PRhyme debut album, a collaborative project between Detroit rapper Ryan "Royce da 5'9"" Montgomery and Houston-born New York producer Christopher "DJ Premier" Martin. The music department is managed exclusively by the guy from Gang Starr, who uses Adrian Younge's catalog for the samples, while the guests continue to follow one another during the listening: Ab-Soul, Mac Miller, Dwele, Common, Jay Electronica, Schoolboy Q, Killer Mike and Slaughterhouse.
The album soon stands out as one of the best released over the course of the hip-hop season. The production chosen by DJ Premier is minimal, simple and brilliant, based on enveloping, haunting and hypnotizing loops and on a drum machine that often sacrifices itself in the background, sparse, midtempo, distant. On this modern and sublime soundscape, the rapper delivers a set of hardcore, braggadocio and personal stanzas, boasting an ever-velvety, silky, crisp, clear flow, among the best of the period.
The guests do a great job: Ab-Soul, Jay Electronica, Schoolboy Q, Crooked I, and most importantly, Killer Mike, perform at their best, proving to par (when not superior) to the lead artist, who's in extraordinary form. Joell Ortiz slightly inferior, very good Dwele, Mac Miller is one of two not to perform strictly hardcore, but still doing well (he has the misfortune of being in front of an Ab-Soul in a state of grace and Royce), Common is the other one, honestly I don't think he realized he was on a potential album of the year and he went a bit on autopilot even if it doesn't really bother me.
DJ Premier & Royce are both at their best on this album, the product sounds both contemporary and both like it came out in the late nineties, it's dirty, dusty, hardcore, there's a kind of imperceptible darkness to the atmosphere, 1997 vibes. Released by their fledgling independent label, the record gets a good commercial response and the insiders welcome it with positive remarks.
Highlights: "PRhyme", "Dat Sound Good", "You Should Know", "Courtesy", "To Me, to You", "Underground Kings", "Microphone Preem".
Rating: 8.6/10.
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