Third album of 2020 for Buffalo rapper Conway the Machine, following collaborative records with The Alchemist ("LuLu") and Big Ghost Ltd ("No One Mourns the Wicked"). Production is provided by Daringer, Beat Butcha, Hit-Boy, The Alchemist, Murda Beatz, Erick Sermon, Khrysis and DJ Premier. The guests of the album are Griselda rappers Benny the Butcher, Westside Gunn, and Armani Ceaser, as well as Dej Loaf, Method Man, Lloyd Banks, Flee Lord, Freddie Gibbs and El Camino.
Conway triumphantly enters Daringer's proper opening rhythm, delivering his first hardcore bars over loops from Jeremy Soule's "Peace of Akatosh" and Fiori-Séguin's "Illusion". Dej Loaf is the first guest, offers a good chorus in "Fear of God", good energetic boom bap made by Hit-Boy, with lean drum to support Conway's hardcore slow delivery. The first high point of this raw classic album is "Lemon", cut extracted as the unique single from the album: after composing half an album of Westside Gunn ("Who Made the Sunshine"), Daringer & Beat Butcha also provide a rhythm for Conway. Light, tense and dark boom bap with dope piano, midtempo drum, Griselda MC's rough and gloomy smooth delivery, hook, then Method Man kills the cut with a dope verse, fantastic, best of tape for game words and delivery, both extraordinary. The Alchemist & Daringer are the authors of the soundscape for "Dough & Damani": light jazzy boom bap, elegant dope light piano loop in the background, lean and slow drum machine, solo work by The Alchemist, smooth delivery by La Maquina. Skit, shootout and change of rhythm in mid-track: Daringer's taut, dark boom bap, with essential, slow, and tight drum, and a loop of frantic piano scale in the background, Conway keeps the level high.
"Juvenile Hell" is the posse cut that can rip the whole project, and it does: tense, gloomy, somber boom bap realized by Havoc, with tight and frantic drum, sample from Eloy's "Awakening", good urgent delivery from Griselda rapper, Havoc for the chorus, that delivery in good style; then comes the "lord lord" shouted suddenly and echoing in the middle of the beat, the new Knight of New York arrives and sweeps away everything that has come before with a calm and thoughtful flow, smooth delivery, dope; closes Lloyd Banks with an enviable style, he makes no mistake, he's still in shape. Excellent Queens cut, it seems to have been extracted directly from a Mobb Deep LP, it's a masterpiece. The first of two tributes to DJ Shay follow, then "Front Lines", where the rapper combines a first braggadocio verse directed to the public who didn't understand which artists should really be appreciated, and then offers a second socio-political verse. "Anza" is a trap choice well done by Murda Beatz, Conway sounds fit here too, dropping three flowing stanzas, then Armani Caesar with a light-hearted style and a light-hearted verse.
Beat Butcha provides the musical carpet for the ninth track, fast-paced jazzy rhythm close to trap, with great samples and a good drum, Conway & Freddie Gibbs in one of the rare fillers of the disc. Another DJ Shay skit, prelude to the final section of the project. "Spurs 3" is a Griselda posse with Gunn and Benny: jazzy midtempo boom bap with extravagant and dark sound, it seems comes out from "The Shining", chosen by Beat Butcha. The boy outdoes himself here and provides a dirty and dusty underground rhythm, on which the boys from Buffalo realize the third installment of the "Spurs" series, the first with Westside: Benny is the best here. Erick Sermon gives one of the best productions of the album, Conway chooses to use it for his touching song on missing friends, along with El Camino. The record is closed by two short solo pieces, the first is a single verse on Khrysis' glossy jazzy boom bap with a sample from Isao Tomita's "Venus: The Bringer of Peace", the second is Premier which pays homage to Mobb Deep, perfect jazzy boom bap with a sample from Dunn & Bruce Street's "If You Come with Me", scratched hook and a sublime dope delivery by Conway.
La Máquina releases one of his best records so far, surprising and quality effort, thanks to an amazing, fresh and dynamic production, excellent lyricism and flow, impeccable rapping and good guests: with 14 joints, and 50 minutes of listening, the project has a great replay value, it wisely combines underground and mainstream, exploring new fields for the Griselda House and skillfully navigating the commercial maze. Distributed by Griselda Records, Empire and Drumwork (label of Conway the Machine), the album gets a good commercial response and is the first Griselda album to arrive first on a Billboard chart (Heatseekers). It's one of the best hip-hop albums of the year. Raw classic. Nothin' less or more.
Highlights: "Fear of God", "Lemon", "Dough & Damani", "Juvenile Hell", "Front Lines", "Spurs 3", "Forever Droppin' Tears", "Jesus Khrysis", "Nothin Less".
Rating: 8.5/10.
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