Just a few months after the release of the Stabbed & Shot collab EP with Griselda Records’ very own Benny, Rochester MC/producer .38 Spesh is now teaming up with the legendary Kool G Rap for a full-length collab album.
After the intro, we go into the first song “Upstate to Queens”. Here, the 2 get confrontational over a soul sample. The track “Land Mind” is the first of 5 without G Rap, but Ransom fills in for him & they both spit about their closets being filled with fabrics as well as their skills over this somber Alchemist beat. The track “Shame” is basically Spesh solely freestyling over the instrumental of the classic G Rap song “It’s a Shame” while “G Heist” sees the 2 reuniting to talk about a robbery over a Daringer beat with a faint soul sample in the background.
While the song “Dead or Alive” with Cormega does see the 3 vividly talking about the street life, the beat is just alright. “The Meeting” is definitely a big improvement though, as the duo talk about making either problems or peace over a grimy DJ Premier beat. The song “Binoculars” is the 3rd without G Rap, as it’s basically .38 Spesh with Benny, N.O.R.E. & Vado talking about drug dealing over a boom bap beat with some eerie strings. The track “Nothin’ Gonna Change” contains more mafioso bars over a decent instrumental as does the song “Bricks at the Pen”, except I feel like the Showbiz instrumental on the latter suits the vibe a lot better.
The track “Flow Gods” with Meyhem Lauren & Freddie Gibbs is a lyrical onslaught with a soulful boom bap beat from Pete Rock while “Heartless” displays their individually compelling storytelling skills over some sinister piano chords. This is also the last song on the entire album to with G Rap on it. The song “Honest Truth” is basically Spesh & AZ “showing cats how to rhyme” over a gloomy beat while the penultimate track “Young 1s” with Che Noir reminisce about growing up over a DJ Premier beat that’s almost as hard as the one he provided earlier. The album then finishes with Spesh freestyling over “Last Name” off of Smoke DZA’s 2016 magnum opus Don’t Smoke Rock about his aborted child.
Wasn’t expecting this around the corner, but it’s pretty solid for the most part. Other than the freestyles being ok & some of the beats being a bit generic, the chemistry between G Rap & .38 Spesh is definitely there on the tracks they appear on together & most of the instrumentals suit them both very well
Score: 3.5/5
Legends Will Never Die 