Freeze Corleone — LMF

LMF, acronym for "La Menace Fantôme", is the debut studio album of Issa "Freeze Corleone" Diakhaté, a French rapper originally from Les Lilas, born to a Senegalese father and an Italian mother. The title comes from the fourth film in the "Star Wars" saga, which the boy is passionate about. The production is made almost entirely by Flem, M.O.I. is the author of a third of the rhythms, while Amine Farsi, C2s, Congo Bill, JayJay, Marlex, Nassir, Ocho, Raaash, Rayane Beats, Seezy and Tab also collaborate behind the keyboards. Freeze Corleone, who in his album identifies himself under different monikers, involves several guests: ASHE 22, Alpha Wenn, Kaki Santana, Despo Rutti, La F, Black Jack OBS, Stavo, Osirus Jack 667, Roi Heenok, Alpha 5.20 and Shone.

"Freeze Raël" is a very solid cut that clearly indicates to the listener the template that composes most of the tracks and therefore the whole album both from a musical and lyrical point of view. Intro with elegant piano, melodic sample, then accessible snare drum, rhythm allowed to breathe for about a minute, then energetic smoothness delivery of the MC over energetic trap rhythm. The bars are a frayed series of invectives and braggadocio rhymes that easily mix references to mass culture, socio-conscious, political, pro-black and anti-system lines. The record continues with this style of battle rap, offering memorable moments and rare sensational slips. "Hors ligne" is another battle, on a trap beat that has a decent snare drum, but an annoying sample, in one of the rare beats not touched by Flem: is entirely produced by Seezy, Freeze delivers with an energetic syncopated style. The third track boasts a better beat and the first guest of the edition: boom bap trap with minimal and slow drum, good energetic delivery of Freeze Corleone, good ASHE 22 with a dark flow.

In "Tarkov" come the first bars that have generated controversy: trap rhythm performed by Amine and Raaash, decent snare drum and melodic sample, energetic syncopated delivery by Chen Zen providing some bars on 9/11 conspiracy and neo-nazis. "Rap catéchisme" is composed of a boom bap trap made by Flem, JayJay and Ocho, with accessible snare drum and good dark sample: MC delivers energetic and hardcore in a back and forth alongside Alpha Wann, in one of the best cuts of the edition. The performer speeds up the rapping style in the sixth battle rap, on a good trap musical carpet. Kaki Santana is the host of "Pas de refrain": boom bap jazzy trap created by Flem & M.O.I., good snare drum, great dark sample. The back n forth delivery of the two performers creates a good contrast with the rhythm, thanks to an always fresh, lively and flowing rapping. "Big Pharma" features a good snare drum and a melodic sample to form the boom bap trap of C2S, Flem and Marlex, the rapper performs in a single verse where he spares no one, spitting out bars with a smooth delivery in a cut that features more conspiracy than usual.

"Audi Logo" boasts an energetic trap soundscape, with good snare drum and melodic sample: the guest Despo Rutti delivers a lacerating socio-political verse with inspired style on an energetic trap music carpet, crafted with the usual formula, accessible snare drum and melodic sample. Freeze continues to go strong even on the tenth track, opened by La F on a light boom bap trap: this rapper brings to the album the least content of references to mass culture of the entire project, luckily, Freeze Corleone returns to the second verse and revives the cut of pop references, culminating in the nostalgic homage to Snorlax. "R.I.P. Pop Smoke" is another battle rap, more than a tribute to the late rapper: the beat chosen by Flem & Nassir is probably the best on the LP. An ethereal anthological sample, drum-free beat, the rapper delivers energetic and flowing over a melodic sample. Flem & M.O.I. create a possibly better soundscape in the following cut, "L'art de la guerre": great rhythm boom bap trap, perfect snare drum, dark soulful sample, dark and thriller / horror movie vibes, great delivery of Black Jack OBS, Freeze Corleone completes the work and kills the cut.

The next track is a battle rap delivered in back n forth along with Stavo, which delivers with a syncopated and hard style on a boom bap trap with dark sample and a rare perfect snare drum. The beat created by Flem for "Dans les buissons" isn't at the same level as his best productions, here too much action is left for the snare drum, however, the delivery of interpreters is extraordinary: in particular Roi Heenok and Freeze Corleone steal the show conspiracy bar after conspiracy bar, Osirus Jack closes, but he's not at that level. Freeze is unstoppable and packs another battle rap in "Desiigner", a cut in which he tries to consolidate his musical legacy by claiming that he's not the last rapper one-hit wonder: the song has an honest trap rhythm, and is mainly devoted to conspiracies, nevertheless, in the last lines, the MC drops another neo-nazi line. "PMD" follows, a choice focused on socio-political themes with a fresh and energetic delivery by Freeze, Alpha 5.20 & Shone on a boom bap trap with snare drum and melodic samples, before the last track. In "Chen Laden", he spits with hardcore dope rapping over a great jazzy boom bap rhythm.

The production is mainly carried out by Flem, who deals with 14 tracks out of 17, followed by M.O.I., with 6 beats. C2s, Marlex and Nassir perform two rhythms each, so the other beatmakers provide a beat. Musically, it's pretty simple, almost all rhythms follow the same formula: accessible snare drum, not too annoying, heavy or whiny, and melodic samples in order to accompany the rapping style of the performers as much as possible. The formula works thanks to the talent of the producers, who manage to give the album a cohesive, dark, energetic and tight sound, perfect carpet for the Freeze Corleone bars. Lyrically, the boy is wild and unstoppable: he spits bars on anything and you can't stop him, mostly his arguments revolve around braggadocio, wealth, drugs, women and conspiracies. Quite similar cuts come out: they're battle raps full of political extracts, socio-conscious, anti-Israel, anti-Iran, anti-system, anti-rich, anti-pedophile, anti-police, anti-racism, anti-white racist, anti-Cartier glasses, anti-neo nazi (unlike what you might read from critics and incompetents), anti-finance, anti-supremacism, pro-black, pro-oppressed, pro-justice, Afrocentrism, casual misogyny, various invectives, representation of his city and his neighborhoods, and a gigantic wave of conspiracies of all kinds.

This record is a kind of conspiracy bible, there's pretty much everything you can think about and also something you can't think about. Most of his pop references concern football, so the record is a must-listen for fans if only to go and discover them all, many are priceless. From the point of view of the metrics and the writing of the lyrics, the record doesn't revolutionize: for most of the time, Freeze Corleone limits himself to using a single figure of speech, the simile, with which he builds entire songs and practically, this entire album. Nonetheless, these cuts are performed with an overwhelming style and a perpetually fresh, hardcore, smoothness, flawless flow.

Published by Mangemort Squad, the rapper struggles to find a major willing to distribute it, but in the end comes the signing with Universal Music: the record goes strong in the charts, reaching second place in France, and is certified gold in less than a month after its release. The controversy soon arrives: more than the infinite series of conspiracy theories that the boy has drawn up during the project or its not-random release date (11 September), it's the neo-nazi and anti-Semitic references that have attracted attention at home, so much so as to make the record a national political case, and later an investigation into Freeze Corleone is also opened by the Ministry of the Interior. In conclusion, it remains one of the biggest hits of the year at home: the disc is longer than the traditional length you might find in the US market, with 17 cuts and 66 minutes of listening, but it lacks really weak tracks. Between controversial content, layered references to hip-hop from across the Atlantic (the last thing you can expect is a fantastic tribute to Twin Gambino) and melodic trap rhythms, Freeze Corleone establishes himself as a major force in France and as one of the most talented rappers in the entire continental scene.

Highlights: "Freeze Raël", "Scellé Part.2", "Rap catéchisme", "Pas de refrain", "Big Pharma", "Logo Audi", "R.I.P Pop Smoke", "L'art de la guerre", "Dans les buissons", "PMD", "Chen Laden".

Rating: 8.5/10.