Smoke DZA & Pete Rock – Don’t Smoke Rock (Album Review)

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 10^th 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