This is the 3rd EP from San Francisco, California rapper, songwriter & entrepreneur Berner. Beginning as a battle rapper in high school, he would go on to drop 16 LPs along with a few mixtapes & a couple EPs in addition to the plethora of collaborative projects he has with numerous artists. Hoffa was a Gotti sequel that recaptured the essence of its predecessor from a new perspective & the Cookies founder is back 5th months later to put out Carbon teasing his next studio album.

“Mid Flight” soulfully talks about everything you need if you want to get right whereas “Envy” strips the drums to discuss themes of jealousy. “Fuck ‘Em” featuring Mando works in a rock sample to give everyone the middle finger while “1,000,000 Bags Sold” featuring Ohgeesy & Yung Chowder finds the trio talking about pushing that many bags of dope. The title track goes for a dreary trap vibe embarking on an endless paper chase & “Corporate Thuggin’” featuring Chevy Woods smoothly ends with them tryna get paid.

Hoffa was the most that I personally have found myself enjoying a project from Berner in some time since his most recent output has been generally treated to mixed reception & sadly to say, Carbon feels like a step or 2 back after taking a few steps forward last fall. His verses & the production are both, but I feel like the performances from the features primarily don’t really hold up to the Bern 1 Entertainment founder’s other than both Ohgeesy & Chevy Woods.

Score: 2.5/5

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