You can’t judge a book by its cover, so why would you judge an album by its inserts? Better yet, you shouldn’t even judge an album by just listening to one song or so.· I expected a good amount from Lojleeb’s debut album, “Lub Kua Muag Poob,” when I first received it.· So did it go as expected?

Have you been looking for a Hmong album that sounds, well, “Hmong?”  Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but you won’t be finding that here in this album.  The composition of music and vocals are so smooth, you’d almost think it was a song from the radio.  If you don’t already know who Proto-J is, read this very carefully.  Your life will depend on it.  Well, maybe, depending on the situation.

Have you ever heard a song that reminded you so much of Laos or Thailand, and you can suddenly picture yourself in that type of environment?  Well, I did; and suddenly, I see this rapper in the middle of the traditional “salavong” dance.  Weird? Tell me about it.  However the beat that followed was somewhat catchy.  It’s like one of those common beats you always hear, but can never get enough of.  The second album of 5NTears starts with this song.  It’s a song called “Hluas Nkauj Tub Nkeeg” which is obviously about itself.  At first I tried listening to the song to catchy some of the lyrics, but the beat was so catchy that I just kept putting it on repeat without paying attention to the meaning.  There’s the “traditional” singing style along with English raps and Pajhuam Hmoob.  A DJ can play this in an old folks club or in a modern music club.  You can’t beat that.

I stuck this album in, and pressed play.  The first thing I thought was, “Hey, it sounds like the band Voltage!”  Then it didn’t.  Well, I guess it was just the quick intro.  It was nothing close to what I assumed it to be from the album cover.  I guess that’s why you don’t judge anything by its cover.  Don’t get me wrong; that’s not a bad thing.  I was trying to listen to the lyrics, and then I accidently hit the “next” button.  I was going to backtrack, but then the second track sounded good, so I decide to listen to it.