Royce da 5'9" — Tabernacle: Trust the Shooter EP

Royce da 5'9" EP, curiously ignored. The guy spits hardcore for three quarters of an hour divided into dozen tracks. Production is handled by DJ Premier, AntMan Wonder, Streetrunner, Mr. Porter, Nottz, AraabMUZIK, Jake One, Jahlil Beats, DJ Pain 1, S1 and J. Rhodes. Guests are Tiara, Styles P, Westside Gunn, Conway, Black Thought, Assassin, and Smoke DZA. Kid Vishis gets a solo cut.

38 Spesh x Benny the Butcher — Cocaine Cowboys 2 [mixtape]

In 2020, 38 Spesh and Benny the Butcher have decided to release in physical format on CD via the German label Air Vinyl Records their mixtape made in 2009 "Cocaine Cowboys" and which until now they had never found a way to publish except digitally. Specifically, the guys chose to split that mixtape into two parts, releasing two different albums: "Cocaine Cowboys [1]", which is released under the same title as their mixtape created eleven years ago, and therefore could be mistaken for a similar version to the original when half the tracklist is cut off, and "Cocaine Cowboys 2", this album, which is therefore not a legitimate sequel to that 2009 tape, but rather the second part of the new edition, which more or less coincides with the second part of the tracklist of that old mixtape, with the addition of a couple of cuts in collaboration with Benny taken from the 2015 Spesh "The Trust Tape" ("Trust Life" and "Loyalty").

B.E.N.N.Y. & .38 Special — Cocaine Cowboys [mixtape]

Umpteenth mixtape that comes out of the busy year 2009. First effort ever for .38 Special aka 38 Spesh rapper from Rochester, New York, sixth mixtape for B.E.N.N.Y. aka Benny the Butcher, rapper from Buffalo, New York. Entirely produced by DJ Shay, it's a pretty demanding tape, over an hour of listening, in which there are freestyle and also several solo tracks over ringtone beats.

B.EN.N.Y. — B.E.N.N.Y. Vs. Lil Wayne [mixtape]

In one of his early mixtapes, Benny spits on cheap beats with Lil Wayne. Nothing remotely memorable and for over seventy minutes the music is annoying, there are four decent tracks, three arrive in the first part, the other is around the end, while the whole middle section is questionable. Except for two or three choices, there are no tracks too bad, that said, this tape is easily forgettable in his discography, not recommended. 3/10.

Guru — Jazzmatazz Vol. 4

Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal releases the fourth installment of the his Jazzmatazz series, on his sixth studio album, two years after the last one and seven seasons after the previous episode. The album comes out under the title "Jazzmatazz, Vol. 4: The Hip Hop Jazz Messenger: Back to the Future", is produced entirely by solar and features several guest singers, as well as Slum Village, Common, Damian Marley and Blackalicious.

Benny aka 2 Chain Bennymane — Chains Bond [mixtape]

Explosive cover for this mixtape by Benny aka 2 Chain Bennymane, rapper from Buffalo. Armani Caesar is the main guest of the effort. Despite having a smaller playing time than a normal mixtape and no skits, it sounds flat all the time. This production influenced by trap and boom bap is too cheap and fails to enhance the rapper's raw style. The most successful rhythm comes to track twelve, "Be My Bitch", with a great loop on which, despite a cumbersome chorus, the emcee sounds more confident.

Killah Priest & The Holocaust — Savage Sanctuary

What could stop Killah Priest's incredible enlightening rush? The most logical answer would be "nothing, he's unstoppable" and he comes from a two-year period that saw him putting on the table one quality project after another in rapid succession, however, an unusual answer that is equally correct is found with "that collaboration expected by fans (?) for a decade with The Holocaust aka Warcloud". This record interrupts the run of the Sunz of Man's MC and puts us back down to earth.

Twelve tracks, a production that is mostly done by Skarekrow (which means that the rhythms are probably archival and a bit dated: maybe I'm wrong, but 2000-2006? They sound a bit like they came straight from those years), Prime Music, Excalibur, Bronze Nazareth and The RZA. Guests are all Wu-Tang affiliates, such as American Poets 2099 (Pro The Leader, Nova Kane, Bootface), HRSMN, Killarmy (Dom Pachino, Kinetic 9, Shogun Assason), Irie-1, Masta of Ceremoniez, Thea Van Seijen, School of the Gifted (Solomon Childs, Shaka Amazulu the 7th), Black Knights (Doc Doom, Crisis Tha Sharpshooter, Rugged Monk) and Gravediggaz (Frukwan, Shabazz The Disciple; Shabazz is credited as part of the Gravediggaz).

Despite the presence of some proven talented performers, the album is easily bad, the production sounds bloody weak and Killah Priest can't work miracles, not this time, at least. 4/10.

Joell Ortiz — That's Hip Hop

Fifth solo studio album by Joell Ortiz, Brooklyn rapper. Domingo is the main producer of the tape, 20th Letter provides two rhythms, DJ JS-1, DNA Beatz and TonyRoc one each. Kool G Rap, Chris Rivers, Lil' Fame, Billy Danze, Raven Felix, Zooka Joe, Doo Wop, Tony Touch and DJ Cazz are the guests. The album is irregular right from the start. Ortiz proves once again to be a competent and really good MC; he also proves, for the umpteenth time, that he doesn't know how to choose the rhythms, the result is an album that is very irregular, inconstant, grumpy.

Benny — Tana Talk 2 [mixtape]

Mixtape released by Benny around 2005. 31 tracks, 9 skits, 3 feats. Kannon aka Conway and Kutter are the main guests. Produced by Buff City Records and Black Blood, it's an honest mixtape for the canons of the rapper. The production is simple, essential, jazzy, sometimes steals directly from the classics, good carpet for the hardcore bars spit by Benny, at the first signs of gangsta and braggadocio. There are few slips overall — the most noticeable is in "Freestyle 8" (ft. Conway aka Kannon & Kutter), due to a confusing and annoying rhythm, simplistic with extravagant sounds in the background — and several solid tracks, including those with Conway. The production often helps Benny's calm and regular delivery, especially when the simple jazzy beat is accompanied by a soul sample ("Die Tonite", uptempo rhythm; "Freestyle 3", here the emcee slices the production, excellent tune; "Freestyle 7", with sample extracted from a soul classic). It deserves an honorable mention "Can I Live", that borrows the rhythm created by the genius of Irv Gotti for the homonymous Jay-Z song, a great tribute by Benny, demonstration that here you could find some hidden gems.

Guru — Version 7.0: The Street Scriptures

Abandoning Premier, Guru works with producer solar on his fifth LP, which comes out four years after the previous one. 19 tracks, just under an hour of listening, guests of the caliber of Jean Grae, Talib Kweli, Styles P, Doo Wop, B-Real and Jaguar Wright. Normally, the music is bad and unbearable, just poor at the top: for "False Prophets", I noted "beat stolen to catholic sect that wants to convert to paganism". Lyrically, the Boston MC returns to early career street themes, while his rapping is boring and soporific, solar's weak, cheap and shoddy rhythms are unfit with his style and make the listener lose the attention in short while. This also allows every single guest to appear clearly superior to the lead performer, which is evident when you have the talents of Styles, Jean Grae or Kweli on the track, less so when there's B-Real, who even with his unpleasant voice, sounds almost better than Guru. Released by solar's label, the album sees little profit, failing to surpass the top fifty places among the rap releases. 4/10.

Benny — Married 2 da Game

Credited to be Benny the Butcher's first album, this effort doesn't take off in neither the music nor the lyrics department. DJ Shay and Jay Foye are the main producers of the record with seven and six beats respectively, but sadly this set of rhythms isn't good enough: their work isn't to be thrown away, take "Thinking of You" or "I Wonder" which have excellent samples rooted in soul, there are imperfections in the construction of the rest of the beat in both the songs. To be noted this latter piece, which makes chipmunk the sample "Wish That You Were Mine" by The Manhattans. Not to mention that some of the more pleasant tunes come from other beatmakers: the third track has an exquisite and fresh musical carpet provided by Daringer, however, something isn't working. "Consequences" has a simple and effective loop created by .38 Special and Benny's rapping flows like butter on this velvety production. There's a solid roster of guests made up of .38 Special, Jimmy Conway, Armani Caesar, French Montana, and Chinx among others, though they don't add much to their tracks, which makes the whole project not worth mentioning.

Joell Ortiz & KXNG Crooked — Rise & Fall of Slaughterhouse

Crooked announces the exit from the group, the others greet him, but a few days later, in the same month, Royce declares that the group is disbanded. It's April 2018. The sudden end leaves a bad taste in the mouth of at least half of the members, Joell Ortiz and Kxng Crooked. In the intentions of these guys, Rise and Fall aims to narrate the events that led to the end of a normal rap group — but the boys will swear it was the best rap group ever — who managed to have great success in the span of three years and who performed far below what could have been its potential, having three talented rappers in its paddock.

Benny — Married 2 da Game [mixtape]

The dates seem to suggest that this is a follow up to the album of the same name. It doesn't change much anyway, because it's still not a good product and falls inferior to the album. This Buff City tape leans back to trap and casually runs for sixteen tracks, little is saved including some of the tracks at the beginning and "Keep It 100" featuring Armani Caesar. Not essential in his catalog.

B.E.N.N.Y. — Benny Montana [mixtape]

I think both Griselda Records aficionados and Benny the Butcher fans alike can forgo listening to this 70-minute mixtape released via Buff City Records. The production is simplistic and timid, undecided whether to take the direction to the festive and carefree island of trap and go to the serious safe haven represented by the boom bap. Benny's rapping is still in a cocoon phase, but from tracks like "Benny Electronic", in which he delivers yet another cover of Jay Elect's famous first exhibit, you can understand how the guy has the lyrics and the personality to carry them through, they just need to be better ordered, refined, detailed with good vocabulary, and delivered with more confidence, but the talent is there.

Salaam Remi & Joell Ortiz — BoxTalk EP

Queens-born producer Salaam Remi & Brooklyn rapper Joell Ortiz bury this 15-minute, 5-track EP after few songs with "Shake Dat Je'llo", one of the worst things of the year in the hip-hop e the worst track I remember realized by Ortiz. For the rest of the tape, the rapper rides well the generic East Coast beats offered by the producer, its rap style is fine, forgettable. Useless EP, avoid it. 4/10.

Guru — Baldhead Slick & da Click

You have to put your hands in your hair. Or on the bald head, as the case may be. Guru's fourth studio album, the first not to be part of his famous Jazzmatazz series and not to be tagged under Gang Starr, is below expectations. 72 minutes divided into 19 tracks, just 4 soloists.

B.E.N.N.Y. — The Mayor's Back! [mixtape]

Tape by Benny aka 2 Chain Bennymane as the mayor of Buffalo in this Buff City Records release. The project is similar to the previous ones, with several skits to increase the number of tracks present. "How It Feel" stands out above all, blessed with a heavenly production and boasting an unstoppable Benny along with MachineGun Black, this joint could easily remain in his most popular records. The rest of the tape features unconvincing moments and not-too-inspired rhythms, ending up being a bit average.

Onyx — 1993

After several more or less disappointing attempts over the past eight years, Fredro Starr and Sticky Fingaz, the last two diehard rappers of the Queens hip-hop group Onyx, they somehow manage to find that sound they were looking for, the one that brings them back to the past, to the beginnings, precisely to 1993. The disc is entirely produced by the Ukrainian Stasevich, and consists of 13 short tracks for half an hour of listening. The two MCs deliver bars screaming for much of the time as in their best years and still have the strength and energy to carry the tracks down, stopping all tracks at around two minutes and no more. Stasevich creates a set of rhythms that would be the envy of those on Def Jam albums of the eighties, which consist mostly of skeletal drums, and the beats sound similar for half an hour. It's a welcome tribute to the group's past and would look good as a follow-up to "Bacdafucup". 6.5/10.

B.E.N.N.Y. — American D Boy 4 [mixtape]

Fourth volume of "American D Boy" by Benny aka The 2Chain / Bennymane. The mixtape, subtitled "Amy Winehouse", gets lost in the search of realizing the hit, little of what is proposed works, and the project is extremely noisy, especially in the first part. Getting closer to eighty minutes, it turns out to be an excessive and forgettable tape, not recommended. 3/10.

Camoflauge Monk & El Camino — Walk by Faith & Not by Sight

In 2020, what should have been El Camino's masterpiece, entirely produced by Camoflauge Monk, is leaked and the rapper initially gives up on it, saving the savable for an EP released about a year later. The EP contains six tracks that show a promising return in shape for the Buffalo artist. In spring 2022, a new version of "Walk by Faith" is released, consisting of 15 tracks and approximately 33 minutes. El Camino had promoted it a couple of years ago as his greatest work and it's comforting to be able to say that he didn't go too far, this record is up there together with "Walking on Water", "Don't Eat the Fruit", his debut EP and "Lot and Abraham" among his top projects. The production is undeniably good, exquisite melodic jazz boom bap beats with the drum as supporting role, El Camino flows very well in rapping, limiting the sung moments and providing great tracks along with Boldy James, Skyzoo, Jae Skeese and Meyhem Lauren. This half hour goes by very quickly, even if it's not really an original tape and if you have listened to "If You Know You Know", it's not really a necessary effort, due to the fact that the best songs are also in that EP under different titles.

RZA & DJ Scratch — Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater

Album? EP? I don't know. Little emerges clearly from this cloudy, confused and very gray collaborative project created by RZA and DJ Scratch, credited as the unique producer of these seven tracks. There are no guests.

Statik Selektah — The Lost and Damned EP

It's not the most inspired work by the producer from Lawrence, Massachusetts. Statik Selektah executes six productions that are a compliment to call average, and places several East Coast rappers there: Termanology, Freeway, Saigon, Consequence, Skyzoo, Talib Kweli and Reks. 

B.E.N.N.Y. — American D Boy 3 [mixtape]

Third chapter of "American D Boy", B.E.N.N.Y. (Best Ever N NY) series of mixtape, divided in two sides of twenty-four songs each, named "Paris Hilton" & "Kate Moss" respectively. 141 minutes, 48 tracks, 9 skits. Without mincing words, it's easily deducibile that is a disappointing effort. After an hour and half, something worthy of writing has not yet arrived. Almost suddenly, all that stretch that goes from track 33 to track 37 ("Old School", "Tana Talk", "Kay Slay", "Special Benny") seems to sound good. The rest of the tape does not give you these feelings, the boy gives up the trap, but this is not a significant release in his discography. In these fifty pieces, "Kay Slay" stands out with fine rapping and a rhythm on which nothing can be said, the result of an immaculate sample.

Millyz x Statik Selektah — Saints & Sinners

Collaborative project between rapper Millyz and producer Statik Selektah, both from Massachusetts, originally from Cambridge and Lawrence respectively. The album features guests such as Annalese, Jadakiss, Dyce Payne and Termanology, and is entirely produced by Statik.

Strong Arm Steady & Statik Selektah — Stereotype

Fourth studio album by Strong Arm Steady, Los Angeles trio formed by Mitchy Slick, Phil the Agony and Krondon. The record is produced exclusively by Statik Selektah, these laid-back jazz beats sound tastelessly and watered-down, a little East Coast, a little West Coast, without an identity of their own. It doesn't help that these guys aren't your best rappers on the scene or good lyricists with their generic themes, luckily, there are several guests trying to save most of the tracks: Chace Infinite, Bad Lucc, Casey Veggies, Picaso, Skeme, Tristate, David Banner, Fiend, Double R, Reks, Dom Kennedy, Black Hippy (Jay Rock, Ab-Soul and Schoolboy) and Baby D. The tape consists of 14 long tracks and 54 minutes of material, quickly becoming monotonous, is far from the best of both artists.

B.E.N.N.Y. — American D Boy 2 [mixtape]

Under Buff City Records, Benny publishes the second chapter of its mixtape series "American D Boy", with the title "Lindsay Lohan". It's something kind of crazy, I listened to this tape one week ago, I placed the rating for each track, but I have completely forgotten where I listened to it. It's not an insurmountable problem, having noted absolutely nothing, I cannot say why one track is better than the others. There are no production credits and no guest credited. In these 78 minutes, for some reason the last track stands out, I'm forced to trust myself. The whole mixtape is prevalently trap, and sometimes there's a boom bap rhythm, even if you may not notice it during the listening. The emcee can deliver bars on any kind of rhythm, however, this set is shoddy and never rewards his style and that of the guests. The cover is an evolution from the first chapter, presenting more or less the same elements. Not recommended.

Tha God Fahim — Dump Gawd: Dream Killer

Dream Killer is one of the most overlooked and ignored projects in Tha God Fahim's vast discography and one of the reasons is due precisely to the infinity of tapes continuously dropped by the artist.

Benny — American D Boy 1 [mixtape]

Long mixtape made by Benny, rapper from Buffalo, New York. 76 minutes divided into 33 tracks, 11 are skits and interludes. The tape comes out under Buff City Records, as well as the previous one. There are no production credits, and it would be interesting to be able to understand what happened around the middle of the tape: until that moment the album is characterized by bad music and there are almost more skits than tracks, then comes the first of a series of more melodic productions than usual and Benny's rapping improves and appears more fluid.

Slaine & Statik Selektah — State of Grace [mixtape]

Slaine emerges as the premier performer of the post-Guru Boston scene, claiming to have his own distinct identity that goes between aggressive bars e threatening stanzas. The tape comes out a couple of weeks before its highly anticipated debut album, originally scheduled for 2010 and postponed several times. The guests are Ill Bill, Action Bronson, Termanology, Novacaine, Cyrus DeShield, D-Stroy, Kali and Reks. The music is entirely handled by Boston-based producer Statik Selektah, who chooses some of his underground boom bap soundscapes wrapped in soul and jazz samples from the seventies, fresh and strong enough to support Slaine's hardcore rap. The MC chooses to bring in this tape the three tracks produced by Statik for "A World With No Skies" ("American Way", "Night After Night" and "Mistaken Identity"), remarkably reinforcing this mixtape and removing them from version 2.0 of his debut album. This tape features some of Slaine's best songs and is certainly one of the greatest rap projects to come out of Boston over the decade. 7.5/10.