Tag: godBLESSbeatz

Jalen Frazier – “Ethics of War” review

Detroit, Michigan emcee Jalen Frazier linking with Lord Mobb Music in-house producer godBLESSbeatz for his 4th EP. Getting his footing in during the fall of 2020 off the strength of his debut EP Expressions of the Neglected, he would continue to turn heads in the local underground scene last summer with the follow-up God Bless My Chalice. His debut album The Drop produced by Foul Mouth elevated himself from both of it’s predecessors & 15 months later, the Ethics of War are being laid out.

“Just War Theory” ominously begins the EP finding himself back in his essence after dealing with some losses whereas “Collateral Damage” featuring J-Classic brings a soulful boom bap vibe to the table bodying anyone who wants to step up to them in a battle. “On a Mission” swaps out the vocal sampling in favor of pianos suggesting you weigh your options before committing a robbery while “Infrared Nightmares” admits to giving a fuck less about a conviction.

The song “King’s Blood” featuring Liym Capital kicks off the Ethics of War’s final leg with both of them teaming up so they can make a few dollars to pay off some fees leading into “Manipulated Thoughts” ruggedly talks about making sure every single thing that he does wasn’t in vain. “Old Stainless” caps off the EP with a hardcore boom bap joint explaining his motivation is the green presidents as if it’s life or death for him.

Some of the production on both I Hope Your Pistol Don’t Jam… & even All Love Until It’s Not wasn’t hitting for me like it was on The Drop last spring, but Ethics of War more than makes up for it matching that debut LP on all fronts. godBLESSbeatz’ gritty boom bap sound matched with Jalen’s street bars fit just as fluidly as it did when he linked with Foul over a year ago, once again saving only a couple guest performances so he can step up his own pen game a week before summer.

Score: 4/5

Keep up with @legendswill_never_die on Instagram & @LegendsllLiveOn on Twitter for the best music reviews weekly!

Phonk P – “Off-White Underbelly” review

Phonk P is a 32 year old MC from Compton, California who came to my attention in the spring of 2019 after dropping the collab EP Up’s & Down’s with his mentor Flee Lord, who would sign P to Lord Mobb Music following the release of his Local Astronauts-produced EP Bitters. However for his official debut under the ever-growing New York based indie imprint, godBLESSbeatz is being brought in to his sophomore EP in it’s entirety which caught my attention given the fact that the Loyalty or Death: Lord Talk trilogy was a lot of people’s introduction to Flee with myself being included.

After the titular intro, the first song “Murder Medley” opens the EP with Fred Blaze & Hyde Park tagging along on top of some melancholic piano chords thirsting for blood whereas “Hiatus” takes a smokier route putting a pause on the haters out there. Compton Menace comes into the picture for the horn/trap infused “Ghetto Byrds” talking about family over everything leading into the hypnotic “Resin” encouraging to keep your enemies closer. The dusty penultimate track “Bity of Industry” finds Hyde returning to proclaim that they’ll bust on anyone who disses them & “Lately” ends it off on a jazzy yet introspective note.

From the get-go, I had a feeling that Off-White Underbelly was gonna be P’s best work thus far & I stood corrected at the end of the day. I feel like he kinda overdid it on the features a tad bit, but there’s no denying that this is the best he’s ever sounded lyrically & godBLESSbeatz’ production on here compared to his previous efforts is just on a different dimension.

Score: 3.5/5