In the late 2015, Buffalo, New York rapper Conway releases a sequel of "The Devil's Reject". Daringer is the sole producer of the effort, the guests are Griselda group members Westside Gunn and Mach-Hommy, along with the future member of the group Benny, Skyzoo, Roc Marciano and Nes. The album takes on a very personal connotation for the author, as the cover should indicate, which shows the bullets on his skin that the boy survived. The genesis of the record was born from an intuition of Daringer.
"1000 Corpses" is the first cut, an absolute banger, the title pays homage to the almost homonymous black comedy horror movie: excellent boom bap jazzy, with guitar riff and heavy midtempo drum, sample from "Odcień Ciszy" by the Polish musician Tadeusz Woźniak, excellent proof of Conway, that drops lyrics steeped in gangsterism, street, mafia and drugs with a clear, silky flow, dope cut. "Blakk Tape" follows, splendid jazzy soundscape with gloomy mood, deep bass, sound of vinyl crackling, shiny keys, ethereal soul sample from The Harold Wheeler Consort's "Black Cream", and great performance by the Machine, that delivers a unique thug stanza including several basketball references.
"Rex Ryan" is among the best cuts on the record, brings together some of the best rappers of the 2010s on a beat realized by one of the best producers of the same period. Daringer extracts a beautiful sample from "Morning Is Come Again" by Michel Colombier, speeds it up and makes a quick loop of it for a few seconds, it sounds so good you could easily say it's a Premier. Boom bap jazzy fantastic, flawless, timeless, phenomenal, left to breathe (and this is good for the track), sound of the vinyl crackling, tight bass, light drum, strings, keys all on a loop very tight.
The track is opened by Conway with a slow, smoothness, clean flow, dope. Westside Gunn for the next verse, launched by his brother, smooth delivery, faster, flowing, clean, solid, excellent verse. While the Machine mixes thug lyrics, gangsterisms and braggadocio, Westside Gunn drops his verse with his own style by intertwining gangsta lines, about fashion, drugs, braggadocio and even with references to football, hence the title of the piece. Third verse to Roc Marciano, spectacular flow, clean, smooth, rapid delivery, kills the track with a verse delivered directly in the legend of braggadocio. The choice to do the entire cut without a hook is fantastic and legitimizes it as a classic in Conway's discography, it's also one of the best songs of the entire year, iconic.
In the following choice, the author takes a skit from "South Central" (1992) and then he places the first hook of the whole album in the track number four, "Wraith-Ful". Excellent jazzy boom bap with piano scales and bass line, light drum, essential rhythm with sample from "Something for Everybody Suite" by Steven Halpern, good delivery by the Buffalo emcee that mixes bravado and more personal bars. Mach-Hommy and Benny arrive to refresh the tape with an aggressive and mesmerizing drum, mafia mood on an excellent boom bap jazzy devastated by the excellent performance of Conway. Shrill horns samples from "Phalene (Live)" by Placebo, Belgian jazz funk band led by Marc Moulin. Mach seems to have been born for beats like this, Benny kills the cut too.
Inkredible Nes falls asleep over the decent minimal jazzy beat of "Shells" with a sleepy delivery, on the least successful song on the record, despite a tight performance by La Maquina. That sample comes from Astral Sounds' "Parameters". "Sky Joint" raises the level of tape with a splendid boom bap jazzy invented by Daringer, wonderful sample from Alan Tew's "The Detectives (Link 5b)", hard drum midtempo, piano keys, solid bass, velvet rapping by Skyzoo who tears the track. Chorus by Westside Gunn that comes in strong, "veni, vidi, vici" style, brings home the track, sensational. Conway completes the cut, closed by Gunn with another hook.
WSG stays for the next cut on a tight bouncy jazzy rhythm: amazing sample from Stanley Turrentine's "You", midtempo skeletal drum, robust bass line, plunked strings, arpeggios, splendid strings, the beat is perfect for Conway the Machine that devastates the track and pulls out a simple, genial chorus. Gunn closes the piece with a third verse. Then comes "Salute Me", a good essential and bouncy jazzy production on which Conway always proves fit. The sample arrives from Titanic's "I See No Reason", the Machine stabs the track with one of his finest lyrics and rapping. It closes an "Outro" which presents a triumphal soulful jazzy rhythm, with a sample from "With a Little Help From My Friends" by The Undisputed Truth.
Illmaticly format and length, Mobbdeepian mood, Conway destroys everything he finds by dropping bars beside his brother in a «Raekwon & Ghostface» style with unsustainable energy and harshness for anyone else MC in the game actually: he's always consistent, very solid, very strong tape, not only among the best in the rapid rise of one of the most brilliant hardcore rappers that NY has seen lately, but also among the best of the genre. As the author himself says in this record, "Griselda is winning you can't stop it, homie".
Rating: 8.5/10.
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