Tag: Babygrande Records

U-God – “Venom” review

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Almost 5 years after the release of the highly underrated The Keynote Speaker & with his autobiography coming out earlier this month, Wu-Tang Clan member U-God is returning with his 5th full-length album. The opener “Exordium” brags about his success as an MC over an orchestral beat & the next song “Unstoppable” talks about his longevity over a decent Powers Pleasant instrumental. The track “Epicenter” with Raekwon, Inspectah Deck & Scotty Wotty sees the 4 telling us that the Clan is the central point of hip hop over an sinister boom bap beat from DJ Green Lantern while the song “Bit da Dust” tells the story of someone getting stuck over a DJ Homicide beat that sounds like something the Wu-Elements would’ve produced.

The song “Elegance” is a smooth love tune with a decent hook from Nomdiq while the track “Climate” touches down on the current state of hip hop over some sinister keys & punchy drums. The titular song gets braggadocious & the way he flows over the beat is perfect while the track “Felon” reflects on his criminal past over a Large Professor instrumental with a killer rap rock vibe to it. The song “Legacy” is an ode to U-God’s own legacy & the horns in the instrumental where a nice touch.

The track “Whole World Watchin’” brags about how skillful he is over a gritty horn-inflicted boom bap beat from Lord Finesse while the song “XXX” with Method Man sees the 2 venting about a couple jealous exes they had over a infectious beat. The penultimate track “Jackpot” is basically a Scotty Wotty song since U-God doesn’t appear on it at all & while it’s not terrible, I feel like it didn’t need to be on here. The album then closes with “Wisdom”, where Golden Arms gets insightful over an ambitious beat.

Honestly, this is up there with The Keynote Speaker & Golden Arms Redemption as one of U-God’s better solo albums. The production is mostly on point & lyrically, it’s probably his most mature one yet.

Score: 4/5

Smoke DZA – “Don’t Smoke Rock” review

After dropping an EP with Harry Fraud back in March along with a much needed sequel to his George Kush da Button mixtape back in Late May, Smoke DZA is now hitting us with his 4th full-length album & he has enlisted the legendary Pete Rock to produce it in it’s entirety. The album starts off with the track “Limitless”, where DZA’s basically talking about living it up over a triumphant beat. The track “Black Superhero Car” sees DZA getting together with Maybach Music Group founder Rick Ross to deliver some boss-like bars & the strings throughout this thing are beautiful. Including the reference to WWE Hall of Famer, former 2-time WWE Tag Team Champion & WCW World Television Champion Larry Zbyszko. The track “Hold the Drums” has no drums whatsoever (hence the title), a beautiful piano sample throughout & a killer guest verse from Royce da 5’9″. On the track “Wild 100s”, DZA’s spitting some mafioso shit over some ominous sounding strings. The track “Last Name” has a mellow beat & DZA’s basically rapping about proving his strengths & putting suckas in their places. There’s also a hilarious line near the end of the 2nd verse about clown dudes marrying clown bitches & starting a circus together by having clown kids. The track “1 of 1” is about how there’ll never be another like DZA & I really like how he got Pete to spit a few lines on here. The track “Milestone” sees DZA, Jadakiss & Styles P looking back at their personal milestones over a relaxing piano sample. On the track “Show Off”, DZA gets together with Wale to get braggadocious & the beat on here sounds like some really cool futuristic boom bap. The track “I Ain’t Scared” has some war-starting horns & you can just tell in DZA’s voice that he’s giving no fucks whatsoever. We even get a short but sweet verse from Pete near the end. The album’s closes out strongly with the track “Until Then”, where DZA hooks up with Mac Miller over an electro-ish beat with some hard boom bap drums in it. It kinda reminds me of something I’d hear from J Dilla, even though Pete Rock was Dilla’s biggest musical idol. In all honesty, I’ll argue that this is Smoke DZA’s best work. Not only is Pete Rock’s production on point, but the way DZA sounds over each & every beat Pete provides overall is almost perfect

Score: 4.5/5