AzChike – “No Rest for the Wicked” review

AzChike is a 31 year old rapper from Los Angeles, California who dropped his first couple extended plays Cult Up & Chike the Greatest almost a decade earlier preceding the My World mixtape & his full-length studio debut Rich & Ratchet under Atlantic Records. G Oh D, Chike Different, I.S.W.I.L.L. (It Sound What It Look Like), Chizzle Chizzle & Spooky Summer were all decent too but his 7th studio LP albeit Warner Records debut looks earn more respect following a couple teasers that were highly praised.

“Mercy” begins with Chike talking about not needing dirt to bury anyone & not popping out unless summoned because he’s west coast royalty whereas “Lamb Truck Keys” produced by Pharrell tells his partner to give it to him & to put her hands up if she wants a Lamborghini over a cumbia sample. “Sky Rockets” goes for a boom bap vibe thanks to Terrace Martin finding love through the smoke & fire while “God’s Favorite” talks about being too up.

Bongo gets behind the boards for the romantic “Need Your Love” yearning for his partner’s affection just before “Look Like My Mama” featuring Tyler, The Creator finds the pair trading bars with each other over a hyphy/ratchet instrumental from the latter. After the “Are You Tired Yet?” interlude, “Wonder” kicks off the 2nd half flowing over a Sounwave beat talking about all the things he thinks of whenever going to sleep while “Negative” hits us with a GNX outtake he kept for himself.

“Packed Up” embraces a trap vibe thanks to Hit-Boy talking ’bout his watch as long as time’s ticking while “Uncomfortable Conversations” maintaining his patience to get some shit off his chest. “The World is Ours” instrumentally reminds me of the Bastard era talking about throwing bands & after “Rock Bottom” talks about struggling to get his mind right, “Hateful + Ungrateful” ends No Rest for the Wicked spitting a lengthy verse regarding him feeling unappreciative.

ScHoolboy Q, Kendrick Lamar & more recently E-40 have all given AzChike the stamp of approval when they got him to make appearances for their latest full-lengths Blue Lips as well as GNX & Turning My Money Over respectively within the past 2 & a half years, but No Rest for the Wicked really elevates himself with the most consistent statement of his entire career. The nervous, trap & hyphy production has made some huge upgrades compared to Chike’s earlier output so he can paint vivid street imagery with only a few guests.

Score: 3.5/5

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Ransom – “No Rest for the Wicked” review

Ransom is a 43 year old MC from Jersey City who came up as 1/2 of the short-lived duo A-Team alongside Hitchcock. After their disbandment, he branched out on his own beginning with his 2008 full-length debut Street Cinema & the Statik Selektah-produced sophomore effort The Proposal. But it’s been safe to say these last couple years have been his biggest so far whether it be the 5 EPs that he put out produced by Nicholas Craven & his last EP 7 based around the 7 deadly sins or his previous album Heavy’s the Head produced by Big Ghost Ltd. & the Rome Streetz collab album Coup de Grâce. So given all that, I was very much excited going into his 4th full-length album right here when it was announced a couple weeks back.

“The Hawk” kicks off the album with some heavy horns attacking those who be putting him in a box whereas “Rituals” with 38 Spesh finds the 2 over a joyous trap instrumental talking about being on the deep end trying to swim with no life vest. The Game tags along for the chipmunk soul heavy “Circumstances” produced by the album’s executive producer Nicholas Craven advising “not every friend is loyal, but your wife & kids is dependin’ on you” leading into “Overnight Success” having a more angelic talking about being awoken from the tundra.

Meanwhile on “Compromised”, we have Ransom over some strings calling out those plotting on his demise just before “Makin’ It” takes a soulful route talking about how life what’s you make it. “Redemption” keeps the soul samples coming bringing a light to the dark alley, but then Tyrant comes into the picture for the crooning “Captions” talking about looking good in social media posts & not living half the life.

The song “Imperial Glaciers” with Willie the Kid finds the 2 over these glistening piano melodies into the mix taking shots at the system for malnourishing them while the penultimate track “The Gambler” has more drumless quality to it talking about how he gambled chasing this rap shit. “Beautiful Gravesites” with Black Chakra & J. Arrr ends the album by classily encouraging to bake your own pie compared to everyone else trying to get a slice.

I was honestly expecting him to drop that project with Pete Rock he was talking about last year, but I think No Rest for the Wicked is still a great way to hold everyone over when or if that’s still going to happen. Ransom’s lyricism is some of his most introspective & I like that Nicholas Craven decided to give some shine to some lesser-known producers because I’m very interested in seeing what they all do from hereon out.

Score: 4/5