Collaborative studio album between the producer Apollo Brown and the rapper OC, that returns to release material several years after his last album, "Oasis" (2009), the collaborative one with the other veteran DITC AG.
The title track is the intro. "The Pursuit" boasts a circular beat, fresh piano keys, lively drum midtempo, rough bassline, amazing sample from Jerry Butler's "Take the Time to Tell Her", OC rapping flows like silk over Apollo Brown's exquisite soundscape while the emcee compares his skills to racing cars, making for a standout opening track, beautiful. Even the chorus works, this becomes a happy constant in this surprising album.
"Prove Me Wrong" first seconds sound ethereal, calm, with sweet and light piano keys, sound of vinyl crackling, sweet strings that patiently await the arrival of something, a cautious yet wait-and-see bass line, plucky guitar, then a gritty, roaring drum rains down from the sky along with the bars of Omar Credle, that faithfully accompanies the beat towards the safest harbor. Splendid sample from Stringtronics' "Dawn Mists". OC spits bravado and uses the trick of placing a hook that is almost half the length of a normal verse in order to circumvent the difficulty of placing a catchy one and delivers it just like a verse, supported by a short, sparkling bridge by Apollo Brown that marries wonderfully with the liquid musical solution he has devised. Dope.
In "Nautica" OC compare his flow to the wind of hurricanes describing a storm heading towards his city over an "alarming" rhythm created by the beatmaker: tense piano keys, harsh, tight, mad drum, less rich musical carpet than usual in order to highlight the technical skills and lyrical style of one of the most underrated emcees of the nineties. "Anotha One" is a pearl. Beautiful. Apollo Brown uses the same soundscape as his instrumental song "The 11th Hour" for his album "Clouds" (2011). Vinyl crackling, soul sample looped tight, dusted percussion in loop, hard drum uptempo, splendid bassline in background, fantastic groove. Over this soundscape, OC flies realizing a sensational hymn to weed with a velvet, regular, clean, relaxed flow. He takes his time delivering the hook, everything works as it should in what is easily the best track on the album and one of the best of the entire hip-hop season.
In "Disclaimer", the DITC rapper is still the best rapper for some reasons, OC claims he has been reigning in the game for nearly twenty years, he drops a couple of stanzas over a dark, disturbing, gloomy production, hard skeletal drum, good bassline, obscure samples, good beat that for some reason manages to stay a little too much above the rapper's voice in the mixing, a shame. Matt "DJ Magnetic" Oleksiak didn't do a good job in the mixing here. After twenty minutes, Omar Credle offers a lucid moment of reflection in "We the People", socio-conscious cut blessed by an ethereal production, splendid strings, robust bassline, hard drum uptempo, shrill violin, light piano keys, sweet samples.
The Diggin in the Crates Crew rapper spits a single verse on the following joint, opting to deliver frayed, cryptic bars on "Signs", over a pleasant production, sound of the vinyl crackling in background, then lively sounds, rusty, muddy, filthy skeletal drum, wonderful soundscape for the velvet rapping of OC. "The First 48" boasts a sample from Cream's “White Room", early Eric Clapton: robust bass line, good drum, nice jazzy vibes, Credle delivers a song about kids who continue to be on the streets with no future. In "Angels Sing" the rapper claims that his work with Apollo Brown is a rare natural antidote to the evil over a beautiful musical carpet, hard drum midtempo, roaring bass line, fantastic fresh samples, with vocal samples taken from Sam Cooke & The Soul Stirrers for the chorus.
Apollo Brown never ceases to amaze and he creates another pearl for the next song, "Just Walk": the beatmaker envelops a loop from Isaac Hayes' “Walk On By”, sound of the vinyl crackling for few seconds, dusty perfect drum, splendid dusty horns and strings, the rhythm brilliantly breathes for seconds. Apollo Brown is a master at guiding you through the track simply by letting you listen to the beat, which in this case is rusty, dry, tight, refined, rough, and leaves no room for compromise. There's a thematic deviation from the original Dionne Warwick song, where the girl begs her ex-lover not to look at her or say hello if he runs into her on the street, asking him to "walk on by". While here, OC, but also Apollo Brown himself from the first seconds, advises you to "just walk" (and don't bother him, by the way) because if you stop near him, you'll end up robbed, stabbed or murdered, if you're lucky.
The DITC MC risks completely ruining the beat from the bar number two, I don't know how he pulls it off; he's completely out of flow, can't even find a decent hook for this song, and maybe it was needed — yes, it was needed here. Or maybe not. The rhythm is fantastic, OC doesn't know how to unleash his lines, which lyrical territory to penetrate. What emerges is a convoluted battle, in which he randomly names actors in a strange name-dropping, before settling into literature in the final verse. That opening line is a blemish on a piece that was born a classic and should have died that way.
At the track number twelve we have another highlights of the album, and of the career of both: "The Formula". Apollo Brown takes a great sample from Francesco De Masi's "Innocent". The music is heavenly beautiful. Man is a genius. Sad and melancholy piano keys and strings, magnificent, cautious bass, homage to the song of the same name released by The DOC in 1989. OC runs with a flow that can find no other adjective than infallible, pays homage to The DOC himself, and delivers what is one of the best songs of his career. Although he wasn't the first to use the sample for one of his own songs, being preceded by a few years by Statik Selektah, who used the same De Masi track to launch what was to be the career of the Termanology group St. Da Squad in the song "It's the ST", Brown & OC's piece remains in history.
OC celebrates himself in "People's Champ", criticizing rappers seeking popularity and leaving the hook to a MOP sample, over a tight production, robust drum, solid bass line, good samples. The next joint "Option" boasts a glossy beat, dusty uptempo drum, splendid strings, rough bass line, rich rhythm, Credle drops a couple of verses here. "Caught Up" has a cinematic beat, dusty drum, beautiful keyboards, roaring bass, the emcee drops other lessons, this time teaching young girls not to make bad choices, teaching young girls not to make bad choices in pursuit of quick and easy success, closing with a skit from Chris Rock. The last track of this album is another gem, "Fantastic": sample from Bloodrock's "A Fantastic Piece Of Architechture", organ loop, deep wonderful bass line, hard midtempo drum, perfect soundscape for the silky rapping style of OC, reflecting on his own life and artistic career, reciting a unique verse to conclude this amazing musical journey.
Released by Mello Music Group, welcomed enthusiastically by specialized critics — it's worth noting the appropriate perfect score of 10/10 awarded by the most important hip-hop institution of recent times, RapReviews — "Trophies" marks the return of one of the game's veterans, OC, and marks the affirmation of the album among the best hip hop efforts of the year. The level of the lyrics dropped by OC's almost excelled (except for that homophobic line in "Just Walk", song with a heavy soul boom bap that samples Isaac Hayes), that of the productions of Apollo Brown is superior, heavenly. Jazzy, pure, underground, dirty, deep, soulful rhythms, the two bring the atmosphere back to the golden age, in the mid-nineties, old school, but the record doesn't sound dated, it's pure hip hop. Presents some weaknesses, such as "The First", which's simply inferior to the previous cuts, crossing a beat not extraordinary to a delivery of weak OC and "People's Champ", after a lot of masterpieces, maybe the only production in the entire LP that doesn't work 100%, but arrives at track 13 (with a sample of M.O.P.). The remaining joints are excellent with "Anotha One" and "The Formula" that stand out brilliantly. With a mixing more precise, quality mastering, some technical polish and maybe a couple of less tracks this would be an easy classic CD. Album full of absolute gems. Recommended to jazz rap and golden age fans.
Rating: 9/10.
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