Over a decade into a career that has never propelled AZ into the commercial position the uniformly high quality of his music has deserved, A.W.O.L.
is yet another quietly excellent slice of powerful hip-hop that deserves greater acclaim.
"Never Change" alone is a small masterpiece, an evocation of the strong bonds of friendship that's set to a track that effectively uses a wailing R&B diva voice (think, believe it or not, of "The Great Gig in the Sky" by Pink Floyd!) without turning it into a cheap, distracting hook.
Although several producers contribute to A.W.O.L., AZ (born Anthony Cruz) is commanding enough a focal point that the album hangs together as a whole.
Tough without being thuggish, and clear-eyed and un-glamorizing about the gritty topics of songs like "Still Alive" and "Envious," AZ is at least the equal of better-known contemporaries like Nas, and A.W.O.L.
is further proof of his talents.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Never ChangeG.C. Green | AZ | Play | 04:26 | 0 MB | 31 MB |
| 2 | New York | AZ, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon | Play | 03:45 | 0 MB | 24 MB |
| 3 | Can't Stop | AZ | Play | 04:15 | 0 MB | 29 MB |
| 4 | Still Alive | AZ | Play | 04:04 | 0 MB | 30 MB |
| 5 | Az's Chillin | AZ | Play | 03:55 | 0 MB | 25 MB |
| 6 | City of Gods | AZ | Play | 04:14 | 0 MB | 30 MB |
| 7 | Street Life | AZ, Begetz, Half-A-Mill | Play | 04:33 | 0 MB | 30 MB |
| 8 | Bedtime Story | AZ | Play | 02:12 | 0 MB | 15 MB |
| 9 | The Come UpC.F. Martin | AZ | Play | 03:46 | 0 MB | 15 MB |
| 10 | Envious | AZ, Bounty Killer | Play | 02:57 | 0 MB | 19 MB |
| 11 | A.W.O.L. | AZ | Play | 03:39 | 0 MB | 24 MB |
| 12 | So Sincere (Intro) | AZ | Play | 01:57 | 0 MB | 14 MB |
| 13 | Live Wire Magic Hour | AZ, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth | Play | 10:49 | 0 MB | 65 MB |
| 0 mins | 0 MB | |||||
| 54 mins | 356 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Benjamin Altman | Art Direction |
| 2 | AZ | Main Personnel, Primary Artist |
| 3 | Baby Paul | Audio Production |
| 4 | Begetz | Performer, Primary Artist |
| 5 | Bounty Killer | Guest Artist, Primary Artist |
| 6 | Buck Wild | Audio Production |
| 7 | Disco D | Audio Production |
| 8 | DJ Absolut | Audio Production |
| 9 | DJ Premier | Cut, Engineer, Mixing, Producer |
| 10 | Emile | Audio Production |
| 11 | Frado | Audio Production |
| 12 | Ill Will Fulton | Engineer, Mixing |
| 13 | Ghostface Killah | Guest Artist, Main Personnel, Primary Artist |
| 14 | Dan Green | A&R |
| 15 | G.C. Green | Composer |
| 16 | Half-A-Mill | Primary Artist |
| 17 | Heatmakerz | Audio Production |
| 18 | Vinny Idol | Audio Production, Producer |
| 19 | J Hen | Main Personnel |
| 20 | Jimi Kendrix | Audio Production |
| 21 | C.F. Martin | Composer |
| 22 | Mike T. | Engineer |
| 23 | Bob Perry | Executive Producer |
| 24 | Raekwon | Guest Artist, Main Personnel, Primary Artist |
| 25 | Mike "Wrekka" Risko | Producer |
| 26 | Steven Schopp | Engineer |
| 27 | Kaysh Shinn | Photography |
| 28 | C.L. Smooth | Primary Artist |
| 29 | Alex Venguer | Engineer |
| 30 | Fizzy Womack | Audio Production, Producer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |