Fifth solo CD by Termanology, which also produces three songs. The rest of the set consists of beats made by Statik Selektah, Daringer, Erick Sermon, Dame Grease, Shortfyuz, Psycho Les, Loman and Lex with the Records. The guests include Conway the Machine, Benny the Butcher, Raekwon the Chef, Willie the Kid, Smif-n-Wessun, Crimeapple, Anoyd and Millyz. Lawrence's MC brings us a bit of nineties hip-hop in this effort, creating a pleasant album that travels on soft and fluid East Coast jazzy rhythms, on which Termanology delivers with a good flow alongside some of the best emcees of recent years.
From the first moment, the beat of "Terminator & The Machine" strikes in a different way: there's Daringer behind the keyboards, the guys wisely decide to let the rhythm breathe, and it's a great decision, the production is beautiful. Conway delivers relaxed as if he were at home, Term works hard to maintain that level. Daringer creates a second beat for "Kaleidoscope", album single featuring Smif-n-Wessun rapping over simple production, a dark piano scale in loop that is occasionally distorted over a light drum.
The rest of the beats are there, they're not memorable. Termanology knows how to make rhythms, even if they don't stay in your head, in this case. Willie the Kid and Crimeapple struggle on a difficult beat in "Cognac Colada", Crime has to go almost in spoken word to find the right way to tame the rhythm. Benny doesn't rip "Bag It Up", finally "Lonely at the Top" sounds like Term's best work in production, the song should be a banger, in my opinion it lacks a bit of energy to take the song to the next level. Raekwon is the guest stars in "Passport Kingz", however, I can't pay attention to his verse even after repeated listening, his words seem to get lost amidst the shine of Statik's keyboards.
Welcome listening for fans of light boom bap, the sound is quite similar over these three quarters of an hour and there's little variety in subject matter. Addition that isn't essential in Termanology catalog, 6/10.
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