Track Listing

1. Prelude
2. Fantasy Island
3. Powers That Be
4. Make Your Move (Featuring Goapele)
5. Shift Shape
6. Classic
7. Chicago
8. Heatish
9. Halo
10. Love Flowin'
11. One Hundred Thousand Indi (W/ Abstract Rude)
12. Let It Roll
13. Maggie May
14. Jingle Jangle
15. Full Circle (Featuring Goapele)
16. 7 Sixes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6085 in Music
• Released on: 2003-10-07
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics
• Dimensions: .24 pounds

Amazon.com
Even if you've followed the Hiero's decade-plus career, it sometimes helps to have a scorecard to parse out each member. On their latest family album, Full Circle, it's Pep Love who puts in the best work--his flow bobbing and weaving with a boxer's grace. In contrast to Casual's thunderous presence, Pep strikes like lightning and the two complement each other well on the thoughtful "Make Your Move." Souls' member Opio also stands out, especially on "Heatish" where he sprints off with outrageous lines like, "they know my skills/fire swept through your dialect/like the Oakland Hills." No song on Full Circle seems to offer the same crew combinations twice and the Hiero's longevity manifests in their enviable chemistry with one another. Though the disc offers few new surprises it still packs in a satisfying, 16-track serving of Hiero's quick-witted, quick-spitted lyricism and funk-fried beats. --Oliver Wang

Customer Reviews

Thank you Pep Love
No way does this album deserve some of the hate that it's been getting, although people are finally showing it some love with the last few posts. Okay, so Del's not all over the album. So what? We've heard from Del for 12 years up to "Full Circle," it's time to let the other members get their time to shine. We need to thank Pep Love love for his work on this album. Almost every verse he drops is memorable, and he saved a few songs that would have been mediocre otherwise. Pep Love is arguably the strongest Hiero member RIGHT NOW (sorry Del) and proves it on "Full Circle." Opio is all over the album too, and shows how valuable he is.
The album starts out on an excellent roll that lasts until midway where the momentum dies somewhere in the arguably mediocre songs "Chicago" and "Heatish." "Halo" follows and is a standout, it touches on a lot of spiritual themes, and the till the end of the cd, the following songs are hit-or-miss (more "hitting" than "missing" in my book). "Jingle Jangle" seems to be the only track that I can't get into, it's a little too much. The beat on "Love Flowin'" might be a little overdone. Otherwise, the last two tracks are definitely winners.
I believe that "Powers That Be" is the album's best cut, with a lively, upbeat sound and outstanding lyrics and a chorus with humming in the background. Plus, Del and Pep Love grace that track. The single "Make Your Move" is actually quite good compared to the cold reception it's getting. Goapele's vocal's are so soulful, and actually enhance the track instead of feeling recycled. If there's any doubt, just listen to Pep Love's lyrics and you should like the song. "Classic" has one of the best beats on the album, although the lyrics aren't the tighest they have to offer, it's still a standout. "Let It Roll" is a faster song, and one of the best, but the preceeding "100,000 Indi" is lacking energy, and somewhat wastes the talents of guest Abstract Rude. "Maggie May" revolves around a rather cliched story, but they end up making it worthwhile. The title track has some of the strongest lyrics through-and-through. Although I was feelin' Goapele's vocals more on "Make Your Move," the title track is still probably my second favorite off "Full Circle." The last one, "7 Sixes," all the members join in and just flex their skills (especially Del.) The best songs on the album??? I think they are: "Powers That Be," "Halo," "Let It Roll," and "Full Circle." "Fantasy Island," "Make Your Move," "Classic," "Maggie May" and "7 Sixes" are the other notables.
I don't see this album as being inferior to "Third Eye Vision." "Third Eye" wasn't as untouchable as some are claiming it to be, anyway. This has got some memorable tracks, and the whole album flows quite smoothly, song-to-song. The production, overall, was much, much better, which is where "Third Eye Vision" dissappointed. Jay-Biz is not to be found on "Full Circle," so just eight of the members are involved. I can see people complaining that this is too much 'business as usual.' That feeling arises at points, but Hieroglypics are too strong to have that notion be a deterrant. They do need to work on their hooks, though, some of them being the low-points of the songs. If you can't think of a good hook, just lay low and let the DJ do some scratching or something! Anyways, this album still clocks in at 4 to 4.5 stars, which is quite impressive given the mediocrity and disposability of Rap these last few years.

Commin' Full Circle
The Hieroglyphics crew have been a major force in the West Coast hip-hop underground scene since the early 90's. They are somewhat of a West Coast version of the Wu-Tang Clan, most obviously in size but in a few other aspects as well. First off their style before them there weren't many other rapper on the West Coast that weren't all about bustin' caps and pimpin', they brought a fresh jazzy original sound that was heavy on the lyrical tip that has since influenced many on the alternative & underground west coast rap crowd. But like the Wu tehy have had their set backs and pit falls. Instead of releasing a group album and then solo joints they opted to go the other route releasing their individual albums and the releasing their first crew album in `98. Like the Wu-Tang all of their debut albums carried with them artistic and sometimes commercial success but after that they had some slight creative short comings and more commercial ones after leaving their major labels. Also they had several talented members leave their ranks such as Saafir who went on to join Hobo Junction and the group Extra Prolific who was headed by Snoupe who left because of musical differences. The Hieroglyphics crew is a 9 man strong group consisting of Domino, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Pep Love, Jay Biz (not featured on album), Casual, & Souls Of Mischief (A-Plus, Opio, Phesto & Tajai) coming with individual styles, intricate rhymes, and dope self contained production coming from Domino, Casual, A-Plus, Opio although there is one outside production by some kat named Space Boy Boogie (who?). Although some odd sampled Del production would have been great the beats on this disc for the most part are top notch, sounding great in your car or you headphones, they are underground but the production is polished and totally accessible even for the most mainstream of heads. The rhymes through out are dope as hell, mostly dealing with battling but I it's hard to find better lyrics than these on this disc for me Pep Love & Opio really shine through, although like others might comment there isn't nearly enough Del on this bizzatch. So now I'm going to touch on some songs that stood out to me...

Prelude (Pep Love) ~ The album opener has a some shouting over with vocal samples of all the members and other things, then it goes into a short verse by Pep Love basically stating where Hiero is from and where they are going, a nice key board laced beat featuring Amp Fiddler on the keys produced by Domino.

Powers That Be (Opio, Pep Love, Del, Tajai) ~ This is a low tempo beat produced by Domino again. It's made up of deep drums & short synth sounding horn snaps and what sounds like some guitar strumming in the back. The lyrics attack whack rappers, mysterious powers that be and has an alright hook. I like this track because it pairs Ope, Pep & Del on the track my three fav's as well as Tajai who comes correct too. Although they all drop dope verses Opio drops the best one ripping the track wide open including my favourite ish part on the album with his opening lines:

"/they say I'm like Bruce Willis unbreakable, diehard/
true sickness with this mic on the tripod, but I'm not/
chow yung fat, still a pillar of stone/
flows enter your skull, mash on your whole militia/"

Although I love hearing Del and his lyrics are still pretty strong his flow is lazy (think Tha Doggfather era Snoop) which is sad from one of the best rappers ever.

Classic (Pep Love, Tajai & Del) ~ Now things really get interesting, with a koolass beat by Domino based around a classical violin and flute loop with some distant horns as well. This is the first beat on the album that really jumps right out to make this track the first real glimpses into Hiero's greatness. Pep Love really holds this album together and he's the opening MC on the track, he makes one of the best showings on the album here as well as his best in my opinion, Next comes Del on the hook which is somewhat of a repeated verse rather than a hook because it's so long. Del sounds surprisingly energized, which is welcomed making the song stick out as well, and Tajai drops one of his best verses on the album as well getting me geared up for his solo album. This joint really shows what the crew can do when they rally around superb production.

Chicago (Souls Of Mischief) ~ Great Souls song. High energy beat based around a fluid string arrangement courtesy of A-Plus. It's a short track clocking under three minutes, all MC's come good with Ope & A-Plus doing it the best for me around the concept of a show in Chicago, it's basically a life on the road song.

Halo (Opio, Phesto, A-Plus, Tajai, Casual & Phesto) ~ My favourite track on the album. A nice beat primarily based around a flutelike groove that gives it an island feel then some stings and electric guitar to flesh it out brought to you by Opio. All the rapper on this joint step up with some really thoughtful yet raw lyrics that are battle but cover some wide range. Once again Del rises to the occasion dropping a especially bombass verse although short, gets me thinking that on his first track he might just been sleepy or too high.

Maggie May (A-Plus, Opio, Del & Phesto) ~ This is a good kid took a wrong turn type message track. It's produced by A-Plus and has a nice laidback vibe, with clopish percussion and distant trumpet that give it a spooky vibe. I think the girl in the story is a metaphors for Hip-Hop but I'm not 100% sure, either way all the MC's drop thoughtful & heartfelt lyrics about this girl in view points from different times in her life..

This album is a great addition to the Hiero legend and will be a great addition to anyone's hip hop collection. It wasn't with out it's problem's Jingle Jangle was horribly whack on beat & hook but the rest of the album is all fantastic even though it could have used more Del and maybe a nice production from Tha Funkee Homosapien. Also Jay Biz was absent from this release for some reason that I do not know his production & cuts would have been a welcomed addition. If This album had a couple of more cuts like Classic & Halo this would have been worthy of a five star rating but just dopeness doesn't gain this essential classic status. 4 stars worth every penny check it out!

Full circle................full of flavour.
Ive been a fan of the whole Hiero camp since back in the day and was dying for them to record a full length album together for ages. So when "3rd eye vision" arrived a couple of years ago i was amped from the jump. It just like this new album "full circle" had it all....tight flows from ALL members of the crew, (with OPIO, PEP LOVE and DEL being the best for me), great messages in the tracks and solid all-round production from start to finish. (so rare these days). "Full circle" rarely disapoints the listener. There's a total of 15 tracks on here and most are brilliant to perfect. The album starts off strong as hell with "fantasy island", "powers that be", "make your move", "shift shape", "classic" and "chicago". Then unfortunately it drops down a notch with "heatish", "halo" and "100,00 indi" but with "love flowin'" in the middle of those tracks, its bareble. Then it picks up again with "let it roll" but quickly drops again for "maggie may", "jingle jangle" with the album finishing as it started...strong, solid, skilled, and funky with "full circle" and the amazing "7 sixes". All in all its a great buy for any HIERO fan or hiphop fan period. Overall a strong album laced with jazzy and funky beats with gifted and masterful flows from ALL the m.c.'s involved. A few weak cuts but mostly brilliant. Another solid effort from the HIERO camp. GO cop this a.s.a.p. well worth the money.