On March 2017, Griselda Records signs a deal with Eminem's Shady Records. This is the first official release with Shady Records for the Buffalo artist, is the third EP by Conway the Machine in the season 2017. The project is composed by nine tracks produced by Daringer, one rhythm is reserved to The Alchemist. The guests are Raekwon (of Wu-Tang Clan), Prodigy (of Mobb Deep), Royce 5'9" (of Slaughterhouse), Styles P (of The LOX), Lloyd Banks (of G-Unit) and Benny (of Griselda).
The title track opens the CD. Sample by Nick Ingman's "An Octave Faster", dusted percussion, heavy electric guitar licks, the beat is minimal, Conway spits hardcore and gives a strong and powerful start to the whole tape. "Trump" boasts an hard, raw, harsh soundscape: abrasive loops, rough drum, good dark production invented by Alchemist. Conway keeps the track lyrically in the dusty streets of his hometown creating a complete song (intro, chorus, verses, outro) and kills it.
"Th3rd F" has a splendid soulful sample from Loleatta Holloway's "So Can I". Sound of the vinyl crackling, tight loop, midtempo drum, the rhythm breathes, cleverly. The author enters calmly and establishes the mood of the piece from the very first bars, dropping a brief stanza, then the chorus helps you understand the title if it wasn't immediately clear: it's about a guy who reaches the third felony. In the next verse, La Maquina laces together violent, gangsta, food-related, bravado and celebratory lines. Interlude by Chef Raekwon, then the Wu-Tang emcee proves to be a professor at the university in Alliteration.
A loop from "A Divine Image" by David Axelrod is the fundament of Daringer's beat for "Die on Xmas". Hard lively drum, deep bass in background, tense, gloomy rhythm, the liquid solution created by Daringer is so paranoid that it seems to make even the performers themselves paranoid, Benny the Butcher does a sensational job managing to maintain the mood of the tune with a regular but somehow tortuous rapping style, Conway the Machine completes the gangsta track with a good flow. "Rodney Little" is taken from "Hell Still on Earth", collaborative EP between Conway and Prodigy. The emcees drop one verse each over a gloomy production realized by Daringer, that seems to pay homage to Havoc, the rhythm is tense, disturbing, beautiful. The pick number six has a shrill loop of stretched horns, hard skeletal drum, bass rejected in background, single stanza to tears this drug rap tune.
"Bishop Shot Steel" boasts a splendid loop from Quintessence's "Bliss Trip", hard drum, desolate soundscape, sad production by Daringer. The rhythm is wisely left to breathe, it pervades you, clouds your mind, it leaves you melancholic and sad feelings, you expect the Buffalo MC to enter at any moment, but he doesn't. The rhythm breathes for half a minute. Conway the Machine treats the theme of a friend's betrayal with an interpretation worthy of being underlined and appreciated. He delivers bars with a suffered, slow, restrained, cautious, sad rapping, reciting a heavy text despite its lyrical simplicity.
The next one is "Mandatory", rough bass line, harsh drum, piano keys in loop from Dennis Farnon's "Hide and Seek", Conway spits regular, chorus with a sample from Cormega, Royce da 5'9" at the final verse to close the joint. The Griselda in-house producer Daringer takes a sample from Franco Micalizzi's "Sequenza 13 (Il Cinico L'Infame Il Violento)" to build the rhythm of "Arabian Sam's": booming bass, dusty drum, tense strings in this filthy street cut with The Machine and Styles P. The ten and final piece is "Bullet Klub". Tensive sample from "Geracio" by Franco Delfino, dusty drum, deep bass, Conway is joined by a Lloyd Banks in shape and Benny the Butcher, hard track to close the tape.
Heading the acronym for Grimiest Of All Time, the rapper from Buffalo has attempted to drive insiders mad. And someone actually lost his mind: «GOAT, where? He has only three tapes and almost no one solo?» They didn't understand a f**k, leaving aside these dudes, Conway goes really strong on this project and calls high-level guests: Raekwon, Prodigy, Royce, Styles P & Lloyd Banks, as well as Benny. In this way he keeps the tape firmly in New York and firmly hardcore. While Conway paints violent images with a few dark colors, realizing a street / drug rap tape with an aggressive lyricism, Daringer offers a dark production and clings to a vintage sound whose repetitiveness doesn't allow this product to take flight to excellence.
Rating: 8/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment