Third studio album by Killarmy, three years after the last. The hardcore rap group of boys from New York and Steubenville still consists of all six of its original elements, plus 4th Disciple remains the primary producer. Behind the keyboards he's joined by Falling Down, Rebel Dainja and Mike "Trauma" D of Arkatech Beatz. The guests are U-God of Wu-Tang Clan, Prodigal Sunn of Sunz of Man, Superb & Polite of American Cream Team, Frukwan of Gravediggaz and Madam Scheez.
2. "The Push" (Beretta 9, Islord & 9th Prince ft. Superb)
4th Disciple produces this very first song from Killarmy's third CD. Splendid sample from "Dark Eyes" by an orchestra that the boy had already paid homage to in the group debut, sampling their version of "Celeste Aida". Boom bap, hard drum, violins in the background, honest beat. Beretta 9 goes hardcore, does a nice job, then the beat stops. Superb arrives, the first guest on the disc, a member of the American Cream Team group formed by Raekwon. Superb, what to say? You have to admire this guy's sincerity. Not Superb's sincerity as he tries to say that he single-handedly wrote the entirety of Ghostface Killah's "Supreme Clientele", released last year — it's strange and totally unfair that this artist, although unknown to most hip-hop fans, is remembered more for a gigantic lie that no one could believe and no one cared about soon forgotten in 2004 and which only a few of 50 Cent's weed carriers lifted for their feud against Ghostface few years later — no, no, no, no, not that sincerity. I mean, we've all heard Lord Superb's "Superb Clientele" right?
Not a good listen, actually. Don't listen to it. The sincerity I refer to is that of Lord Superb in this same verse. He's telling us this, he's been up writing this weak verse all night, it's not a good verse and it's not even a good night for Superb, because the guy doesn't really know what to write. After a while of Superb saying who this who that, he starts doing what more than a tribute to every member of the Wu-Tang Clan — except Inspectah Deck, U-God, GZA and ODB; even Cappadonna is honored — to remember that the boy is one of the few (...) blessed guys affiliated to the W, it seems like a very long tribute to the song "Alla Fiera dell'Est" by Angelo Branduardi. Yes, that's exactly how it sounds, great. Thanks Superb, legend. The boy also closes his verse questionably. His flow is very amateurish, he's almost talking.
It doesn't matter, he just looks like another Killarmy rapper if you don't pay attention, he means he's not doing a bad job. After his verse there's Islord, totally dissonant with the rhythm, he seems to have nothing to do with it, he almost looks like a guy that Killarmy picked up off the street and put in front of the mic in the studio. The boy is a thug in any case: "you fucked up when you crossed my line", then "also compose the track like Mozart". Mozart is in fact the first name you think of when you hear one of the Islord songs. It's not over, not at all: the last rapper is 9th Prince, and pays homage to his cousin GZA? Instead of his brother RZA? Why? There's something wrong. He also seems to have learned to spit the words well, what's going on?
3. "Militant" (9th Prince, Beretta 9, Dom Pachino & Shogun Assason ft. U-God)
4th Disciple behind keyboards here too, takes a Delfonics sample, "Funny Feeling". Powerful boom bap, thick bass line, snappy drum, melodic sample. RZA's warning is as follows: "anyone from the Wu-Tang Clan who participates in this record will never get paid again". U-God, already at loggerheads with Bobby Steels due to various reasons, responds immediately present and arrives on this track. He's not saying anything really, but he's credited as an actual guest: he says "it's militant" three times and another couple of words in the hook, but it has no verse, and the hook is actually longer and performed almost entirely by 9th Prince.
RZA's brother is pissed on this CD. He spits pissed, you can hear it. He's fully into hardcore mode, the rare times he hits the drum he looks like a real rapper, dammit. His anger (towards someone) multiplies his prowess on the microphone. It's Beretta 9's turn, when he's about to arrive you think the guy will calm down the tone this track is taking, after all Beretta has always been cautious in his performances on previous records. Instead, he too goes down hard, with a confidence, a conviction and above all an energy unknown to him up to now. There's Dom Pachino, it would go without saying, this beat is his home. 4th Disciple has done an impressive job creating this battling rhythm and the boys have fit right in. The song ended with Shogun's fourth verse, which yes, it's not hardcore like the other guys that preceded him, but by now the song has given you a crazy adrenaline rush.
4. "Originators" (9th Prince)
First truly solo cut by Killarmy, and is reserved for leader 9th Prince. First beat of Falling Down, does a good job: boom bap, thick bass, rowdy drum, piano keys, harsh violins. The robust musical carpet of Falling Down holds the hardcore rap of 9th Prince, the kid thanks whoever bought the two disks of the group and took him off the street. He and his friends.
6. "Sweatshop" (Beretta 9, Shogun Assason & Islord ft. Frukwan & Madam Scheez)
A skit precedes this Steubenville cut. Madam Scheez introduces the song, 4th Disciple back behind the keyboards: boom bap, excellent bass lines, spacey, rowdy drum, dark samples. Beretta & Shogun play as a duo apart, one with a more energetic style than the other, then a hook from Islord. Frukwan (also credited as Fruitkwan; sometimes uncredited), rapper for Gravediggaz, he's still in the horrorcore dimension of RZA and Prince Paul's group, he does a good job here and is clearly the best. Towards the outro of Islord, 4th Disciple adds ethereal sounds to give the track epic.
7. "Street Monopoly" (9th Prince, Dom Pachino, Killa Sin & Islord)
Second beat of Falling Down. The producer takes a sample from Shiva Burlesque's "Water Lillies". Heavy bassline, grumpy loud loud drum, very dark beat. The first rapper is 9th Prince: he tries to spit with all the anger he has in his body, he's mad at someone (one of his brothers? Dom Pachino? I don't know) Then there's Dom Pachino, hardcore on this phenomenal battle beat, long chorus performed by him. Killa Sin has verse number three and it's his first appearance on this record after seven tracks: he kills the beat with dope style. Islord has the honor of closing this track.
8. "Afterhours Pt. 1" (Beretta 9)
Second solo track of the group, short solo by Beretta 9 over a good boom bap rhythm invented by 4th Disciple.
9. "Trilogy" (Beretta 9 ft. Prodigal Sunn)
Gorgeous production by 4th Disciple. Boom bap, loud and noisy drum, thick sturdy bassline, elegant piano, great rhythm. Regular hardcore delivery by Beretta 9, only rapper in the group to welcome Sunz of Man guest Prodigal Sunn aka Prodical. The rapper, RZA's cousin, performs hardcore with crime storytelling from his Brownsville days, solid delivery, building a good track. The excellent association Killarmy & Sunz of Man continues to work here too.
10. "Feel It" (Dom Pachino, 9th Prince & Islord)
This is absolutely the best cut on the record. Great credit goes to the production of 4th Disciple. Great credit also goes to the lyricism that these three boys decide to put into this very heavy choice. 4th Disciple samples the soulful track "If I Could Reach You" by The 5th Dimension, giving the track a deeply soulful vibe. It shines with its own light from the very first moments. Tribute to "Walk Away from Love" by David Ruffin for the intro. Galactic bassline, amazing piano, ethereal chorus in the background. Dom Pachino enters and delivers one bar harder than the other, his personal verse is strictly and purely classic, there's an inner power in his delivery that is something incredible, in these situations, Dom Pachino looks like a legit Wu-Tang rapper, there's really nothing to argue about it. I go further and say he has the verse of the record.
The chorus is simple, heavenly, takes its own space and definitely deserves it. 9th Prince arrives in a different way than usual, he has a more regular and orderly style, atypical for him. He delivers a personal verse and doesn't spare an invisible jab to his older brother. The passage is closed by Islord, often criticized: the guy manages to complete one of the best Killarmy cuts ever with a great verse and keeping his style that was never true to rhyme or metrical pattern. Hook that repeats itself for almost a minute, beautifully.
4th Disciple is a genius and one of the best of his time.
12. "Whatever We Want" (Islord, Killa Sin, Dom Pachino, Beretta 9 & 9th Prince)
The song features five of the six members of the group, Shogun is absent. Robust production from 4th Disciple, thick bassline, dry midtempo drum, samples from George Benson's "This Masquerade". Hook by Islord, hardcore rap from Killa Sin ripping the choice, more energetic verse from Dom Pachino, hook by Killa Sin. Beretta 9 carries a flow that is a tribute to RZA, while 9th Prince now seems to have distanced himself from his brother also from the point of view of rapping and delivers in his own way, with a more orderly and clear style, while Beretta is eating his words just like 9th Prince did on previous efforts.
After 12 tracks, Killa Sin only appeared 2 times.
14. "Monster" (Dom Pachino, Shogun Assason, Killa Sin, 9th Prince & Beretta 9)
Excellent effort of Falling Down that samples Al Hirt's "Al Di Là", booming bass, minimal narrow drum, sax loop, good rhythm. Everyone is in this posse, except Islord. Dom Pachino kicks the track in fast-paced style and everyone will follow. Shogun plays less good than usual. 9th Prince returns to spit in an agitated way, Beretta calmly, finally Killa Sin, in his second consecutive presence on the album: the emcee completes the work with one of the best flows of the entire project, also paying homage to Wu-Tang and Sunz of Man, while 9th Prince paid homage to Killa Bamz aka Solomon Childs and mentioned that dictator once again. In every Killarmy album that guy is mentioned at least once by someone, which is actually absurd.
15. "The Hit" (Shogun Assason & Islord ft. 4th Disciple)
Good bass, decent sax sample, decent drum. It's not the best beat of 4th Disciple, but the interesting thing is that the producer himself goes behind the mic and starts spitting bars after Shogun, both with an average style. This is the last track of Shogun. 4th is credited as a guest, even though he's a full-fledged member of Killarmy. I don't know. It's hard to understand, it seems that the boys are only here to make Islord look good in this Steubenville track, but for what reason?
16. "One to Grow On" (Beretta 9 ft. 4th Disciple)
4th Disciple takes a great sample from Bill Whiters' "Tender Things" and creates a nice rhythm, loaded drum, violins, quiet bass in the background. The problem is that the boy insists on rapping. It's almost a solo track by him if it weren't for Beretta 9. These are two tracks I can do without. Final skit from a movie.
18. "Day One" (Dom Pachino & 9th Prince)
The surprises aren't finished. Killarmy sample a piece by Mario Lanza born Alfred Cocozza, an American tenor of Italian origins. The song is a cover of him from the Neapolitan song "Dicitencello vuje" (tr. "diteglielo voi", "tell her you"). Booming bass, skeletal drum, epic sample. Dom Pachino & 9th Prince exchange a couple of verses each and also recite the hook in back and forth. Lyrically, the kids deal with war and terrorism, it should be the norm on a Killarmy record, instead in this LP it's almost a filler, because most of the record is bravado, battle rap and just some random insert about the war. So, it's precisely the title, the cover and the name of the group that arrested their career, more than the lyrics of this record, which no one would actually go to explore. The production, among the best on the record, is provided by Rebel Dainja aka Dainjamentalz. He does an excellent job of creating the rhythm: he must also be traced back to understand how it's possible that only the censored version of the song can be heard, and not the original one. It appears that the producer, in his own words, lost the original version while editing it for the radio version.
19. "Spoken Word" (Islord)
Islord spoken-word solo. In the original version there's this track. The rhythm is phenomenal, one of the best of the edition, and it's not even credited to anyone. On another edition, this track is replaced by an alternate version of "Feel It" with an additional redemptive verse by Killa Sin.
20. "Nonchalantly" (9th Prince, Beretta 9, Islord & Dom Pachino)
"Spoken Word" leads seamlessly into this song, decent. 9th Prince immediately walks in and starts delivering on the beat you've already heard. Smooth bassline, tight pounding skeletal drum, great nice melodic sample, elegant piano: Mike "Trauma" D, producer of Arkatech Beatz who produced beats for Raekwon's group American Cream Team and Big Pun, he does an excellent job and if it weren't for the credit I'd say this is a 4th Disciple beat, that's so good. 9th Prince is right at home here, he pulls off one of his most inspired delivery, he's confident, he's clean, he's just at his best, with a Ghostface Killah inspired/homage delivery flow style, he also strayed from the delivery style that makes him a less good version of his older brother. Beretta 9 has no time to waste and starts spitting even before his friend finishes, good flow, he's energetic, he's confident, he too delivers with good style, in his last track on the disc. Islord is still not a positive note to my ears, but he doesn't disappoint. Dom Pachino brings the hardcore stuff back and closes the track, a great tune on a really robust Killarmy album, nice work. The fact that 9th Prince threw himself into "we hijackin planes" by releasing this very thing on September 11, 2001 certainly didn't help sales, despite being a unbelievable coincidence.
21. "The Rule" (Dom Pachino & Killa Sin ft. Polite)
Plaintive sample, booming bass in the background, harsh dry harsh drum. Dom Pachino blazes the trail for the track, it follows Polite of American Cream Team, isn't exactly on the level of the Killarmy guys but nevermind, then closes Killa Sin on his last appearance on the record, with a solid hardcore verse.
22. "Lady Sings the Blues" (Dom Pachino, 9th Prince & Islord)
Melodic, elegant, melancholy piano, soulful female chorus, good bassline in the background, midtempo skeletal skinny drum, dark pleasant rhythm. Dom Pachino's inspired hardcore entrance, 9th Prince follows with energy. Islord on the third verse, in spoken word. The Infinite Arkatechz does a good job and creates a great rhythm, at the level of the best productions in the history of the group.
Final Thoughts
It's not clear when this CD was released, depending on the sites the information differs: August 7, September 11, September 13. September 11 is the most probable and most accepted hypothesis. We are in 2001. This group has centered their career trying to mix rap and war with lyrics related to militarism and terrorism, so much so that one of its interpreters, Dom Pachino, often calls himself PR Terrorist, The Puerto Rican Terrorist. It's pretty obvious, but I'll write it again, the group's career ends here on exactly the same day as their third LP's release, three years after the previous one.
Killarmy's third effort is a testament to their quality and cements them as one of the best Wu-affiliated groups, for many fans the best. The album is solid and worthwhile, in my very personal opinion, it's even better than their second effort, however, it remains far from the heights reached with the first CD of 1997. The music improves compared to the second project, despite the fact that there are many more tracks and an unwieldy amount of skits. The samples from war movies are back. The production excels most of the time, 4th Disciple is a certainty and so are the other guys including Falling Down, one step away from becoming one of the Wu-Elements himself, and Mike "Trauma" D, producer of Arkatech Beatz, an unknown production team close to Raekwon's group American Cream Team who later worked on other records by Wu affiliates, they do a pleasant work behind the tables.
The leader of the group 9th Prince returns to be the main interpreter of the disc, as happened in his debut, this time with 11 appearances, ahead of Dom Pachino (10), Beretta 9 (9), Islord (8), Killa Sin (5) and Shogun Assason (4). These last two guys remain the least busy of the last two albums of the group and in general, of the Killarmy discography. If you don't pay due attention, you almost don't see the cracks that are widening within the group, between internal quarrels and the members' legal problems. Furthermore, Killarmy never had solid promotion nor adequate support from parent group Wu-Tang Clan: over the span of three records released over four years, there were one verse by Masta Killa, U-God who says literally five words and two beats by RZA, all out of a total of 52 songs. It's a little bit, and despite a few shouts here and there, in this record the guys almost seem to give up their affiliation with the Wu-Tang and for the first time they don't put the Staten Island group logo on the cover.
The 36 Records with which the boys publish is a newborn label that takes the place of Wu-Tang Records after this label's distribution deal with Priority ended due to much lower than expected sales. The disc is released in conjunction with the Steven Rifkind Company — the man discovered Wu-Tang in 1992 and signed them with Loud — and is distributed by Loud Records, which a few months later will be absorbed by Columbia. Sales are not bad, for the third consecutive record the group enters the charts, but fails to grind records as in the past. Due to all these reasons, the group disbanded, leaving a pretty good album for hardcore rap fans anyway.
Rating: 7/10.
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