About a year after the previous one, the Winston-Salem producer 9th Wonder releases his third chapter of the "Zion" studio album series. Local rappers North Caroline Swank, from Littleton, and King Draft, from Durham, offer some rapping performance in a few loose tracks.
"FourLoveSoul" is the first instrumental of the edition: simple boom bap, slow hard pounding drum, strings, and soulful female samples looped in the background from "Jennifer's Love Theme" by Edwin Starr. The second track is short, slow and hard skeletal drum, chopped and looped female soul sample. Another short choice follows, jazzy sample, slow and essential drum, another sample, chipmunk soul chopped in the background. "CantStopBoogie" is among the best instrumentals of the edition: jazzy boom bap, lively drum and faster than usual, good sample from "Treat Me Like a Man" by The Dramatics. The fifth choice is a relaxed and short, jazzy rhythm, with lively drum and good sample. Rappers Swank and King Draft hit track number six, delivering decent styled bars on a boom bap with light, lean drum. "DramaBoogie" has a rhythm with slow drum and decent sample, followed by an energetic beat, decent slow drum machine, chopped and looped female soul sample.
"TakeItBackSoul" is the first weak rhythm of the edition: sample chopped to give vicious vibes, without too much success, rhythm with a rather bad slow drum. The tenth choice presents an almost annoying sample on a slow pounding drum machine. The number eleven track boasts a minimal rhythm with hard thumping and slow drum and soulful female samples. Swank and King Draft are back in "So Familiar": boom bap, pinches of acoustic guitar looped in the background, decent delivery of the duo, cheap syncopated drum. It follows a rhythm with male soul samples and slow pounding drum, then there's a short cut with minimal beat, slow drum pounding and chopped and looped samples. "JustusUsSoul" is a better cut, production with a vibrant eclectic drum machine, elegant female sample combined with a second urgent sample. "KillerFunk" is among the highlights of this chapter: short cut, great samples with beautiful strings and almost perfect drum, midtempo, dusty, dirty, pounding, slow, 9th Wonder brings out a quality boom bap.
Nevertheless, he soon found pretty mediocre instrumentals: the next one featured a dry and hard drum with distant female soul samples in the background. Track number eighteen features a minimal rhythm with a distant female sample on a slow and hard pounding drum machine. Swank and King Draft deliver bars also in "Whole Life": minimal production, slow syncopated skinny drum, good samples, finally this rhythm doesn't seem like a scrap for the two MCs. Two short cuts follow with dry and poor drum, the second has a chopped female soul sample and is one of the weaker songs. "OhitsYouBabe" boasts a minimal boom bap with good samples, tight and light slow drum, good soulful sample. "WestSideSoul" is one of the best cuts of the album and of the whole "Zion" series: short choice, rhythm with downtempo snare drum, sample from a classic, "Thank You God" by Darondo. This instrumental is a tribute to Westside Gunn's "Wrestlemania 20". In the next half hour, there is no song at the same level.
The following cut is a rhythm with low and tight drum, while "Lonely Nights" features the inspired rapping contribution of Swank and King Raft, on a production with dry and tight drum machine. Choice number 26 is slightly better, thanks to a chopped and looped female soul sample on a dry drum, followed by a poor rhythm with chopped samples. Cut number 28 inaugurates one of the best sections in the whole series: there are no excellent or particularly distinguished instrumentals, but they're all quite solid, albeit similar. The first two rhythms have a boom bap with a hard and dry midtempo drum, and a soulful female sample. "MissYouDearGirl" boasts a light snare drum supporting a dominant female soulful sample. "ThroughYourSoul" features a quick and energetic drum, while the next instrumental has an eclectic, vibrant and tight drum machine, while the usual female soulful samples continue to set the tone for the songs. The section starts to lose quality from "TobeChopSoul", where 9th Wonder chooses to chopped the sample on a tight drum, while the next track has a hard and cheap drum machine.
The producer places a quick dry pounding and harsh drum, combining it with a piano sample in the next two instrumentals. This section is closed by another excellent choice: jazzy boom bap, hard thumping drum, heavy Christmas bells, samples from a classic, "Happy Song" by Dynamic Superiors, in a tribute to "Beautiful Life" by Nas. The piece is already part of the final part of the project. "DoAnyThing" is obviously not up to the previous one, rhythm with dry and hard drum and sample chipmunk soul; the following rhythm is even worse, with funky vibes and eclectic drum. "AllYouveGot" boasts a beat with a tight and pounding quick drum and a melodic soul sample, then, Swank & King Draft provide their latest contribution within this edition: boom bap mediocre, drum tired and slow at least as much as the listener, if anyone has ever really reached these 72 minutes, decent sample, generic delivery of the two performers. The longest cut of the album closes, almost four minutes: skinny boom bap, hard and slow drum, soulful male samples, good horns sampled, from "We've Only Just Begun" by Port Authority, another classic.
9th Wonder makes a tape of 42 short cuts, most of which are between one and two minutes, for a total of 76 minutes. The first section of the project (1-8) stops between fair and decent, with rare good moments, then the record slips into a pretty weak fraction (9-15). The third part of this long LP (16-23) is opened and closed by two of the five best cuts of the edition, nevertheless, it contains some of the weaker rhythms made by 9th Wonder. The fourth section (24-32) doesn't start well, but from its middle onwards it has a straight spine, with several solid rhythms composed of the same template, so 9th Wonder decides to chop a soul sample, giving life to the last part of the disc (33-42), a mixture of weak and mediocre choices, with some strong points. For each of these sections, there's always a rapping contribution from Swank & King Draft, unknown performers called by 9th Wonder to spit some random bars inside the CD. As for the previous chapters of the series, the prolixity of the edition combined with the lack of quality makes it a superfluous tape to check for hip-hop heads.
Highlights: "CantStopBoogie", "KillerFunk", "WestSideSoul", "SuperChopFunk", "JustBegunSoul".
Rating: 6.5/10.
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