Probe Audio

After Guess Who left Paraziţii's 20 CM Records and started working on new material, he leaked "Flori Ilegale" (Illegal Flowers) and "Eu, Tu Si Restu' ..." (Me, You And The Rest ...) on the Internet and, after receiving positive reviews, he announced the album for a 2007 release. In spite of this, the production process underwent several difficulties forcing him to delay this release for over two years. In March 2009 he started a personal website and a blog to allow him easier communication with his fans and apologized for the repeated pushbacks of the album stating that he would release it shortly.[4] After releasing the Agresiv-produced single "Tu" (You) in February 2009, the album was made available on April 26, 2009 via his official website.[5] The CDs were originally mailed to customers through the Romanian Post but after experiencing various problems, the delivery method was changed to a private shipping company to enable fans to receive merchandise faster. Two weeks before the album was made available to retail, a number of unfinished songs were leaked onto the Internet, contributing to the album's highly anticipated status amongst Romanian hip hop fans.

Promotion was done independently and exclusively on the Internet for the first version of the album and despite this it sold over two thousand copies in the first weeks of availability. This attracted interest by the Romanian TV music channel 1Music who started airing the album's lead single "Tu" (You). On YouTube, the music video for Tu (You) was accessed by over 120,000 viewers. In late 2009 Guess Who signed a contract with the Romanian music label Cat Music who distributed a new version of "Probe Audio" together with the sports newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor (The Sports Newspaper in Romanian). The re-release of the album included three new tracks and a remix to the album's second single "Eugen" and also the video for the third single "Locul Potrivit" (The Right Place). Cat Music's interest in Guess Who was stimulated by Romanian radio stations that started airing "Locul Potrivit" after radio host Şerban Huidu discovered the song on the Internet and aired it on Kiss FM during his morning show. Guess Who promoted his albums in a series of interviews and radio ads in the Romanian media throughout 2009.

In late 2009 a new song by Guess Who surfaced on the Internet in Romania, receiving a consistent amount of positive feedback. The track's original name was Anul 2000 (The Year 2000) but he later changed it as he stated the "Anul 2000" brand was registered in Romania and thus, not available for free public use.[6] The song was discovered by Romanian radio host Şerban Huidu and he gave high praise to the track's original and intelligent lyrical delivery as he started promoting it on Kiss FM. Shortly afterwards, many other radio stations started airing the song, creating a new buzz around Guess Who and also sparking interest from Romanian music labels. He eventually signed with Cat Music for a one-album deal similar to fellow hip hop acts B.U.G. Mafia and Puya, who also released their albums with Romania's largest sports newspaper at the time, Gazeta Sporturilor to boost their cd sales. Locul Potrivit/Probe Audio included the re-release's lead single "Locul Potrivit" (The Right Place), two other new tracks, amongst which a collaboration with Romanian reggae group Camuflaj and a remix of the original album's second single "Eugen".

"Locul Potrivit" was the single meant to promote the re-release of "Probe Audio" being officially released on December 8, 2009 with a music video directed by Marian Crişan depicting Guess Who's friends and collaborators with protest signs such as "Nu ne-am nascut in locul potrivit" (We weren't born in the right place) or "Ne vedem in anul 3000" (See you in the year 3000), Romanian gymnast Laura Cristache performing some routines as a reference to Romania's underfunded sports system and children dressed as young communists singing the socialist adulation-styled sample of Horia Moculescu's 1977 song "Noi În Anul 2000" (Us In The Year 2000) in the beginning of the song. The track casts a critical view upon the Romanian society and its post-communist flaws as Guess Who expresses his wish of being born in a different place.

"Viseaza" (Dream) is a ragga-influenced collaboration with Romanian reggae act Camuflaj. Bucharest-based duo Agresiv produced the downtempo, reggae-funk infused instrumental and, as Guess Who sings his way through the chorus with lyrics about marijuana consumption and general considerations about life in general, Camuflaj complete the song with a soulful and conscious approach in discussing the use of cannabis in stress-related issues.

"07.03.2006" (March 7, 2006) is one of the album's darkest and most introspective tracks. Guess Who shares his thoughts on various subjects, generally related to contemporary life in Romania such as Traian Băsescu being elected president, alcohol and drug abuse in high school, the concern that his financial income is very limited as a Romanian hip hop artist and describes the next day, March 8th, as an opportunity for materialist women to show their flaws. Even though the main themes of the song are the general monotony and repetitive patterns of life that lure him into deep depression and angoisse, it also proves to be one of the darkest depictions of life as a Romanian in the mid to late 2000s.

"Locul Potrivit/Probe Audio" was highly anticipated by the Romanian audience and was bootlegged very fast, only a couple of hours after its release with Gazeta Sporturilor.[7] Guess Who spoke about this re-release in a 2009 interview with the Monden.Info website:

The album was initially released exclusively online and it reached few people and I thought it was a good ideea to re-release it with Gazeta Sporturilor to reach as many people as possible, keeping in mind that the price is going to be reasonable. It's going to include four new tracks and the music video for "Locul Potrivit".

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The album has received generally positive reviews from critics and although he released his first official song in 2003 on a Rebel Music compilation, Guess Who established a reputation as a new, talented artist after the release of this album. Most critics have noted the contrast between the album's dark and sober production and Guess Who's witty and humorous addressing of his themes while managing to remain serious-minded enough to avoid a completely comical approach. Dan Lucian Stefancu of "Deceblog" has noted Guess Who's ability to use the Internet in his own favor saying, "Hip hop artists were the ones to understand the Internet and have taken full advantage of it. The music video for Tu [the album's first single] has gathered over 100,000 views on YouTube and 66,000 on Vimeo".[8]

Mihdel of DivercityCafe also reviewed this album saying, "Probe Audio has been produced by Agresiv and Guess Who, it includes 14 tracks having a strong message to send in its raw lyrics with their ironic approach that emphasize on a more melodic interpretation. I think it's not only a hip hop album, but really more than that.".[9]

The Romanian hip hop community has also extensively covered this album in their online debates on Internet forums, such as Hades Records or Hiphopkulture.[10] The reception amongst fans has also been generally positive, emphasizing on the album's jazzy production and socio-political lyrical themes.

Album sales have dramatically dropped in Romania after the Internet gained widespread availability in the mid-2000s. This led to a situation where most labels avoided signing any new hip hop acts, since the Internet bootlegging would practically impair any possibility to move units. Guess Who has claimed on his official blog that the album received over 1,000 pre-orders in the first week it was made available for sell on the official website.[11] Since it was an independent release, no other official data has been made available by the artist or his legal representation. After he signed with Cat Music to re-release the album with Gazeta Sporturilor (The Sports Newspaper), the label has said that the request for the album has been so high that an additional number of discs had to be manufactured and sent out.

All song titles, notes, samples, writing and production credits are according to the album booklet.

Lyrics by Guess Who, Griffo, Spike, Mitza, Grasu XXL, Camuflaj, music compositions listed below.

• Guess Who Official Website
• Album Retail Website
• Tu Video On YouTube
• Locul Potrivit Video On YouTube
• Gojira Remix: Guess Who – “Locul Potrivit”