In 2012 is formed the hip-hop supergroup LUV NY, composed by Roc Marciano, Kool Keith, Kurious, Dave Dar, AG & OC of DITC. The tape is entirely produced by Ray West, except for "The Ritual" produced and performed by Sean G. The cover presents the name of the supergroup, moon at the left, the skyline of New York City, at the center the members of the group, clockwise starting from the left with Roc Marciano, AG, Dave Dar, Kool Keith, Ray West, Kurious, and OC.
After a intro, the album is opened by "Legacy Flag", splendid blues soundscape realized by Ray West, deep bass, good drum, piano keys echoing on the beat accompanied by a gentle guitar lick, beautiful music, OC flows velvety, silky, scratches for the outro, dope track. Andre the Giant and Roc Marciano perform in the joint "Egyptology": amazing relaxing jazz musical carpet, wonderful horns, keys the stays in background, hard drum, the Diggin' in the Crates Crew emcee sounds inspired on this fabulous production and returns to spitting as he should, Roc Marciano runs like silk over this rhythm that seems born for him, perfect for his delivery style.
"Snake Charmer" has another tight beat by Ray West, AG share the microphone with Dave Dar and Kurious, who together form the underground rap duo Bamboo Bros. Boom bap, tight uptempo drum, tight strings, rough bass, fast rap by the three performers. Boom bap different for the arrive of Kool Keith in "Extreme Status", in which the Ultramagnetic MC's leader is flanked by Andre the Giant over a rhythm co-produced by Menocal. Kool Keith goes straight on his way almost ignoring the beat chosen by Ray West and Menocal, sad and shaky piano loop, fantastic, harsh drum, hard rough bass line, for some reason Kool Keith sounds really good up here with his own style. Andre the Giant delivers with a syncopated rapping, more in line with the beat, good track.
This is followed by an instrumental break created by Sean G, also credited as a performer, eclectic drum loop, piano keys, good beat. Kurious gets his solo at track number seven, "Shorties Watching": boom bap with deep bass, splendid samples, the talented emcee goes off and doesn't stop, continuing to drop bars for two minutes with phenomenal style. The piece inaugurates a series of solo cuts. The next is signed by AG, "These Rappers Under The Hex", the emcee plays with acronyms dropping a couple of stanza over a beautiful soundscape invented by Ray West: boom bap, harsh drum, solid bass line, relaxing mood, good samples from Narada Michael Walden's "I Need Your Love", Barnes doesn't spit neatly and the hook isn't meant to flow either, however, the track works, I can't quite explain why and I don't think I'm interested.
"Last Night Finesse" boasts a light hi-hat, sweet piano keys in loop, sweet strings, plucked strings, Dave Dar delivers regular over this rhythm showing his stream of consciousness. "Remember U" also known as "I Been Luvin U", is a solo of Kool Keith: rough bass, light drum, female soul sample looped tight, the rapper overwhelms everything with his delivery, he barely lets the rhythm and the loop on the hook breathe, then he comes back to attack breathlessly and destroys the beat. "Pressure Up" boasts an amazing soundscape, sweet piano keys, double bass, light drum, Kool Keith still has it and drops bars as if there were no tomorrow, while Roc Marciano drops bars as velvet as possible, with Olympian calm, clear, clean, lucid, impressive, he travels together with the beat, next to the beat, letting himself be carried by the current.
The choice number twelve "The Blues Got Ya" has a cheerful rhythm, good sample from Fun's "Brick", robust bass line, light drum, acoustic guitar, AG raps slow, syncopated, Roc Marci accelerates and takes the rhythm. The Giant comes back at the final verse, for a back n forth with Roc. Phil Moffa co-produces "Acid", solo by Omar Credle: experimental production, hard and skeletal drum, minimal musical carpet with few elements, sci-fi movie vibes, OC leaves a lot of space for the beat, which basically isn't there, and the result doesn't come out pleasant. After this experimental choice, the album closes with a solo by AG, "Random": piano keys that disperse in space, drumless soundscape by Ray West, Andre the Giant delivers random bars as he pleases, it doesn't matter, and goes away in a pretty fantastic, appropriate, calm, confident way as has rarely been the case in recent times, without having to necessarily follow the impositions of a drum that in his latest albums have evidently limited his lyrical abilities. At the end, AG allows himself to pay homage to Ray West's Red Apples 45 label.
Released by Red Apples 45 and by the French labels Ascetic Music and Module, the whole disk is a homage to New York nineties hip-hop. The result is amazing, in most cases. Unfortunately, ignored even by fans and nostalgics of the old '90s rap, rather than being the album of a supergroup, it almost feels like a collection of rammed tracks from some talented New York emcees; there's never a single track featuring more than three rappers. Also thanks to the wise choice to forgo hooks for part of the album and to shorten the tracks as much as possible, with many under three minutes, the tape flows pleasantly and smoothly among the musical paintings conceived by Ray West, who demonstrates a good ear for jazz rap.
Highlights: "Legacy", "Pressure Up".
Rating: 7/10.
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