The highly-anticipated, well at least for me, collaborative
album consisting of New York’s Smoke DZA and Pete Rock has finally dropped!
It’s nice to see the new school and old school artists still being able to make
music together on a high level considering the change in the rap genre from
Rock’s days to now. It’s a 50 minute, 13 track record that did not disappoint
in the slightest. However, saying that it isn’t exactly what I would’ve
expected.
Track 1 –
Intro (Rating: 8/10)
The album kicks with an intro track that gives a brief on
DZA. He explains that he was there before the modern reconstruction with the
‘trendy restaurants’ and ‘Starbucks’, he remembers the ‘old harlem’. DZA’s not
as young as a lot of the rappers to get recognition in recent years and it’s
clear he wants to be seen as a ‘new
veteran’ of the game almost. Whilst there isn’t any rapping Smoke just
wants to set the scene of where he came from and create a picture for the
listener of New York, Harlem in particular. The beat is a very mystical yet
organic piece and credit to Rock. It features an echoed synth which is layered
by a traditional piano. This represents Rock and DZA, the old-head and the
newbie. The synth creates a modern feel whilst the piano keeps it light and
classic. The two really complement each other well and for an intro track, the
beat is song-worthy which only told me there’s going to plenty more fire to
come. Due to this it deserves an 8 bearing in mind it’s an intro track.
Track 2 –
Limitless (feat. Dave East) (Rating: 7/10)
Pete and Smoke kept this track close to home and recruited
the 2016 XXL Freshman Dave East, straight outta Harlem. Smoke gives a good
performance on the track, not his best but not mediocre. The track is similar
to a Jay-Z or 50 Cent type track, hustler turned rap star who likes bragging
about his ice and all the women that now want him. There’s nothing wrong with
that but it’s nothing new. I like Smoke’s aggression and determination that
‘his shits limitless’. He’s got no boundaries and his warning rappers and
everyone that there’s no slowing him down. East delivers a major hook that
definitely helps sharpen the style of track, with his gloating about champagne
and topless women. Assisting both DZA and East with a mean instrumental, like
that’s a surprise, is Pete Rock with some classic NY style drums at a more
modern tempo (153bpm) again putting together the old and the new. I can’t
exactly make out what it is but I feel like it’s a synthesized piano playing quick
chords which plays throughout and is then infused with very aggressive horns
which adds that urban grimy feel.
Favourite line: “Like a boss, I cop 10 like Masha’Allah
George Kush bout to twist the martial law”
Track 3 –
Black Superhero Car (feat. Rick Ross) (Rating: 7.5/10)
Remaining on the East coast the two link up with the ‘Teflon
Don’ Ricky Rozay. Both DZA and Ross only deliver one verse each sadly which is
still enough to keep us listeners satisfied by all means. Smoke gives a nice
verse followed by a very smooth chorus to match the instrumental. He explains
that before rap he still had a lot of luxuries such as his Mercedes 600. Though
he wasn’t rapping he was still counting his ‘ends’ from whatever source he
gained it through. I like this hook as it really portrays the image he wants to
show of him from this album, the street hustler turned rapper. It shows his
passion for the genre as in a sense he had money before so that wasn’t the sole
purpose of him pursuing his career. He drops some dope rhymes in his verse but
in my opinion Ross delivers a much more lyrical verse. I guess that’s kind of
expected bearing in mind that he is a multi-selling platinum and gold artist.
It was clear to bring Ross on board as he is one of the top dogs in the luxury-rap
genre within hip-hop and the chorus references a previous Ross song (600 Benz).
Rock comes in with a banging instrumental sampling Willie Hutch. This is one of
my favourite instrumentals on the record due to its smoothness and laid back
feel allowing us to really hear what the artists are expressing. He keeps the
track upbeat with fast drums; repetitive open hats and snare rolls. Just after
the final hook ends Rock keeps the instrumental playing which was very much
appreciated, there was various DJ scratches and DZA hollering ‘New York shit!’
on a loop. It really gave it that classic smooth Pete Rock feel which we hadn’t
seen a great deal of up to this point.
Favourite
line: “Headlights beaming, she all excited,
Can’t wait
for me to touch her, give her that Midas”
Track 4 – Hold the Drums (feat. Royce Da 5’9) (Rating: 8/10)
This track is exactly what the
title says, Rock holds the drums. It’s quite incredible to see a hip-hop track
that doesn’t feature any drums, despite them being one of the core elements of
the genre. Not only that but to see it being pulled off immensely. DZA and Rock
defy the codes and conventions of the genre in this song and prove to us they
are capable of whatever. An extremely smooth beat by Pete is laid down with a
sampled style instrumental with organic subtle piano, guitars and vocals
accompanied by a funky bassline. All of this is redesigned to make it a typical
Pete Rock beat with various scratches in the chorus. The soft adlibs from Rock
himself actual fills out parts of the track that are left empty due to the
absent drums. Rock plays a part in the chorus also. DZA shows complete
confidence rapping over such a defiant instrumental of the genre and does it
expertly. This really helped showcase Smoke’s range as a rapper and he gave
nice lyrical lines to add to that. Royce does a great job of this too. The two
completely just go off and speak their mind, which is exactly what a beat like
this is made to do. DZA impressed me in this track as he was able to keep a
steady flow, showed lots of confidence in his verses and in my opinion slightly
out performed a veteran of the game in Royce Da 5’9. Royce wasn’t weak in this at
all but DZA just came strong. Going back to the instrumental this is also one
of my favourites on the album due to it being different and very chill. Well
done Pete Rock!
Favourite
line: “I got tec-9 Tourette’s,
Call me
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf”
Track 5 – Moving Weight Pt.1 (feat.
NymLo & Cam’Ron) (Rating: 7/10)
Moving
Weight is quite self-explanatory, it’s about DZA doing just that in his days of
hustling. Keeping it close to home he recruited two Harlem bred artists in
Killa Cam (Cam’ron) and NymLo. This is my first encounter with NymLo but after
my research I’ve found that him and Smoke are frequent collaborators. I didn’t
manage to get much out of his performance on the song as his verse was quite
short and no stand out bars. He had that real Harlem accent which helped carry
out an image to me of Smoke’s life when hustling and the people he was
surrounded by. Immediately the track takes us on a journey as an old-school
soul type record being played which is reminiscent of an old Pete Rock. This
soon changes as a sharp jazzy guitar is being plucked which is carried by a
smooth hi hat and big New York style drums. Already Pete is setting the scene
for a story telling session. Despite the guitar sounding more like of a west
coast feel the beat is nothing short of what’s expected from the ‘soul
brother’, nice and smooth. DZA makes a few statements saying he believes his ‘a
made man’ and ‘king of the under pavement’ (underground). He’s expressing his
confidence and rapping about his lavish and often intoxicated lifestyle. His
lyrics on this song doesn’t really relate too much to what the song is about,
drug dealing. Though there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with that approach
we’ve heard a lot of similar lines from DZA already and this was a chance for
us to really get to know the real Sean Pompey and his story before rap. The
chorus covers this however, talking about his run ins with the law and moving
his product. The hook resembles an old Cam’ron song ‘Losin’ Weight’. Directly
after the first hook Cam, himself, comes in with force and speaks a lot of what
I wish Smoke did. He speaks about how the NARCS are often chasing him and how
he had ‘Cocaine Buffets’. It was vintage Cam’ron, which was nice to hear. He
created a nice flow whilst also being lyrical. If we put the golden
instrumental aside Cam saved this track, not completely but it wouldn’t be as
highly ranked in my opinion without him.
Favourite
line: “Regular hoes on
delta, the bad ones I charter in,
Nope not again, Look he droppin' the drop again"
Track 6 – Wild 100s (Rating: 6.5/10)
The track kicks off with an
aggressive attack from DZA ‘All I wanna do is fuck bitches and get money, Young
nigga shit, right?’ This then continues. The song is about how he used to make
money and get girls despite living in such a savage environment. Smoke is much
more lyrical in this track and includes a nice few punchline’s. Though it gives
a familiarity of his verses in previous songs his flow and lyrical approach is
slightly different. His flow in the first verse to his second verse differs. I
was pleased about this as it’s a fault I have with DZA in general. What was disappointing
in this track was the hook. It was quite lazy and feels rushed. The Wild 100s
in ‘Dead in the middle Wild 100s’ he refers to is a slang name for an area in
Chicago with high amounts of gang crime. He is translating this to Harlem,
portraying a similar environment of gang culture. When comparing this
instrumental to the others in the record it’s not on the same level, in my
opinion. A collection of wind/brass instruments and a big snare and kick is the
only stand out elements of the beat. It’s not terrible but it’s not up to par
with Rock’s usual calibre of beats. It allowed more focus on DZA’s lyrics which
was a positive of the instrumental however.
Favourite line: “ Getting all this chicken, I'm immune to
salmonella”
Track 7 – Last Name (Rating: 8.5/10)
Big instrumental here from Pete
Rock! Potentially my favourite on the album. It features Light strings with a
cool bassline and light drums to keep the mellow vibe. There is a smooth guitar
riff which features at the end of each bar. The subtly really complements the
vibe of the track and isn’t taking too much of the attention. I’m not sure if
this is a sample however, it feels as if it is. The instrumental on a whole is
very chill and allows the room for DZA to spaz on this track. DZA doesn’t disappoint.
He’s calling out all hustlers and is explaining that they are nothing when
compared to him. He talks about his wealth, various ways of making money and
about how he likes to get high, shock
I know. Joking aside, he gives a great performance compared to a DZA I’ve seen
on other projects. He explains that he is more than just any other hustler.
Despite the media attention and the money from rapping he feels it can get to
people’s head which is why he’s ‘gotta keep his feet on the ground’. I like the
hook in addition, he talks about him earning money whilst living an active life
and how he had chains (wealth) before the rap game. This is also discussed in
the hook of ‘Black Superhero Car’ with Rick Ross. He calls out other hustlers
explaining that everyone has product but questions what makes them more special
than the competition and what other skills they have. He’s ‘hustlin’ for his
last name’. This lets us know that he wants more than just a few pay checks and
a few mixtapes, he wants to build a legacy for himself.
Favourite line: “Last day surreal,
niggas tryna' do my best
Time and time I gotta prove my strength, Food for thought let you digest”
Track 8 – 1 of 1 (Rating: 6.5/10)
1 of 1 feels
as if it’s in between an interlude and an actual track. It features one verse
and a few lines of the late Malcolm X. The verse however is shared by both Pete
Rock and Smoke DZA who do a kind of back and forth with each other. It’s more
dominated by Smoke but it’s good to see the artist and the producer on a track
rapping together. DZA just goes on how he believes he is at the top of his game
both as an artist and in life as he enjoys the luxuries of threesomes with hot
girls and good alcohol. Rock throws in a few lines finishing DZA’s bars or
telling him where the ‘quantum leaf’ is. Rock doesn’t do too much lyrically.
DZA is quite impressive comparing him to famous/potential greats like Ron
Arteste and Bo Jack but without the negatives portraying himself as a great and
faultless. He must add the signature few lines about his riches such as the
line where he says he may need to throw on an animal (fur coat). Despite it
being a short track and not really a song as such, Smoke was good. Rock on the
production in this track was decent. There’s a repetitive brass instrument of
some sort that is synthesized. It samples ‘Snowflakes Are Falling’ by Isao
Tomita. It’s the same short loop which can get a bit too repetitive but isn’t
too much of a problem due to the songs short length. The drums are a very
simple pattern and don’t stand out too much. He adds on some quotes from
Malcolm X which focuses on Harlem and wanting the people of African descent to
be free. Hot 97’s own Peter Rosenberg is part of the outro which is taken from
some live show of DZA’s I believe. Adding him brings a large feeling of New
York also due to the station being based in NY.
Favourite
line: “I'm tapped in, whole 'nother energy,
Bo Jack minus the injuries,
Len
Bias without the drug habits, Ron Arteste before he changed his identity”
Track 9 – Milestone (feat. Jadakiss,
Styles P & BJ The Chicago Kid) (Rating: 8.5/10)
The track
opens with a very vintage style piano giving a boom bap feel to the beat. A
funky hi hat sequence is layered by a big kick and a sharp snare. It’s a very
classic NY boom bap beat constructed by a classic NY producer in Pete Rock. The
two enlisted BJ the Chicago Kid to lay his smooth voice and melody over the
beat to create the hook that sounds as if its sampled from an old soul record.
Definitely the right artist for the job here. It feels very much like an 80s-style
track, the drums give it that late 90s or early 00s feel. This is replicating
that although DZA is only getting noticed recently for his work he’s not young
and inexperienced like a lot of the people coming up at the same time, he’s an
‘old-head’. Besides BJ, fellow New York rappers and veterans of the game,
Jadakiss and Styles P feature on the track also. DZA does some storytelling in
his verse on how his friends been locked up for some time, he reflects on how
he could’ve been dead or in jail before he turned 30 and he’s thankful that
he’s here alive and well. He explains that his friend was loyal to him so he
repays him with ‘money in his books’. Smoke’s preaching to stay true to your
loyal friends and makes a toast to the ones currently in the position he was in
and to those that have passed. Styles P then comes in informing us on his
success and how he believes he was the ‘king’ despite not being awarded with
that title. He then takes a step back and thinks about how he came up and where
he’s from. He wants to remain genuine despite phony people around him; he
addresses to think about others like the homeless, for example and how he’s
selfless. Jadakiss follows a similar topic to DZA and P, he talks about how though
he has become successful and made this name for himself it was a hard come up.
He left drug dealing to hit the road and pursue his music career. Plus, he
talks about how he took some of his friends out the neighbourhood because he
wanted to stay loyal and give them a better life. However, they would act up
and not grown past the ‘street life’ so he had to sadly let them go. All the
verses told similar stories of a come up and the challenges they faced, out of
the three I couldn’t say a verse was distinctly better although lyrically
Jadakiss was slightly stronger.
Favourite
line: “Before I blew all a nigga knew was move that
blow, write a verse every day and
just pursue that flow
Without the risk the reward is just do that show,
Cream on top of the cream, call it Dough a la mode””
Track 10 – Show Off (feat. Wale)
(Rating 7/10)
On to the 10th
track Rock and DZA link up with Washington’s own Wale. DZA spits about what he
does best, being a show off. From the weed, he smokes to the status his built
on and off the streets, his verse is filled with lines showing his superiority
to others. It brings a familiarity of a lot of DZA verses which isn’t all a bad
thing as this track gives him that chance to go all out. His lyrics aren’t what
stands out for me in this track but his flow does. It somewhat matches the
instrumental fabricated by Pete. It’s a synth-like bell sound that is patterned
very quickly and creates a mystical vibe. The odd vocal chops and high octave
strings feature in the background behind this. The drum pattern is very funky
due to the kicks. The hooks not nothing to great it can become quite repetitive
the second time around. Wale hits his verse well. His flow, like DZAs is good
and replicates the beat in a sense. There is a lot of play on words and words
that don’t rhyme but sound like they do by the way Wale manipulates them such
as ‘style’ and ‘wild’. I’ve heard Wale go harder with his lyrics as have I
heard DZA. Although I felt both their flows where good on this track the fact
it’s entitled ‘Show Off’ and about doing just that I felt they should’ve came
harder with the bars. As the instrumental fades, out Rock then brings a sample
from ‘I’m a Yogi’ by The Free Design which brings out a psychedelic type vibe
as Smoke gives a short narration and a few adlibs. Followed by such a mystical
beat it will leave most listeners very tripped out.
Favourite
line: “I smoke until
I'm dizzy, I call up DZA to get me
I'm never distant from real niggas, only digital
enemies, Twitter, Twitter, you killin' me”
Track 11 – Dusk 2 Dusk (feat. TheMIND, Dom
Kennedy & Big K.R.I.T) (Rating: 7.5/10)
Rock samples ‘Dust to Dust’ by
Cloud One in this track which gives a nice looped instrumental. It’s a cool
piano which harmonic vocals laced over it. A heavy kick, quick hi hat pattern
and a snap layered by a snare is the main elements of the drums over it. DZA
brings friends from all over the map on this track. Kennedy from the West, Big
K.R.I.T from the South and up and comer from Chicago TheMIND to spice up the
hook. DZA kicks it off with a verse close to home he talks about the notorious
ninja bikers in Harlem and restaurants close by. He talks about his street
endeavours and the people trying to pull him down that were unsuccessful. He
disregards everyone that was hating on him and trying to stop his growth with
the fact he’s on top of his game and has no concern for these people. The hook
from TheMIND is great, he really adds that flavour that this whole album has
included throughout. A mellow yet gritty style. K.R.I.T comes on the track
following the first hook and adds a whole new style that we hadn’t seen in the
whole record, that raw south accent and flow. He brags about the nice cars,
good weed and prolific life his living and people he watched fall. Like DZA
spoke about in his verse he explains that people try and hate but he doesn’t
listen to them.
Cali’s Dom Kennedy hops on for the
final verse and like K.R.I.T did he adds a different vibe to the song due to
his west-coast tone and approach. He puts in a good lyrical performance with
lots of word-play and consistent rhymes. He may appear quite misogynistic at
the beginning but he’s just trying to inform us on the ‘player’ lifestyle he’s
living. He then speaks on the people that have less than him being jealous and
trying to block his shine. Dom continued his dreams and prevailed, he’s living
a good life even with their hate.
Favourite
line: “So from Christmas to Christmas Eve,
I’m lighting
up all my trees”
Track 12 – I Ain’t Scared (Rating: 6.5/10)
Another shorter
track on the record here from Rock and DZA. The instrumental starts off with
frantic brass instruments and what sounds like traditional boom bap style drums
that have a lo-fi feel to them. The entire instrumental goes very lo-fi for a
few bars in DZA’s verse. The intro is courtesy of Nas with a few lines from his
track ‘No Idea’s Original”. Rather than a verse this song begins with a hook
done by Smoke. He isn’t scared of the people that are jealous of him and blocks
them out. He speaks on how the haters made him what he is today. The hook is
very short but not too bad to be honest. He shows aggression in his verse, he
challenges the haters to try and take his spot and take him down whilst also
saying it’s not going to be easy. He clowns his haters in this verse, whilst it
isn’t full of banging punchlines and metaphors it’s almost a diss track to the
people that want his spot. For the first time on the album, Rock comes on with
a verse of his own. Though his been producing major instrumentals up to now I
was thinking whether he would spit a few lines himself. He brings it back
talking about his old success in ’96 and how he’s still living great with all
that money. Rock then prepares people for his increased profits coming up with
the line ‘Don’t Smoke Rock, more tour money’. It was only right that his verse
had to feature a few signature Pete Rock style ad-libs also. At the end, the
instrumental switches to a whole different track which acts like an interlude
between this and the next track.
Favourite
line “I ain't scared
of you motherfuckers, take a drag of the bud
Plies gon' get a nigga killed running off on the
plug”
Track 13 – Until Then (feat. Mac Miller)
(Rating: 8/10)
Smokey from FRIDAY gives the intro
over a sample of Rick James’ ‘Mary Jane’. A very mellow, chilled vibe which
then is disrupted by an orchestra of deep brass and light guitar strumming in a
low octave followed by other atmospheric sounds. Pete gives a punchy kick and
quick snare to the track with a contrasting pattern of open and closed hi hats.
It’s not a beat instrumental at all however it’s one of the weakest in my
opinion. Weak not in a production sense but in the vibe, it brings. However, it
does give a lot of room for the both Smoke and Miller. DZA’s verse is very
strong on this track ending the album off with a bang. He switches his flow
from a never-ending chainsaw like flow spitting out masses of rhymes. Despite
this he still spits it at a mellow speed, signature DZA. He creates various
flows, various rhymes and speaks a lot of truth in his first verse. The hook is
very short and not that creative. The track feels like one to try and let out
DZA and Mac’s full calibre of what it takes to be a good rapper, the hook in
this case is almost a filler and not really a major part of the song. Verse 2
follows the same template as his first with an outburst of rhymes which is then
transcended into more about what he is preaching than the rhymes. Mac has the last
verse of the album, a very major part. It’s brave for Rock and DZA to allow
someone other than themselves to have this part. Miller doesn’t disappoint though.
Mac in some way tries to replicate the past two verse from DZA he has the big armoury
of rhymes at the start but then continues his flow but makes slightly less of
the rhymes. This works well. His stoner sounding way of rapping suits how he
manipulates his words and rhymes in the track and suits the vibe of the album. DZA
and Hot 97’s Peter Rosenberg end the track in their outro by calling out New
York and announcing his departure. Lyrically this track was a great way to end
the album off. Instrumental-wise, Rock disappointed me on this one.
Favourite line: “Shit, start a war
you softer than the carpet floor
Fuckin' with a carnivore, heart as frozen as the
Arctic ocean, bring a shark to shore”
Positives
- ·
Nice instrumentals.
- ·
Good features.
- ·
Various flows.
- ·
Decent number of tracks.
- ·
Some nice lyrics.
- ·
A lot of New York artists and references.
Negatives
- ·
Poor hooks.
- ·
Wasn’t consistently lyrical.
- ·
Not enough consistency of a story.
Smoke DZA: 100% DZA’s best project up to now. Both lyrically and in terms
of confidence. Certain tracks like ‘Until Now’ and ‘Hold the Drums’ he killed
it. On others like ‘Moving Weight Pt.1’ and ‘Wild 100s’ he wasn’t so strong.
DZA has definitely become more aware with the state of hip-hop and his status
now compared to other periods of his life but doesn’t have too much range in
terms of subjects he can rap about. He’s always like to talk about weed, money
and women, which he can do well. There comes a point however when it lacks
differentiation. If he wants to take that next step as an artist he needs to
work on that as well as upping his lyrics. Rating on this project: 7/10.
Pete Rock: His production on this
record was extremely different to his previous projects which works great in
this case. It did take me some time to come to grips with though. Not only is
the sound of his beats different but also the approach, it felt way less sample
based than the prior Pete Rock. ‘Last Name’ and ‘Black Superhero Car’ were the
best instrumentals with many other falling just short. ‘Wild 100s’ and ‘Until
Then’ were among the worst for me. Being from the 90s and early 00s Rock really
adapted to this new style of hip-hop and also the underground scene. Without
these instrumentals, the track would’ve been nothing compared to what it turned
out to be. The biggest criticism would be to try and alternate something in the
instrumentals during other than the intro/outro (which was done well). Rating
on this project: 9/10.
Album as a whole: 7.5/10
