Buddha Monk — The Dark Knight

Many years after releasing his last effort and concluding his "Zu-Chronicles" series, Brooklyn Zu leader Buddha Monk is back with a new album. Behind the keyboards are Buddha Monk himself, Sorcer, Cno Evil, Kap, Menace Obez, 3Fifths, Crazy 88s, French Connection, Skitzo Flow, Preach, Shoe Beats, Yanti, Alan of Green Kingdom, G-Clef da Mad Komposa, Yazzin aka Killa Porter and Crise. The guests are Robbie Khan, Drunken Dragon, K-Blunt, Layza Life, Menace Obez, Six Sense, Crise, Frukwan, Darkim Be Allah, Judah Priest, Sadat X, Black Jesus, Dust Storm, Manchuz, Skitzo Flow, Black Venom, Mustafa Adyl, 12 O'Clock, Murdoc, Popa Chief, Silk Ski, G-Notes and Malik Kahaar Ali.

The album opens with "All Out War", a great dark and gloomy boom bap by Sorcer, dry, clear, clean drum, good samples to support the slow flowing rapping of Buddha Monk together with the first guest Robbie Khan. "Secrets" is another pretty solid cut: beautiful intro, soft boom bap, light drum, mild samples, excellent production by Cno Evil, great concentrated performance by Buddha Monk, at his best moment since the debut fifteen years before. The third choice coincides with the first of many posse tracks on this tape: over a bouncy but pretty enjoyable boom bap production by Kap, with solid samples and a loud but rather composed drum, Buddha Monk delivers bars together with Drunken Dragon of Da Manchuz, K-Blunt of Zu Ninjaz and Layza Life, a rapper who was present in a couple of posse tracks on the Manchuz album "Manchuz Dynasty", part of the "Zu-Chronicles" series.

For the fourth time in a row there is a different producer on this tape, this time coming behind the keyboards Menace Obez, who has often collaborated with Killa Beez. At the mic, the main emcee is joined by Menace Obez himself and Six Sense on a lively boom bap production with positive vibes, lean drum that somehow holds up and good samples. Something in the mix doesn't exactly reward the boys' performance, but the piece is decent. The production rotation continues, for the fifth track it's Buddha Monk himself who provides the beat: "Pop This Year" features a minimal boom bap beat, dry, tight, rigid drums, dark samples, extravagant rapping by the main emcee with inflections that tend to imitate Ol' Dirty Bastard. The other two guests go down with slightly more standard styles, Crise with a composed, dry flow, closes the cut Frukwan of Gravediggaz.

"Smash The Dark Knight" is another posse of this tape. 3Fifths provides a different beat than the previous ones, still boom bap, but imbued with a mix of dark and extravagant sounds and a dry drum to support the execution of Buddha Monk, Darkim Be Allah of AIG, Judah Priest of Brooklyn Zu Fam, launched in the industry by Buddha Monk, and Sadat X of Brand Nubian. The rhythm breathes a minute at the end, a curious choice, even if I don't think it's one of the best of the project.

Track number seven features a cinematic/cartoonish beat by Crazy 88s. A well-crafted boom bap, with a robust drum and pleasant samples to welcome Black Jesus of Harlem 6 and Dust Storm to join Buddha Monk. The next choice sees the return of Manchuz on a beat created by French Connection: your favorites spit hardcore bars on a claustrophobic, cinematic, exciting liquid solution created by the producer, nice work behind the keyboards. Skitzo Flow is the ninth different beatmaker in nine tracks and is also a guest here, spitting with a discreet and regular flow on a dark beat. After almost half an hour Buddha Monk returns solo in "We Ain't Fuckin Witcha", a track that features g-funk vibes with a beat that winks at the other coast, drum downtempo slow and dry, melodic samples, slow rapping. It's also the second production in a row by Skitzo, the first to provide two beats on the album.

The next choice boasts a second beat by Sorcer, who produced the first track: uptempo beat, tense, dark, urgent drum, correct samples, good rap by Buddha Monk and guests Black Venom, Mustafa and Adyl (sometimes uncredited), in a bilingual piece that also seems to have mainstream ambitions. The album takes on a chipmunk soul vein coinciding with "Change Now Comin", with a production by Preach focused on that musical style: the sample isn't chopped and looped correctly as it should be done, the drum doesn't hit, the sample doesn't cut, it comes out a half-beat on which Buddha Monk cannot express himself at his best.

Shoe Beats is behind the keyboards on the next choice, where Buddha Monk is joined by an uncredited guest on a slightly minimal bouncing and bouncing musical carpet with a plucked acoustic guitar to add some flavor to an otherwise sparse beat. "We Dem Brooklyn Dudes" is an event cut. Skinny claustrophobic production by Yanti, skeletal drums, dark samples, Buddha Monk delivers bars assisted by Brooklyn Zu rappers 12 O'Clock and Murdoc along with Popa Chief of Zu-Ninjaz and Silk Ski of the Brooklyn Zu Fam.

Alan of Green Kingdom is the author of the beat on track number fifteen, placing a downtempo solution on which Buddha Monk goes alone for a few minutes with a slow, regular style, giving breath to the record. The next choice is a remix of a cut from "The Prophecy Reloaded" (2005), later re-proposed in 2008 on the collection of unreleased material "Unreleased Chambers", originally produced by Lord Finesse. This remix is ​​the work of G-Clef. Inside, Buddha Monk organizes the last posse of the record, inserting Drunken Dragon, G-Notes (both from Manchuz), Layza Life and Malik Kahaar Ali. The beat is solid enough to carry the track for four minutes, even if the guys at the mic don't do much to keep the listener's attention high.

Yazzin aka Killa Porter is behind the keyboards on "The Caper", creating a paranoid rhythm for Buddha Monk's bars that fits well with the musical choice. "Young Rich and Paid" boasts a clearly different beat than the previous ones, Crise places a curious and at times annoying sound carpet, also going down to the mic to support the main rapper. The beat actually lasts thirty seconds, then it starts to be too annoying, bad choice. Yazzin also produces the final track, "Art of War, Pt. 2", a good rhythm with Middle Eastern vibes, Buddha Monk closes the project.

Composed of 19 tracks and 73 minutes of offering, the album is probably the second best in Buddha Monk's catalog after his debut. The author gathers Brooklyn Zu, Gravediggaz, Manchuz and Zu-Ninjaz for what is ultimately a substantial group effort and gets some great moments, building a quite coherent tape. 6.5/10.