It's fun to think about O.N.E.'s music because (it seems like) O.N.E. finds it fun to think about his music.

How else to explain references to socioeconomic constructs, agathist paradigms, obvious sporting metaphors that subtly aren't really sporting metaphors at all, parables and heavy satire on his new project, The Starting Five?

The tape, serving as a temporary expedient/precursor to his proper album to release later this year, is a hearty effort; 25 songs + DJ drops + scratches + etc. And one can easily get lost in the twisty-turns, possibly even losing the narrative amid the wolves*, assigning it no real meaning or value at all.

*The wolves, in this instance, would be a tool shed of beats made famous by other artists.

However, there is merit within The Starting Five, merit beyond the humor in a remake of YC's "Racks," merit beyond the ultracontemplative way in which O.N.E. inserts the plug of his headphones into his iPod (watch the beginning of that video up there). To wit, this quote:

"For the last 400 years, science has advanced by reductionism. The idea is that you could understand the world, all of nature, by examining smaller and smaller pieces of it. When assembled, the small pieces would explain the whole." --John Holland

The first ten words rapped by O.N.E. on his TSF are "I will claim the title of being the best lyricist." And really, that's all you need to know here. Everything else is a derivative of that fact.

You can argue that O. isn't the best lyricist currently, but you cannot argue that he is not singularly driven by that pursuit. His energies -all of them, occasionally at the expense of other parts-- are focused there.

And opting to not make himself accessible to dullards makes his songs interesting within themselves, even if you don't consider them entirely interesting in a more fleeting context.

Follow O.N.E. on Twitter at @OnesTheName. Stream The Starting Five here.