Dave East – “Living Proof” review

This is the 5th studio LP from Harlem emcee Dave East. Breaking out in 2014 off his 8th mixtape Black Rose, this resulted in the man signing a joint deal with Def Jam Recordings & even Nas’ independently owned Mass Appeal Records as well as a spot in the iconic 2016 XXL Freshman Class. However, his full-length debut Survival wouldn’t come out until 3 years later & was very disappointing in the sense that he tried appealing to a more mainstream audience that just didn’t exist. The Harry Fraud produced sophomore effort Hoffa proved to be better as did his final Def Jam offering Fortune Favors the Bold & APT 6E produced by Mike & Keys marked a return to his independent roots, so hearing would be Living Proof fully laced by araabMUZIK gave me a feeling it would be one of the most essential listening experiences of Dave’s career.

“Percocet” is the synthesizer driven boom bap intro talking about there not being any better feeling re-uppin’ whereas “Bet My Life” shifts towards a cloudy trap direction instrumentally flexing that he’s on his 2nd-wind. “Solid N****z” featuring Cruch Calhoun gives off a bit of a victorious flare to the beat as they tell the difference between the real & the cowards. I also owe Cruch an apology for what I said in regards to his verse on “The Win” when Hoffa dropped, I was wrong & I own up to that.

Fabolous joins Dave for the orchestrally hardcore “Buss Down” to discuss all that they ever wanted was a Rollie so they got some prior to “Walk wit Me” working in a bit of a jazz rap vibe for the instrumental advising y’all to take a walk with him real quick. “Lift ‘Em Up” featuring Benny the Butcher returns to a symphonic edge talking about having better patience & only broke people think money can solve problems, but then “Roll Up” pulls influence from jazz music once again not knowing too many living the life he does.

“Joe Jackson” featuring O.T. the Real starts the other half of Living Proof with both of them cautioning that rappers acting like something they’re not is what leads to them getting shot while “All I Know” heads back for a trap direction putting on for shit that he could die for. “Same Shit” featuring Giggs finds the 2 boasting they’re still with exact same group of homies they came up with while “Everything for Sale” featuring Ransom samples “To the Other Man” by Luther Ingram admitting they’ve done bad & grew better.

Starting the final leg of the LP on a psychedelic note, “The Love Fake” tackles themes of envy and no smut being put on his legacy once he’s gone while the luxurious trap flavored “Run Down” featuring Millyz talks going through it in the midst of everyone else not understanding it whatsoever. “The Other Side” pushes towards the final moments exuberantly warning that money ain’t a thing since you can’t take it with ya & “Barbara” ends by telling the titular person that he misses her.

Highlighting the shared vision & chemistry of both collaborators, Living Proof delivers one of the year’s standout releases & of course amongst the most important high points in the 2016 XXL Freshman’s career. araabMUZIK’s signature production throughout is a lot more consistent that it was on APT 6E pulling from boom bap to trap, chipmunk soul & jazz rap making more than enough room for Dave East to go harder lyrically than he did during the summer.

Score: 4/5

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O.T. the Real – “Zombie” review

This is the 5th full-length LP from Philadelphia emcee O.T. the Real. Starting up in 2016 after coming home from prison & dropping his debut single “Papercuts”, his profile began to grow from there after showcasing his skills on radio stations as well as his a discography currently consisting of 4 albums accompanied by a mixtape & 7 EPs up to this point. Standouts include the Heatmakerz-produced 3rd EP The Irishman, the DJ Green Lantern-produced 3rd album Broken Glass that dropped on my 25th birthday & his previous LP the Statik Selektah produced Maxed Out. I haven’t covered his music since then but he’s dropped his debut mixtape No Matter What & a total of 3 EPs: Desperation of December, It’s Almost Over & Red Summer. All of which were hit or miss for me personally so when it was announced that O.T. was finally signing to Black Soprano Family Records/MNRK Music Group & enlisting araabMUZIK to fully prelude his debut for the Buffalo indie label Zombie, it raised my expectations significantly.

“If They Coulda, They Woulda” is a rugged 103 second boom bap opener having all the perfect samples of the dope that he be producing whereas “Turning Stones” shifts gears into trap territory dedicating this to all his homies who got it their own way. “The Crown” featuring an opening verse from Benny the Butcher & Elcamino on the hook lavishly talks about wearing the titular object on their rollies leading into the spacey trap flavored “Strong Survive” talking about only those who have strength will prosper.

Conway the Machine slides through on the jazzy “Just Different” cautioning that it ain’t the same when it’s you being the one to come & get, but then “Certain Things” featuring 38 Spesh addresses specific topics that they don’t even talk about over an eerie loop hooked up with these kicks & snares. “Ice Baby” takes a groovier route instrumentally working in some hi-hats too showing how he hits it with the ice just before “Blood Stains” featuring Rome Streetz drearily returns to the boom bap talking about having to wash the streets to remove the stains from it.

“Whole Shabang” featuring Amir Ali is an alluring trap start to the final leg of the LP comparing this music shit to the coke exchange prior to the trillwave-inducing “Anemic” featuring LIHTZ talking about how homie only had 1 life & he played with it rather than just staying with it. “JJ Reddick” picks things up comparing himself to the Orlando Magic player of the same name over a glamorous boom bap beat that is until “Fade Away” ends O.T.’s debut with B$F on a dreary note with kicks & snares talking about how you never know when death’s gonna aim your way.

As someone who started following O.T. about 2 & a half years ago when The Irishmen dropped, Zombie is his strongest project since Maxed Out & easily one of the best to come out of the Black Soprano Family camp this year as he is a more than welcoming addition to the roster. araabMUZIK’s production is noticeably more consistent than the mixtape & trilogy of EPs we’ve gotten from O.T. in the last couple years as they go down to the streets with one another to match their intensity.

Score: 4/5

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Joe Budden – “Rage & the Machine” review

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53 weeks have passed since Slaughterhouse member Joe Budden gave us a near perfect ending to his Love Lost trilogy but now, he’s teaming up with araabMUZIK to give us his 8th & most likely final album. The opener “3” tells the listener what to expect going into this thing & the choir vocals in the background are just beautiful. The track “Uncle Joe” pretty much addresses the current state of hip hop over some piano chords from a personal point of view & the song “Serious” is a gritty duet with fellow Slaughterhouse member Joell Ortiz about how you shouldn’t fuck with either MC. The track “By Law” talks about keeping it real over a militant instrumental & the Jazzy hook isn’t too bad either. The song “Flex” with Fabolous is a smooth sex tune & the Troy Lanez hook fits like a glove. The track “Forget” is only 91 seconds long, but I can totally get where he’s going when he confesses about meeting so many people that he forgets them over a beautiful soul sample. The song “I Gotta Ask” gets into battle rap mode & the Into the Woods soundtrack sample was surprising, yet interesting. The track “Time for Work” is another sexual jam, but the production here is more energetic than it was on “Flex”. The song “Wrong One” has a chaotic instrumental that fits perfectly with Joe’s hardcore bars & the track “I Wanna Know” gets reflective on his life over a beautiful Manhattans sample with an equally beautiful hook from Stacy Barthe. The closer “Idols” is Joe naming all of his influences over a mellow instrumental if this really is Joe’s final album, then this was a perfect close the book. The production is on par with his previous album All Love Lost & Joe lyrically is getting into an OG’s perspective on things.

Score: 4/5