Struggle Mike is a 42 year old producer, curator, record executive & audio engineer from Buffalo, New York who introduced himself at the end of 2019 off the strength of his full-length debut Great Escape followed by Next Up as well as Wall & Progress. He eventually kept his consistency going on Ties & Struggles until signing to Black Soprano Family Records as an artist after becoming an A&R of theirs, who put out his previous couple albums IYKYK & IYDK last spring showing considerable improvements above his previous output. And with that in mind, I had a feeling the 9th LP in Mike’s could plausibly become my new favorite of his.

After the intro produced by DJ Benoit, the first song “Escobar” by Benny the Butcher & Heem brings them together over bongos from the late DJ Shay talking about feeling as if they stuck in the game whereas the title track by Lo Profile alongside Lucky 7 & Smoke Bulga goes boom bap to boast about getting bills like the Buffalo team. “Sleepless” by B.A.R.S. Murre, Eto & GoToMar$ hooks up solemn keys with kicks & snares seeing what type of man you are in daylight prior to “Body” by Jeru the Damaja, Lucky 7 & Planet Asia dustily reassures everyone how they do it all day everyday.

“Work” by Benny the Butcher, Chase Fetti& Rick Hyde keeps it boom bap talking about growing up in a society that’s already doomed within itself & after the titular interlude, “China October” by Boons & Heem mixes a Chinese sample with kicks & snares so they can get on their east-side grimy shit for a few minutes. “Gandolfini” by O.T. the Real & Rick Hyde gives me a bit of a bluesy vibe to the beat doing shit themselves when no one else would, but then “Quick” by Flames Dot Malik & Rick Hyde jumps over guitars to talk about being hustlers.

As the end of Honor draws closer, the penultimate track “Parasite” by Fuego Base & Rick Hyde goes drumless with both of them explaining everybody getting shot like they generous on top of still riding with guns since the rap game stays sketchy & even hiding from paranoia off the drugs that is until “Well I Do” by Heem & Sule ends the album returning to the boom bap for 1 more time going at the throats of the heartless that maintain a Tin Man posture & boasting about the whole Black Soprano label being cut from the same cloth.

For any B$F fan who slept-on the last couple LPs that Mike curated a year ago, you’re gonna wanna give Honor a listen since he pretty much elevates everything that made IYKYK & IYDK his finest curations thus far to a whole different level. We’re instrumentally treated to a prominent boom bap sound that a lot of the label’s artist bare with a hint of drumless, leaving most of the mic time in-house with the exception of a couple established veterans & a few collaborators from previous material.

Score: 4/5

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