Recognize Ali – “All Shall Perish” review

Here we have the 19th proper solo album from Ghanan emcee Recognize Ali. This guy has been a dominant force in the underground from his vast discography of LPs, mixtapes & EPs within the last decade or so to the stellar feature performances that he’s provided for numerous artists. Some standouts in his ever-growing catalog to me personally include the Giallo Point-produced Back 2 Mecca, the Stu Bangas-produced Guerrilla Dynasty trilogy & the Bronze Nazareth-produced Season of the 7 to only name a few. Coming off Back to M3cca this fall, DJ D-Styles has been brought in to fully produce All Shall Perish.

“Realest” comes out the gate with this gritty boom bap opener advising that it wouldn’t be clever to go to war with him whereas “Killing Birds” featuring Bub Styles eerily talks about shattering dreams emptying full clip magazines at their opps. “Perpetual Stew” maintains a hardcore boom bap vibe reminding the world he’s been that dude with the repertoire that says it all while “Give ‘Em Hell” blends some pianos & saxophones with kicks & snares warning one could get murked for crossing him.

Boob Bronx & Chubs join Ali on the title track boasting that everything they touch becomes monumental leading into “Bad Mon” talking about not fucking around because of the size of his stick & the possibility of lives being lost. “Soft Ones” featuring Sage Infinite finds the 2 speaking of loading up when it’s war time & after taking a moment to talk about how “Sometimes the Predator is the Prey”, the final song “Real Recognize” wraps up All Shall Perish issuing a statement demanding his authenticity gets acknowledged.

Guerilla Dynasty III was a great conclusion to an outstanding trilogy & I thought Back to M3cca was cool although I didn’t enjoy it as much. All Shall Perish on the other hand improves from it’s predecessor a few months earlier & it’s easily Recognize Ali’s best solo effort in a while. The guest list can be 50/50, but DJ D-Styles’ production representing the signature Beat Junkie Sound & the Greenfield Music founder’s penmanship combined outweighs what very few criticisms I have towards it.

Score: 4/5

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