The year is 2005, a time when Chicano Rap saw quite a few solid releases. The spotlight was definitely on Lil Rob's "Twelve Eighteen Part I," but another San Diego legend delivered just as hard that year with his album. I'm talking about Knightowl and his LP "Jail Bird." I vividly remember it being the first CD I ever bought from CDGuy619. Some of you might still remember the website or his eBay store. He was also active in our forum, the CalifaRap Community, racking up a proud 555 posts.

Before we dive deeper into "Jail Bird," let me share a little story from my own life. Whenever I listen to this album, it instantly reminds me of a specific day. I can't quite remember if it was 2005 or 2006, but the memory sticks. Back then, my car had an MP3-compatible CD player, so I always rolled with burned CDs packed with multiple albums (strictly Chicano Rap, of course!). It was a pretty warm day, and a girl I had a major crush on wanted to go check out a car she was thinking about buying. She asked if I'd tag along to look at it with her. The dealer wasn't in our town, but in a neighboring city. As we cruised there together, I let the album play. I figured I could impress her with that Southern California Chicano Rap sound, especially the track "The Knightowl Is OG." Despite the sunshine and the West Coast vibes, the plan didn't quite pan out...

Now let's get to the album itself - I promise not to bore you with my teenage love life from 20 years ago anymore. Before we talk about the music, let's quickly touch on the cover art. Like many others, it was designed by Mario "Toltec Graphics" Lopez. It shows Knightowl getting locked up, specifically in Cellblock 13, guarded by a couple of cops (or "pigs" as drawn). Another inmate is flashing the "W" with his hands, representing the West Coast or Knightowl's hood, Woptown. In my opinion, it's a spot-on illustration that perfectly fits the album title "Jail Bird." Mario is definitely one of the unsung heroes of Chicano Rap. If you had a cover by him, you knew it couldn't get any better. Today, he mostly makes his living as the co-founder of Cerveza Xteca.

The CD kicks off with two old-school-flavored tracks, both featuring Mr. Shadow and Kokane. Fitting the old-school vibe, Kokane sings on the first track "It's 3 in the morning and I'm lost/ Swerving on a highway bumping that old school song". Knightowl handles verses one and three. In the third verse especially, he once again proves why he's one of the absolute best at seamlessly switching back and forth between English and Spanish. A seriously strong opener for the album. Right after that, we roll straight into a track where Knightowl expresses his frustration with the Spring Valley sheriffs, dropping lines like: "I know you are jealous cause you see what I be driving in" and asking "Why you be so evil/ Do you practice voodoo".

Next up, the CD brings together a true San Diego Chicano Rap who's-who: Knightowl, Lil One, and Mr. Shadow on one track. The most interesting thing about "You Don't Know Me" is that while all three are on the track, Knightowl "only" sings and talks, leaving the actual rapping to Lil One and Shadow. Up to this point every song was produced by VMF, but that changes with "Yes, I'm Ready," produced by Nan Dog. Here too, Knightowl effortlessly flips between Spanish and English while spitting his bars. Since an oldie-style track has to be followed by another oldie, we roll right into the aforementioned "The Knightowl Is OG." And yeah, it might lean old-school, but the beat hits hard and the message is crystal clear: "Don't you come fuck with me puto you'll die/ The Knightowl be the one to murder you and make your mama cry".

"Kochielistik" feels a bit faster-paced than the rest, and Kokane actually raps on this one instead of just handling the hook. "That's The Way We Roll" features Raskal alongside Kozme, who released his only solo album on Knightowl's label, Sawed Off Records. "Loyalty" brings back Kokane alongside Lil Demon from the Old Town Gangsters. A cool detail here: Demon drops both the first and second verses. "If It's On" and "Don't" are probably the weakest tracks on the album - at least for my taste - and definitely worthy of the skip button. Things pick back up with "You Don't Want None." It features another Kokane appearance, though this time Long Beach artist Weeto takes over the hook while Kokane raps, alongside another verse from Lil Demon.

"Driving Me Krazy" kicks off a three-track block of love songs. As some of you might remember, Knightowl and Baby Wicked (from the group Wicked Minds) dated for a few weeks or months back then. I can't remember if it was in an interview or during one of the countless phone calls I had with her back in the day, but she mentioned that this song was dedicated to her. According to Spotify stats, this is by far the most popular track on the entire album (currently sitting just under 1.5 million streams). It's followed by "Give The Owl A Try." While "Driving Me Krazy" packs a harder beat for a love song, this track leans into much smoother sounds. And yeah, I promised not to bore you with my personal life, but listening to the hook Owl sings, maybe I should have played this one instead of "The Knightowl Is OG" back then: "If you just give this man a chance/ Imma bring you nothing but a true romance/ And if you give the Owl a try/ Imma be with you until the day I die". "The Best Thing That I Ever Had" serves as a solid closer for this romantic run on the album.

The album wraps up with what I think is a great remake of Billy Stewart's classic "Sitting In The Park," titled "40 oz." The track circles back to the classic theme that Knightowl is one of the toughest guys around and someone you definitely don't want to mess with, because: "Those that like to hate/ Get surrounded by the tape".

In my opinion, "Jail Bird" is a really good album, and I particularly like songs #1, #2, #5, #13, #14, and #15. Overall, the LP is dominated by an old school and oldies sound. Anyone looking for the hard sound of "Bald Headed Kingpin" won't really get their money's worth here. However, it's part of being a good artist to be able to present different styles. I was just looking at old posts from the forum, the CalifaRap Community, and positive feedback clearly predominates there as well. For example, someone said: "Who said this album is wack?! This is some pimp shit. It has some bangers in this album and Shadow came good on this album.". Ese Ral even added: "This album was & is an instant classick!!!". At the end of the day, everyone will surely have to form their own opinion, but I really like the CD.

01. 3 In The Morning (feat. Kokane, Mr. Shadow) (Production: VMF)
02. Mr. Policeman (feat. Kokane, Mr. Shadow) (Production: VMF)
03. You Don't Know Me (feat. Mr. Lil One, Mr. Shadow) (Production: VMF)
04. Yes, I'm Ready (Production: Nan Dogg)
05. The Knightowl Is O.G (Production: VMF)
06. Koochielistik (feat. Kokane) (Production: Knightowl)
07. That's The Way We Roll (feat. Kozme, Raskal) (Production: VMF)
08. Loyalty (feat. Kokane, Lil Demon) (Production: VMF)
09. If It's On (feat. Mr. Lil One) (Production: VMF)
10. Don't (Production: Crhis Gunn)
11. You Don't Want None (feat. Kokane, Lil Demon, Weeto) (Production: Tony G)
12. Driving Me Krazy (Production: Knightowl)
13. Give The Owl A Try (Production: Nan Dogg)
14. The Best Thing That I Ever Had (Production: Nan Dogg)
15. 40 Oz.(feat. Kreeps1) (Production: Nan Dogg)