Stuyville – “Welcome to Stuyville” review

This is the 3rd collaborative project between Brooklyn, New York duo Stuyville consisting of emcees Eddie Kaine & Rim. Both of whom initially got together over 4 years ago on Devil’s Night 2020 for their moderately received 1st collab effort BK Caminates produced by iamT2 followed by the Meta EP a couple summers later to more mixed reception across the spectrum. Welcome to Stuyville on the other hand here had high potential of surpassing both of it’s predecessors soon as it was announced than 38 Spesh & Camoflauge Monk would both be producing it on top of Holy Toledo Productions & Compound Interest Entertainment backing it.

“What’s This” eerily welcomes everyone to Stuyville by spitting that real shit over a grisly boom bap instrumental from Camoflauge Monk whereas “Ice Cold” takes a more soulful route thanks to 38 Spesh talking about their hearts being as cold as they are refusing to fold. “Never Stop” featuring Che Noir hooks up an organ with kicks & snares promising not to hang it up leading into “Check Check” talking about bench-pressing whenever they be lifting weight off the scale.

Hus Kingpin joins Eddie & Rim on “Da Whispers” fusing cloud rap & boom bap into 1 boasting that all 3 of them stay war ready & keepin’ it gutter while “Stay Focused” motivationally talks about still getting to the dough even when the odds are against them. “Salute” featuring Benny the Butcher goes drumless as the trio do exactly what they have to, but then “Breakfast” talks about focusing on being great.

“Reminisce” featuring Kurupt begins the final leg of Welcome to Stuyville on a jazzier note reflecting on the fact that the block ain’t the same these days while “Chop House” strips the drums again in favor of a bare flute suggesting not to ride the wave if you ain’t the skipper. The closing track “Made Men” featuring the late Fred the Godson finishes the LP with everyone talking about their successes in the rap game.

Only a week into the new year, Welcome to Stuyville greatly surpasses BK Caminates & META in being the best collaborative effort that Eddie Kaine & Rim have done with one another & an early Album of the Year candidate that’ll hold it’s strength until next winter. Camoflauge Monk & 38 Spesh’s production here is more palatable than the last couple & the chemistry that the individually talented Brooklyn lyricists share gets elevated.

Score: 4.5/5

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Tha God Fahim – “Tha Supreme Hoarder of All Pristine Wealth” review

Atlanta, Georgia emcee/producer & Tha Dump Gawd himself Tha God Fahim is back with the 20th full-length LP in his ever-growing discography. Starting as an affiliate of Griselda Records as well as being 1/3 of the Dump Gawds alongside Mach-Hommy & Your Old Droog, we also can’t ignore the massive discography that he’s managed to build for himself, some of the standouts include Breaking Through tha Van Allen Belts & Dump Assassins. But dude has been on a CRAZY ass EP run in 2023 with the standouts being the Camoflauge Monk-produced Dark Shogunn Assassin, the Nature Sounds-backed Iron Bull & the Nicholas Craven-produced Dump Gawd: Shot Clock King 4, the Oh No-produced Berserko & his last EP Dump Gawd: Rhyme Paysproduced by Mike Shabb. But 6 months later, Camoflauge Monk is behind brought in to help tell the story of Tha Supreme Hoarder of All Pristine Wealth.

The title track starts off the album is a drumless opener with some synthesizers talking about being his own worst critic whereas “Crisis” goes for a hypnotic groove instrumentally cautioning for haters to act right since it’s duck season. “Big Money Talk” gives off a jazzier flare to the beat admitting that he doesn’t want to get into the literature because they see inferno when he raises the temperature, but then “The Learning” triumphantly professes everything that he’s learned up to this point.

“While You Hear” goes for a mellower approach sonically advising everyone that’s tuning in to value their time referencing 10-time WWE world champion, 2-time WWE Intercontinental Champion, 5-time WWE Tag Team Champion & $7 Productions co-founder The Rock leading into “Doubloons” being compared to as the fastest man alive when dumpin’ over a cloudy instrumental. “Lone Warrior” works in these pianos chords comparing himself to exactly that just before “Manifestin’” returns to the boom bap talks about another day of being a living legend.

Approaching the final leg of the LP, the penultimate track “Dry Ice” blends these mellow synth leads with kicks & snares sounding like it could be played during an [adult swim] bumper discussing doing the same thing differently every single day prior to “Da Bottom” closing out the album on a twangier note talking about turning his pain into commas & living his life with nothing but honor.

It’s been a while since we’ve last heard from the Dump Gawd since he was dumpin’ like crazy at the beginning of the year, but it’s great to see that Nature Sounds is helping him & the most underrated Heartbreakers member in Camoflauge Monk return like it was nothing because this is a strong full-length from Fahim. Monk’s production is a bit versatile compared to some of his past material with the Dump Gawd & the latter sounds recharged on the mic.

Score: 4/5

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Mickey Diamond – “Capital Gains” review

Detroit, Michigan emcee Mickey Diamond linking up with Camoflauge Monk for his 9th studio LP. A member of the Umbrella collective, he emerged at the beginning of 2020 off the strength of his debut EP Bangkok Dangerous & has since gone on to turn quite a few heads in the underground by building up the impressive discography for himself with his previous 8 albums alongside 7 EPs & a mixtape. Gucci Ghost & its sequel produced by Big Ghost Ltd. on top of Ral Duke producing Oroku Saki in its entirety all became his strongest bodies of work to date. Couple months after the Sadhugold-produced Death Threat$, he’s looking to make Capital Gains.

“Nobody Moves” sets it off with this boom bap intro talking about nothing moving around his parts other than the money while the title track samples the remix of “Sleep for Dinner” by the Lords of the Underground boasting everyone knowing their names now referencing Key & Peele on the Paramount Skydance Corporation-owned Comedy Central. “Current Events” featuring Jamil Honesty finds the pair flippin’ through scriptures to get their minds right whereas “Nike Checks & New Balances” featuring Cise Greeny breaks down everything that makes their cypher complete referencing WWE Hall of Famer, former 6-time WWE world champion & WWE Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage.

Big Trip gets his own solo cut with “Carbones” encouraging y’all to walk with him to new horizons on top of his time & heart both being cold for no reason at all just before “Army Jacker Lining” featuring Substance810 discusses their game being amazingly skilled including a reference to former WWE writer, WCW booker, TNA Wrestling booker & WCW World Heavyweight Champion Vince Russo. “Anything to Get to the Doe” talks doing anything he can in order for him to make some paper, but then “Cross the Line” featuring The Steiner Brothers finds the trio dismantling their competition.

“Tats on My Belly” by Mvck Nyce is a lot like “Carbones” in that Mickey Diamond doesn’t appear on the track at all making way for another member of the Umbrella collective to show off his lyrical abilities talking about the recklessness of his whole entire style & the closing track “Stocks x Bonds” finishes Capital Gains by talking about now being his time to shine when he’s actually been doing so ever since last winter along with a bar on top of hitting heavier than Tyson Fury.

Capital Gains has now joined it’s predecessor from a couple months ago Death Threat$ in addition to Oroku Saki & both Gucci Ghost albums in continuing Mickey’s dominance of the underground by dropping off his 5th classic over a week after the fall season began. Camoflauge Monk’s production maintains the boom bap edge of Death Threat$ except he swaps out the drumless undertones of the latter in favor of jazz rap & Diamond enlists his Umbrella brethren to lay out commanding gangsta-themed lyrics rather than not having any guests last time.

Score: 4.5/5

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Tha God Fahim – “Dark Shogunn Assassin” review

This is the 39th EP from from Atlanta, Georgia emcee/producer Tha God Fahim. Coming up as an affiliate of Griselda Records alongside Mach-Hommy & Your Old Droog, he’s also built up an incredibly vast discography with a couple of standouts being Breaking Through tha Van Allen Belts & Dump Assassins. Now the last time I covered Fahim’s work was when he dropped his 19th full-length album 6 Ring Champ & the final installment of the Shot Clock King trilogy of EPs produced by Nicholas Craven shortly after last spring, but is reuniting with Griselda in-house producer Camoflauge Monk to drop Dark Shogunn Assassin following the NicoJP-produced Chess Moves only a few days prior.

“Gristle” is a jazzy boom bap opener with Fahim rapping about how the dumpin’ won’t stop until he says as well as bringing the pain similar to that of Method Man & asking who the boogeyman of this rap shit really is. Estee Nack of the Tragic Allies also happens to pop up during the 2nd half of the song to lay down the EP’s only guest verse & he absolutely obliterates it, raising my expectations for Nacksaw Jim Duggan even higher than it already was when Westside Gunn announced it on Twitter a month ago already. The penultimate track “Sword n Shields” blends some kicks & snares with these low-register synthesizers so he can treat his pen as if it was a blade moonwalking over MCs as if the late King of Pop himself Michael Jackson came back from the dead & advising that you can lead a horse to the pond, but can’t make them drink. “Never Back Down” finishes it all off on a more mellow note with Fahim talking about being up for any challenge that’s brought to him & coming up from the struggle.

Blvk Pearl, it’s sequel, Iron Monkey, Iron Monkey: Dump Olympics & Only God Can Judge Me are all essential Fahim projects in my book so my expectations going into this EP were significantly higher than Chess Pieces as a result of that. Needless to say, they did it again with Dark Shogunn Assassin. Yeah it’s only 3 tracks running at 9 minutes, but don’t let that scare you from thinking that Camoflauge Monk’s raw production & Fahim’s elevated lyricism make it more than worth your while because they really never miss whenever they join forces.

Score: 4/5

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