2019 was a memorable year for Statik Selektah, which consolidated his name on the circuit, thanks to five collaborative projects released during the season. The fourth of those five albums is the most unlikely one, made with Houston rapper Paul Wall and released on Thanksgiving, hence the title.
The lush, jazzy and relaxed production of the Boston artist, who maintains a modern, trap-related sound in some tracks, it's fit with the delivery style of one of the iconic rappers of the mid-2000s southern scene, who chooses a slow, regular, fluid type of rap. Assisting Paul Wall in these seven tracks, for twenty-one minutes of material, are some Statik protégés such as Termanology and Haile Supreme, as well as CJ Fly, Mia Jae, Benny the Butcher, B-Real and Nems. Among the guests, no one stands out in a particular way compared to the main performer, they all find themselves quite well on these excellent melodic boom bap beats, and probably Nems emerges as the best guest.
Paul Wall has the great merit of risking a distinctly different sound than the southern one with which he grew up and proselytized: what could easily have been a flop becomes a beautiful gem in his discography, albeit alienating most of his fanbase. To please them after they've been shaking their heads for months, the rapper releases "Mind Over Matter", which returns to have a more southern-oriented tone and that East Coast heads, like myself, don't appreciate. Aside from personal taste, this is undeniably one of his best works, if not his finest, recommended to East Coast fans: Statik Selektah succeeds in the great feat of making you better appreciate Paul Wall. 7.5/10.
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