Ballers is a hip-hop group from Orlando, Florida, composed of Diante "Iggi-Boo" Singleton, Pat "Nitti" Carrs, Samuel "Son of Sam" Ayers and Toneye "Rome" Brown. In 1997 they release their only career project, fourteen cuts, no guests, nearly an hour of listening, generic gangsta rap lyrics, not too extraordinary rapping, but regular and honest, and excellent production, superior to almost any other mainstream and underground hip-hop record of the year: the beatmakers (Michael Weng, Martin Curtis, Andrew Johnson and Jolly Stompers; the latter two worked in the early nineties on some miami bass albums) choose brilliant samples, solid bass, light drums and creating a deeply smooth soundscape, wonderful, in which the rapping of these unknown guys is simply functional to the music, almost as a side dish.
The intro is composed of a beautiful velvety g-funk rhythm for the spoken intro, then "Ain't Nothin Changed": wonderful beat, velvety funky, skinny and syncopated drum machine, tight and light, light dope rhythm, good delivery. "FLA Niggaz" features great funky smooth rhythm, honest drum, light dope g-funk synths and a great female soul sample on the simple hook. "Hustler" is among the best beats: g-funk dope production, with deep sax sample, g-funk keyboards and synths in the background, light simple drum machine, good smooth delivery with simple but catchy chorus, great cut.
A beautiful jazzy beat follows with a minimal, light and tight drum and light percussion looped in the background. Skit, then "Time to Get Paid", great jazzy rhythm with g-funk elements and crickets looped in the background, good flowing group delivery and neat chorus. "Saturday" features a soulful female background sample, wonderful, taken from Cherrelle's "Saturday Love", and paired with a stunning musical sample from another classic, Ronnie Laws' "Friends and Strangers", beat let to breathe, slow dope delivery by the group, fantastic hook, masterpiece cut.
The ninth track has a lazy drum and a whispered delivery, with a great sax sample looped in the background. There's another female soul sample in "Me 4 Me", a light jazzy boom bap on which the group delivers with a slow and flowing style, g-funk synth and female sample for the hook. "No One's Gonna Play You" is composted of a light and vibrant jazzy boom bap, lively and skinny drum machine, hook with female soulful samples and a smooth slow delivery. The production never undergoes inflections: in the twelfth pick, the rhythm is a light jazzy g-funk boom bap with female soul samples, light synth g-funk in the background, smooth slow delivery, functional chorus and looped piano scale in the background that intervals with the synth g-funk. "Mikey's Got a Gatt" is the latest cut of the group, light bap boom with g-funk synths and jazzy elements, lively and vibrant drum, good regular delivery of the group. The album is closed by an outro with a wonderful interlude, light and slow jazzy rhythm, boom bap smooth, velvety, beautiful.
Classic production on an album that emerged out of nowhere from Orlando in the mid-nineties, is still unknown and forgotten, strangely. Recommended.
Rating: 9/10.
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