Oh, what do we have here? Funeral, from left to right: Paulie Gualtieri, Silvio Dante, Tony Soprano, Chris Moltisanti, "Big Pussy".
«A Friend of Ours» isn't a title like any other, it transcends the mafia soul of the EP that Benny the Butcher wanted to create: «a friend of our» is a synonym of "made man", which derives from the Italian "man of honor". The expression is used by Cosa Nostra, the Italian-American mafia, to define an official member of the organization. In the American mafia, a made man is a fully initiated member of the organization. To become one, the individual must be Italian by birth or must have both Italian parents (once Sicilian, over time the internal rules of the American mafia have changed), and must be sponsored by another made man.
The initiation coincides with the promotion of the individual as a "soldier" within the criminal hierarchy and can begin to climb the hierarchy, while a mafia affiliate who doesn't have both Italian parents, cannot become a "soldier": for these affiliates, the other made men use the terms "goodfella" and "wiseguy", while an initiate who becomes a soldier has started to be called by the other affiliates "a friend of ours", a definition that has been popularized by the famous 1997 movie "Donnie Brasco".
Now, properly, Benny the Butcher opens the tape with the quote right to "Donnie Brasco", and on an excellent mafia-style noir-jazzy rhythm, calls 38 Spesh to create a noir hidden gem of the mafia rap, two excellent spectacular deliveries and an enveloping and dope production by Rick Hyde. A splendid, beautiful and deep jazzy-mafia rhythm follows, reminds me of Dave Atkinson, Benny destroys the rhythm with a spectacular, determined, hardcore, punctual flow, forging a Griselda jewel. Props to Chup. Unfortunately, the joint suffers from a weak hook by Elcamino, not inspired here.
Short skit, then another poor chorus by Elcamino and excellent delivery by Benny on a dark and tight jazzy beat by DJ Shay. Beatmaker Chup also produces the fifth tune, providing a dark jazzy boom bap, with mafia vibes, excellent delivery by Benny after the opening of Dark Lo. "Made in America" is a good cut that has an excellent jazzy-mafia and dark rhythm, and hosted honestly by Elcamino and Dufflebag Hottie on the rhythm of Marc Spano.
The following track is the sequel to "The Hunter" (17 Bullets): Benny is always in shape, well Skyzoo and props to beatmaker Rick Hyde who finds a brilliant rhythm with deep strings in background, sample from Carpenters' "Superstar" to create a simple and ingenious mafia-jazzy production, the best rhythm of the tape. After a skit, Elcamino and Dufflebag Hottie return for "A Lot", a simple, slightly dark jazzy piece. The album is closed by a great light, tight and essential jazzy rhythm of DJ Shay, brilliant sample from "Solstice" by Brian Bennett on which Elcamino, who played a prominent role in this tape, finally finds himself inspired by delivering with Benny the Butcher.
Highlights: "Mob Ties", "India", "03' Draft", "The Hunter 2".
Rating: 7.3/10.
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