area can relate to XO’s upbringing.
One of the main reasons I keep listening to this track is it’s addictive hook, which sounds like it’s being sung by 50 Cent.
XO – “Take Home”
XO gets some help from Raheem Devaughn on “Take Home,” the first official single off the project. They’re filming an official video for the track now, but in the mean time, you can take a look at the Behind the scenes footage. That’s crazy that XO was originally the one singing the hook!
I really like the first couple lines:
“Looking in your eyes,
I get a tingle in my spine,
Bout to give you ten pennies, girl you a dime,
Why ten pennies?
Cause I can make you change,
XO-bama, same campaign.”
I like the Obama wordplay coming from a D.C. emcee!
For more info on XO, check out our feature article. Stream One One Ten in its entirety below:
