Jon Connor – “The Artist Yahn Freeman IV” review

New surprise EP from Flint, Michigan emcee/producer Jon Connor. Someone who’s steadily been holding it down for the last 2 decades including The Calling, Vinnie Chase & S.O.S. trilogies along with the Best in the World series paying homage to some of Jon’s influences, Salvation, While You Were Sleeping & Unconscious State. He was even signed to Aftermath Entertainment for 6 years before departing after Vehicle City wound up being shelved, coming off Food for the Soul & 24 produced by KLC of the No Limit Records in-house production team Beats by the Pound to drop the 4th installment of The Artist Yahn Freeman series produced by Smitti Boi.

“Lord You Know I’m Trying” hops over a trap beat sampling gospel music to begin this month’s installment talking about making music for the people who appreciate his style these days whereas “1st Day Back” goes for a boom bap vibe instrumentally admitting he wakes up every day thinking of making something out of his life before his time’s up. “Solid Ground” keeps it rugged to spit streams of consciousness while “Evolve” featuring MRK_SX finds the 2 talking about now being the time to do better.

Starting the 2nd half, “The Party 2” comes through with a spiritual successor to a highlight off The Artist Yahn Freeman II promising to never give up his self-respect for money over a nocturnal trap beat while “Endless Road” vents the need to talk to someone except no one’s tapping in. “Praying for the Sunshine” returns to the boom bap calling for us to realize our children’s future is in our hands & “They Can’t Stop My Dreams” spends the last couple minutes promising everything will be ok.

Only a week after his birthday, this latest entry of Jon Connor’s ongoing saga has been only getting more interesting by the month & The Artist Yahn Freeman IV taking over The Artist Yahn Freeman III’s position as the All Varsity Music Group founder’s finest-sounding extended play this whole year. Maestro Williams of Silent Riot’s gives us the greatest mixing/mastering I’ve heard throughout this entire tetrarch through his engineering, carrying over the thoughtfully conscious lyricism backed by Smitti Boi’s production healthily balancing boom bap & trap.

Score: 4/5

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Blu & Exile – “Time Heals Everything” review

Blu & Exile celebrating 4/20 with their 5th studio LP. One of the most beloved duos in all of the west coast, their 2007 debut Below the Heavens: In Hell Happy with Your New Imaginary Friend is rightfully considered by many to be one of the best hip hop albums to come out within the past 2 decades. They went on to release a follow-up in 2011 with Give Me My Flowers While I Can Smell Them as well as the 2017 rarities compilation In the Beginning: Before the Heavens & Miles: From an Interlude Called Life, the latter being their last for Fat Beats Records. Exile’s indie label Dirty Science Records has since signed a distribution deal with Soulspazm Records a couple years ago, following up Love (the) Ominous World to explain how Time Heals Everything.

“Soul Unusual” begins with this soulful boom bap intro reframing the themes of “Soul Provider” & “Soul Amazing” using a newfound perspective whereas “Shoe Laces” goes out to every single avenue he’s ever known growing up in the west coast. “Crumbs” featuring ICECOLDBISHOP & Rome Streetz details the system trying to poison the youth by giving them guns leading into “The Bag” hooking up a funky small to talk about the money.

Fashawn appears on “Hard Times” to help end the 1st leg of Time Heals Everything hopping over a piano-driven boom bap instrumental so they can confidently state that no one can take this away from either of them & after “I Don’t Rhyme” continued with a 2-parter starting off a dusty beginning prior to a beat switch during the 2nd half treading jazzier waters, “Lazy Afternoon” turns up the jazz rap influences to describe an off day.

“In My Window” nears the conclusion swapping out the jazzy elements in favor of soul influences talking about seeing the whole world with his eyes closed while “T.S.O.D. (Triple Stages of Darkness)” featuring Black-Hommy saved the best single for last, rapping circles around everyone over an organ flip. The title track featuring SABA lastly wraps things up with this gospel-infused outro pretty much summing up the biggest takeaway of the album.

Taking a different approach with the direction while still staying true to the culture Blu & Exile’s music has built with theirs fanbase, Time Heals Everything comes off the most unique entry of their entire discography once again proves that soul & risk-taking can coexist without compromise by honoring their foundation & continuing to push forward. They’re continuously evolving their chemistry whether it be Exile’s soulfully jazzy production or Blu’s incisive writing style & I like that they toned it down with the guest appearances compared to last time.

Score: 4.5/5

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Daz Dillinger – “Mo’ Weed 4 Sale” review

Wouldn’t be 4/20 without the 25th studio LP from Long Beach, California rapper, producer & songwriter Daz Dillinger. Some of his cousins include Brandy & her brother Ray J, WWE Hall of Famer Snoop Dogg & the longest reigning AEW tbs Champion, former CMLL Mundial Femenil Campeon, IWGP女子チャンピオン, 新日本プロレス強い女子チャンピオン, RPW British Women’s Champion, the shortest reigning ROH Women’s World Television Champion, NXT Women’s Champion, 6-time WWE women’s world champion and 3-time WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Mercedes Moné. He eventually signed to Death Row Records & became an original in-house producer under the guidance of its co-founder Dr. Dre, forming Tha Dogg Pound with Kurupt not too long afterwards. Daz finally made his solo debut on ‘98 by putting out Retaliation, Revenge & Get Back on Death Row until departing rather quickly to put out 20 more albums of his own with almost 3 decades of experience in the game. Retaliation, Revenge & Get Back 2 took it back to the essence of his debut last summer and Retaliation, Revenge & Get Back 3 a couple months later found some clarity regarding his complicated history with Tha Row. I appreciated Rowtation more than others because of the introspective tone, but I can’t say the same for Valentine’s Day. That said: I went into Mo’ Weed 4 Sale hoping for it to become his greatest 4:20-themed opus.

The self-produced title track was actually a cheerful intro to get the ball rollin’ talking about selling bags of gas whereas “Don’t Fucc Up My High” has a more chilled out vibe to it sending a warning to anyone who might blow his buzz. “Why U Wanna Smoke with Me For?” takes the soulful trap route instrumentally trying to figure out the reason some of these people who don’t smoke want to smoke with him while “I Promise” talks about being a stoker until his very last breath.

“She Don’t Smoke” smoothly ends the 1st leg of Mo’ Weed 4 Sale describing a woman who can’t stand the smell of bud leading into “How Bad U Wanna Smoke?” fusing cloud rap & pop rap taking a more romantic approach to the lyrics which I understand since it’s a continuation of the previous track, but it might be my least favorite here. “Mota” on the contrary picks things back up with a slick beat flexing the kind of shit that he personally likes to smoke.

Rounding out 3rd, the song “American Weed” talks about having no stems or seeds in the kind of flower he desires whether it’s indica or sativa (or hybrids) while “Don’t Smoke Up My Weed” takes some inspiration from the southern hip hop scene instrumentally by embracing the overall trap sound advising not to go through his supply. The closer “‘Til I Pass Out” finishes the 2nd & best full-length from Daz in 2026 so far bringing some g-funk undertones in the picture talking about how long he smokes.

Daz said in a recent interview that we won’t see him on stage or on a song with Snoop Dogg ever again & attributing that to him being kicked off Death Row as a result of him refusing to sign his publishing over to Snoop as part of the latter’s plan to sell the label’s music catalog for $1B. Nonetheless, I’d say Mo’ Weed 4 Sale clears both Weed Money when I was a junior in high school & Smoke Me Out a few years afterwards. His production justifies why he’s always been underappreciated behind the boards & I look forward to hearing him fully producing The LOX & Smif-n-Wessun’s upcoming 5th & 9th albums respectively, but I can see some people getting sick of the marijuana themes after a bit even if I prefer it a lot more than Valentine’s Day.

Score: 3/5

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Flee Lord – “Everything I Never Said” review

Queens, New York emcee Flee Lord has returned for what I’m sure is his proper 7th studio LP. Blowing up a decade ago as a protégé of the late Prodigy, he has since become known for building up a massive discography for himself since. This includes the Loyalty or Death: Lord Talk trilogy produced by GodBlessBeatz, the Loyalty or Trust duology produced by 38 Spesh, the DJ Shay-produced Lucky 13, the Buckwild-produced Hand Me My Flowers, the Pete Rock-produced The People’s Champ, the Havoc-produced In the Name of Prodigy, the DJ Muggs-produced RAMM£LLZ££, the Roc Marciano produced Delgado, the RocAmeriKKKa trilogy with Eto & the Mephux-produced Pray for the Evil trilogy. It’s been a couple years since I covered the Raised in the Sand EP & now he’s letting out Everything I Never Said.

“Coinless” was a decent opener wanting to know how these people know everything when they’re broke whereas “I Can Dig It” featuring Eto brings back that RocAmeriKKKa energy talking about pain & bullshit coming with it over a horn instrumental. “Infinite” featuring Pounds448 goes for a sample-driven boom bap vibe dropping verses together without a hook leading into the jazzy “Honoring the Greats” featuring Shoota93 giving their flowers to those who paved the way.

O.T. the Real appears on “Residue” so they can talk about the drums making them go dumb enough to not know shit while “40 Shots” featuring Starz Coleman was an underwhelming gangsta rap single to get the rollout going. The late DJ Ra Lee’s strings on “It Ain’t Safe” featuring Mummz stood out to me even if Flee had the better performance of the 2 once again, but then the 72 second “Stress Turns Into Cancer” freestyle produced by Harry Fraud has to be the most soulfully passionate cut here.

“Floor Seats” kicks off the 4th quarter of Everything I Never Said triumphantly talking about going from pissy hallways to pissy elevators while “Ryder Music” featuring Dirtyyaycochino teams up for another average collab over a soulful boom bap beat. “Quarter Lbs of Rapper” makes up for things with a track that recaptures the feeling of the Euro Money EP putting on his steppers & the closer “Suburban Views” featuring Mickey Factz spends the last couple minutes talking about the real having each other’s backs.

Inspired by him losing 2 friends less than 3 weeks apart from each other, Flee Lord tries something different with Everything I Never Said & that’s one of the biggest compliments I can give it ahead of his upcoming projects produced by Statik Selektah & Apollo Brown respectively. I wouldn’t put it in the same conversations as a lot of his earlier material, but he sounds ready to apply pressure again like he did at the beginning of this decade flowing over tight production with a decent guest list joining him.

Score: 3/5

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Natural Elements – “aligNmEnt” review

Baychester, Bronx, New York outfit the Natural Elements are making their long-awaited full-length debut under Fat Beats Records. Consisting of A-Butta as well as Mr. Voodoo & Swigga, they would go on to sign with Tommy Boy Records in late ‘90s off a debut extended play only to leave after their major label album was shelved. They would return in 2013 with the NE Definitely mixtape & a handful of EPs including All Hail NE, Death Comes in 3s, 3 Kings & 3Times Dope. Over 3 decades since their formation, they’ve made great timing for this aligNmEnt since all of hip hop’s O.G.s have been coming back in recent memory.

“As We Should” opens up with them talking about evolving & adapting with the times since that’s a crucial focal point of the way life works whereas “This Isnt a Drill” produced by the group’s founder Charlemagne finds the trio trading cutthroat bars with each other over a symphonic boom bap instrumental. “Whole Foods of Rap” explains their style being why it’s been so long to get here since Tommy Boy didn’t know what to do with it leading into “We Could Exist” representing their home state.

Meanwhile on “Naturally (Natural E)”, we have the Elements sampling “Alone Again (Naturally)” by Gilbert O’Sullivan decades after the latter’s court battle with the late Biz Markie changed hip hop & the music industry at large forever just before the hardcore “dopamiNE” talks about still having their touch. The soulful boom bap crossover “infiNitE shiNE” continued with them boasting that they’re unstoppable while “Alive & Well” thanks the most high for allowing them to still be here.

“Cosmos is Calling” begins the 2nd half of aligNmEnt venting everything that hits their minds looking at the nighttime sky pondering our existence while the title track hooks up a chilling sample mixed with kicks & snares carrying the same words they honor to this day. “NilE River Flows” sticks to the traditional boom bap sound meshing some keys & occasionally melodic background vocals talking about getting better with age while “Book Smart Street Smart” explains the way they prefer their women.

Things go for a funkier direction for “Y.K.T.V. (You Know the Vibes)” boasting that they’re always on fire while “nooNE Can Tell Me Shiii…” returns to the boom bap & putting an atmospherically soulful twist to it feeling confident of themselves. “Time Doesn’t Exist” explains the very reason they consider themselves timeless & the beat embracing a more nostalgic tone but after “Demon Frequency” confesses to the thing that’s been fucking with their collective vision, the outro “3-Card moNtE” ends NE’s debut album trading bars with each other 1 last time.

Notable for having the late Ka as a member of the Natural Elements at some point during their early years, an official LP from these guys excluding the 1999 compilation has been long overdue & it’s like they never even went through all that label drama 3 decades earlier to begin with. The production mostly handled by Charlemagne brings a durable take on boom bap to the table in enhancing the feeling of the types of songs these guys’ cult following worldwide has become accustomed to since Day 1.

Score: 4/5

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Action Figure 973 – “What Would Harley Race Do?” review

Belleville, New Jersey emcee/producer Action Figure 973 has returned with his 3rd studio LP. For a while at this point, his first couple mixtapes followed by his last 10 EPs & the full-length debut DOOM Was Right almost a year ago giving flowers to one of my all-time personal favorite albums Madvillainy have each established himself as a promisingly skilled luchador who so happens to rap. The Most Interesting Man in the World got with Machacha for his sophomore effort in October, coming off the Lucha Libre for the Soul sequel Lucha Libra for Christmas & airing out some Luchador Body Odor to ask What Would Harley Race Do? a couple days after Darby Allin became the new AEW World Champion.

“Harley & Nash Driving Through the Hood” after the “Harley’s Credo” intro sets it all off with a grittily drumless loop referencing WWE Hall of Famer, 7-time WWE world champion, 7-time WWE tag team champion, WWE Hardcore Champion & current Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) booker The Undertaker whereas “Puerto Rican Pyramids” goes for a boom bap vibe instrumentally to talk about there being a difference between him & us.

The title track references none other than the late 8-time NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion, WWE Hall of Famer & the inaugural WWE United States Champion Harley Race himself while “Harley Warned Bruiser About Puerto Rico” includes a bar about former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Rampage Jackson’s son Raja infamously beating Syko Stu to death damn near at KnoX Pro-Wrestling founded by WWE Hall of Famer, 2-time WWE Intercontinental Champion & 3-time WWE Tag Team Champion Rikishi.

“Blame Game” nocturnally references WWE Hall of Famer, former 3-time WWE Champion, 11-time WWE tag team champion, the inaugural WWE Hardcore Champion, CWA World Tag Team Champion & TNA World Champion Mick Foley alongside WWE Hall of Famer & former 3-time WCW Hardcore Champion Eric Bischoff and WCW founder Ted Turner while the drumless “WWE Ice Creams” featuring Brother Tom Sos makes a nod to the late WWE Hall of Famer, former 2-time WWE Champion & 2-time WWE Tag Team Champion Yokozuna.

The song “Harley Pulling a Gun on Hogan” embraces a jazzier sound whilst continuing to strip the drums talking about having dinner with former 2-time IWGPタッグチャンピオン, WWE Hall of Famers & 10-time WWE tag team champions The Steiner Brothers while “Bred 11’s” preceding the “Don’t Matter Who It Is” outro dustily spends the last couple minutes of What Would Harley Race Do? boasting that nobody can walk a mile inside of his shoes.

Both of Act-Lo’s previous full-lengths were already released under the ECW of underground hip hop a.k.a. Bars Over B.S. Records a year earlier & that was how I discovered his music last spring, so it’s not really that much of a surprise that they exclusively dropped What Would Harley Race Do? on their site at the beginning of the month & would agree with the sentiment of it being amongst his most refined material. I liked that he toned down the number of guest appearances to simply 1 so the east coast luchador can rip up some of Artifcer’s finest beats by himself 99% of the time.

Score: 4.5/5

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Mike Shabb – “Hood Olympics 2” review

Montréal, Québec, Canada emcee, producer & engineer Mike Shabb still applying pressure with his 10th EP & the 4th within the last month. Emerging in the spring of 2018 off his full-length debut Northwave, he would continue to make his presence known by putting out his last 9 EPs & a few mixtapes before gaining notoriety for engineering Boldy James’ 5th album Fair Exchange No Robbery along with producing “Switches on Everything” off Hitler Wears Hermes X & enlisting his mentor Nicholas Craven to fully produce his 5th EP Shadow Moses from top to bottom. He would follow these up with Hood Olympics, Sewaside III, Shabb Van Gogh, Fight the Power!, Vrai Rap Keb!, the Drega33-produced Lost Tapes & Maple Flavored. The latter of which was alright compared to the others I named, but Hood Olympics 2 has finally arrived nevertheless.

The self-produced “Don’t Know” asks himself why would he fuck with all of these raggedy hoes when he already has a fine bitch by his side whereas “Dilla” euphorically talks about his desire being like one of my top 5 producers of all-time: The late, great J Dilla himself. “Scrubb”aggressively issues a warning of pulling up on blocks for the purpose of wiping ‘em up while “Smack!” talks about doing real damage if he has to send messages.

“Smile” gives off a more sensual vibe altogether telling his girl that nobody can ever make him hate her since she’s family to him at this point leading into Spook making Hood Olympics 2’s sole guest appearance on “Unc Rob”, finishing up the 1st half by letting his partner hold the blick. “I Like It” kicks off the 2nd half experimenting with sample drill flipping “That’s the Way” by KC & The Sunshineband just before “Muffinz” talks about being fresh as fuck every time he pops out, baking anyone who messes with his girl.

The song “Moune Bizz” has this experimental trap flare to it addressing the kind of people who think people wouldn’t want to get flicks with him or the women while “Grandma” talks about his inability of trusting his Day 1 homie because he doesn’t know any better. “Jackie Chan” winds down the last few minutes of Hood Olympics 2 looking to crack anybody who fucks around too much & “Juxtapose” ends by promising that he’ll keep moving the way he’s supposed to.

Of the 4 extended plays Mike Shabb has given us only a quarter away through the year, Maple Flavored was the only one that I didn’t really care for that much but for him to drop Hood Olympics 2 in preparation for Sewaside IV somewhere between the next 8 months makes up for the averageness of the EP that came out last weekend. I love hearing the finest in Montréal today testing out new sounds beyond the drumless/boom bap styles he’s become known for even if he has the stronger half of the production & his pen’s a lot sharper than Hood Olympics 2’s predecessor.

Score: 3.5/5

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Tony Yayo – “The 4:20 Tape” review

Tony Yayo is a 48 year old rapper from Queens, New York who would go on to form a group called G-Unit with his childhood friends 50 Cent & Lloyd Banks up until his incarceration when they started to blow up. He eventually dropped his solo debut Thoughts of a Predicate Felon in the summer of 2005 under G-Unit Records & Interscope Records to mixed reception, which was followed up with 21 mixtapes. However, he’s looking to celebrate 4/20 a few days early by dropping his 22nd tape.

“Boxes” annoyingly start off with this messy beat boasting of him moving pounds of kush on Instagram whereas “So High” featuring Berner & Wiz Khalifa combines an acoustic guitar & some hi-hats so they can talk about getting stoned together. “Smoking Gas” continues to ramble on regarding the weed he smokes being the most potent over an cloudily underwhelming instrumental while “Block Work” featuring Uncle Murda unites G-Unit Records’ only remaining artists for a melodic gangsta rap track.

J.Sos’ verse on “Where’s the Blunt?” was the only feature of the 4 that I didn’t care for at all even if things sonically make a turn for atmospheric boom bap territory leading into “She Wanna Get High” swapping out the kicks & snares in favor of hi-hats again talking about going on a cannabis tour with his bitch for the rest of their lives. “Smalls & Depths” continues to emphasize the cloudier elements talking about getting on planes high & being worldwide than local.

“Kill ‘Em with Success” might have the absolute worst hook throughout The 4:20 Tape, weakly singing about the inability of getting people to stop hating on him & using his prosperity as a way of revenge until “I Woke Up Today” returns to the boom bap talking about getting blazed wherever he goes no matter of it’s overseas or on the west coast. “30¢ a Bag” however takes up the last couple of minutes talking about being zooted in the red light district.

There are only a small handful of songs I like off Thoughts of a Predicate Felon & would consider Tony Yayo to be G-Unit’s weakest link much like how Silkk the Shocker was when TRU was during No Limit Records’ heyday 3 decades earlier, but I certainly would’ve enjoyed The 4:20 Tape a lot more than I did in actuality if this was 2012 & I was still in my freshman year of high school. The production’s subpar & all the features outrap Yayo like I would’ve expected them to do.

Score: 2/5

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Cult of the Damned – “Simony” review

England, United Kingdom collective the Cult of the Damned comprised of Blah Records founder Lee Scott, BeTheGun, Sly Moon, Salar, Bill Shakes, King Grubb, Tony Broke, Black Josh, Stinkin’ Slumrok, Bisk, Sleazy F Baby, Col. Mustard, Dr. Zygote, Sam Zircon & Reklews reuniting for their 4th studio LP. Introducing themselves as a unit over a decade ago off an eponymous debut EP, a sequel would come in the form of their full-length debut Brick Pelican Posse Crew Gang Syndicate & the sophomore effort The Church Of mostly produced by Nobodies Home was more rawer sonically. Almost 4 years since Cultgangrapsh!t however, they’re reforming to release Simony.

“Ext. Car Park – Night” was the perfect lead single to mark the Cult’s comeback having everyone spitting hardcore verses over a boom bap instrumental for 5 minutes whereas “Deet” by the B-Movie Millionaires alongside King Grubb & Stinkin’ Slumrok angrily talking about having chaos in their arteries. Tony Broke gets his own solo track with “Medicine Man” hopefully teasing a follow-up to Broke as F$£k leading into “Capital £” by Sly Moon, Sniff & the Super Sag Bros talking about needing more money.

To end the 1st half, “Creekin’” ominously reunites the B-Movie Millionaires alongside Sly Moon so they can admit that something doesn’t feel right to either of them while “Covenant” goes for a more somber boom bap vibe suggesting that people might actually learn a thing or 2 from them if they lean to shut the fuck up. “Sapnin” continues the 2nd leg of the album on some luxuriously dusty shit talking about liking their money, women & beats dirty.

“& Then Some” takes the jazzier route instrumentally reminding everyone of the reputation they’ve had for the past 11 years & cautioning any competitor who wants to step up to them in a battle to fall back but “The Next Move” grittily talks about looking outside of the window plotting the succeeding phase of their plan, “Slum Lawds” takes up the last few moments expressing views that come straight outta the back book than the bible.

I’m not totally sure if we’re still getting Cultgangrapsh!t 2 at some point down the road but either way, the Cult of the Damned are finally back 4 years after Milkavelli got ousted for scamming fans with an album that I’d say rivals Cult of the Damned 2: Brick Pelican Posse Crew Gang Syndicate & The Church Of respectively. The production Spectacular Diagnostics cooks up is heavier on the boom bap side of things stylistically compared to their last one with some jazzy undertones & they sound overjoyed for this new era of their career.

Score: 4/5

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The R.O.C. – “No Direction” review

Detroit horrorcore veteran The R.O.C. finally back with his 4th LP. Getting his start as a member of the House of Krazees with Jamie Madrox & Monoxide, he later hooked up with Skrapz to put out 1 last album under the HOK name before starting a duo of their own called HaLFBrEEd when the Insane Clown Posse signed Twiztid to Psychopathic Records. Although they would only release 1 official full-length under the HaLFBrEEd name titled Kontamination, it would go on to become a horrorcore classic. Welcome to the Darkside came out under Psychopathic’s now defunct Hatchet House sub-label & dropped Digital Voodoo under Majik Ninja Entertainment almost a decade later. Last we heard from him was Monsters Ain’t Real in late 2019 & returns with No Direction.

After the “Space” intro, the self-produced “It Ain’t My Business” explosively marks his return advising that your lips will follow suit if one swallows their tongue whereas “My Fantasy” asks if he’s the only one this woman prefers & her reoccurring when he runs. “Best Decision” featuring Jamie Madrox finds the 2 linking up so they can voice what they consider to be the greatest choices they’ve never made over a groovy beat leading into “Around We Go” talking about getting up outta here right now.

Monoxide appears on “Superpower” so they can energetically discuss how being themselves is their extraordinary ability just before “I’m In Love With You” tries to put the right together to express his affection towards this person knowing exactly the way he feels. “Broadcast System” goes for a futuristic boom bap vibe talking about this being nowhere close to the end of his story prior to “2084” by Zodiac MPrint consciously issues the reminder that Big Brother’s watching us all.

“Finish Strong” nears the conclusion of No Direction hopping over a grim instrumental so he can talk about ending things on as great of a note as possible while “Bridges” leads towards a gospel influenced sound & taking a spiritual approach to his songwriting. The closing track “New You” finishes things up charismatically bringing nothing but good vibes to the table celebrating improved versions of themselves on top of a funky boom bap beat.

This guy is amongst the most underappreciated artists in all of Detroit & one of the greatest human beings I’ve ever met, so I had to pull up to the listening party last Friday afternoon at the Astronomicon 9 pre-party prior to meeting the current MLW World Heavyweight Champion Killer Kross & would put No Direction right behind Digital Voodoo as The R.O.C.’s 2nd best album since Welcome to the Darkside & Monsters Ain’t Real were both extended plays. All 3 of his Samhein Witch Killaz brethren body their verses & it’s amazing to hear how far he’s come since Rollin’ with Strength.

Score: 4/5

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