Black Milk – “Ceremonial” review

Detroit producer, MC & songwriter Black Milk back for his 9th LP after leaving Mass Appeal Records. Making his presence known as a member of the B.R. Gunna production trio, he eventually went solo 2 decades ago with Sound of the City & followed up on 313 Day 2007 with Popular Demand. The following year, he would dabble with electronic music on Tronic & would later start incorporating live instrumentation on Album of the Year in 2010. His next album No Poison No Paradise eventually became Black Milk’s darkest work yet & it would see a solid sequel If There’s a Hell Below the year after. FEVER became some of his most politically charged material & he’s looking to follow up Everybody Good? with a Ceremonial return.

After the “Fazes” intro, the first song “Feel Sum’n Heal Sum’n” begins by talking about either paying the standard price or double without bargaining over a self-produced instrumental whereas “In the Sky” brings a funkier vibe to describe feeling like the furnace has gone from hot to frozen. “Crash Test Dummy” has this summery boom bap flare so he can talk about slowing down prior to hitting the ground running just before “Dreams Not Only Made at Night” strips things back for a story that ends in people getting arrested.

“Act Like” after the compositional “Lift Off” interlude takes a few minutes to confront a woman who’s switching up on him & after “Never Never” talks about being made for the moment in addition to living a good life being the only thing that he’s ever wanted, “Ceremony” continues the 2nd half of the full-length in the form of this 3 minute instrumental jam session that blending this breezy guitar & drums for the soundtrack to a warm summer day.

Saba appears on the 2nd & final single “Ok…Nah” sending a direct message towards the people who thought they were safe or trying to escape from either artist prior to some rap rock undertones being hooked up so he can talk about waiting for the “Right Time” to come explaining that this shit’s bigger than merely accomplishments from his perspective. “YOUIT (Truth Be Told)” ends the album drumlessly talking about going from sitting on porches to sitting inside of Porsches.

Gearing up to fully produce Fat Ray’s upcoming 6th album Food From the Gods II set to drop somewhere between the next 7 months, Black Milk rocks the mic for the first time in 3 years for a Ceremonial reflection of how far he’s come as an artist since Sound of the City. Not only does his production exemplify this through displaying his creative evolution, but his subject matter’s more introspective than it is political this time around.

Score: 4/5

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Black Milk – “DiVE” review

Black Milk is a 35 year old rapper, songwriter & producer from Detroit, Michigan that came up as a member of the B.R. Gunna production trio. He eventually went solo in 2005 with Sound of the City, which was followed up in 2007 with Popular Demand. The following year, he would dabble with electronic music on Tronic & would later start incorporating live instrumentation on Album of the Year in 2010. His next album No Poison No Paradise eventually became Black Milk’s darkest work yet & it would see a solid sequel If There’s a Hell Below the year after. We saw a comeback form him last year with the politically charged FEVER & a little over a year later, Black Milk’s delivering a sequel with his 4th EP.

It all starts with “Save Yourself”, where Black Milk talks about friendship over a mellow beat. The next song “Black NASA” talks about self-empowerment over an atmospheric beat while the track “If U Say” talks about staying true to yourself over a meditative beat. The song “Relate (Want 2 Know)” with sees Black Milk & his younger brother Mahd talking about depression over a somber instrumental while the track “Blame” gets romantic over a smooth instrumental.

The song “Swimm” is a meditative cut based around the idiom “sink or swim” while the track right after is an Flying Lotus influenced instrumental piece. The song “Don’t Say” talks about fake love over a druggy beat while the track “Out Loud” serves as a psychedelic instrumental interlude. The penultimate track “Tyme” talks about just that over a glitchy beat & then the EP finishes with the synth heavy “Now Begin” instrumental piece.

While only 35 minutes long, I think it’s a fantastic as FEVER. The lyrics are just as smart as the predecessor & the production is equally soothing.

Score: 4/5

Sean Price – “86 Witness” review

Sean Price was a legendary MC from New York City who came up as a member of the Boot Camp Clik alongside Heltah Skeltah & The Fab 5. He released 3 classic solo albums before unexpectedly passing away in 2015 but now, Small Professor has decided to release Sean’s recently unearthed posthumous sophomore album & 5th album overall.

The album kicks off with “Bear Witness”, which is mostly a decent turntablism cut referencing WWE Hall of Famer William Perry. The next track is the original Heltah Skeltah mix of “Refrigerator P!” that appeared on Sean’s 2017 posthumous debut Imperius Rex while the song “LaToya Jackson” with Quelle Chris sees the 2 boasting about their rapping prowesses over an grimy boom bap beat.

The track “Midnight Rounds” with Elucid & Castle is loaded with battle bars over a militant beat & after the “P’s Theme” interlude, we go into the song “John Gotti”. Here, P teams up with AG da Coroner as well as Guilty Simpson & Your Old Droog to get murderous over an eerie beat.

The track “Think About It” sounds like it easily could’ve been on his latest Illa Ghee collab EP Metal Detectors & then the final original cut “Word to Mother” talks about how he’s the greatest over some haunting strings. This is followed by remixes of “John Gotti” & “Refrigerator P!”, which don’t really do much for me in all honesty.

Even though this is more like an EP to me, it is a solid listen. There are a few handful of redundant cuts on here, but most of this half hour experience is filled with the gritty lyricism & raw production that you’d usually expect from P.

Score: 3.5/5

Black Milk – “FEVER” review

A little over 3 years after the release of If There’s a Hell Below renown Detroit producer Black Milk is finally returning with his 7th full-length album. The opener “unVEil” speaks on living for the moment over a luscious neo psychedelic beat & the next track “But I Can Be” gets insightful over a laidback beat. The track “Could It Be” reflects where he started & where he’s at now over a soulful funky boom bap beat while the song “2 Would Try” vents to an unnamed ex-girlfriend over a smooth jazzy instrumental. The track “Laugh Now Cry Later” talks about how Black Milk sees the world differently nowadays over funky boom bap beat with a luring soul sample & the song “True Lies” gets conscious over a mellow funk rock instrumental.

After the “eVE” interlude, we then get into the next song “Drown”. Here, Black Milk touches down on the ghetto life over a settle guitar & bassline. The track “DiVE” is just an instrumental track with a beautiful flute with some laid-back guitar, keyboards & synthesizers during the second half. The song “Foe Friend” vividly tells the story of 2 friends who eventually fall out with each other over mellow beat & the track “Will Remain” gets ambitious over a funky beat. The closer “You Like to Risk It All / Things Will Never Be the Same” may have a mediocre auto-tune hook, but Black Milk’s compelling story suits the beat perfectly.

Personally, this is up with Popular Demand & Tronic for Black Milk’s magnum opus. The production is probably his most organic & the lyrics are lot smarter than ever before

Score: 4/5

Sean Price – “Imperius Rex” review

On the 2 year anniversary of Sean Price’s unfortunate death, Duck Down Music Inc. has decided to release his 1st posthumous album but 4th overall. The album opens up with the title track, where P starts off talking about having sex with his now-widow Bernadette but abruptly stops a few seconds in to speak that “monkey shit”. Very similar to the intro of “Tonight’s da Night” by Redman, but it’s just as hilarious. The Alchemist’s production has these dramatic strings throughout that give the track an eerie vibe to it. The next song “Dead or Alive” sees Sean getting braggadocious about his rapping prowess over a hard hitting beat from 4th Disciple & the hook from Bernadette was actually interesting. The track “Definition of God” then informs the listener about how there’s no one higher than him & Stu Bangas’ production has these eerie synths & piano keys throughout that’re really great. The song. “Ape in His Apex” with his protégé Ruste Juxx sees the 2 aggressively rapping about shooting/stabbing you & how both of them are in their apexes (hence the title) over an organ with some hard hitting drums. The track “Apartheid” has an eerie beat with a fitting Jamaican vocal sample & he gets with fellow Boot Camp Clik members Buckshot & Steele for some unapologetically hardcore degrading. The song “Lord Have Mercy” has this twangy guitar & a sped-up vocal sample throughout & while it’s not as hard hitting as the other instrumentals on the album, it’s still pretty great. Also can’t forget the guest verses from both Rim P & Vic Spencer are just as rough as the opening one from Sean. The track “Negus” with MF DOOM talks about “being a nigga” over an creepy sounding guitar & even though both MCs did their thing on here, I think DOOM’s verse was harder than Sean’s. The song “Church Bells” has a great hook from Junior Reid & the gloomy production enhances Sean’s street bars to make it sound purely evil. The track “The 3 Lyrical P’s” with Prodigy (Rest In Peace) & Styles P has this instrumental from Fraud that kinda has an electronic vibe to it & given the title, the lyricism makes the track live up to it perfectly. After Sean impersonating Funkmaster Flex for a minute & a half on the “Not97” skit, we are then led into the next track “Refrigerator P!”. Here, Sean’s talking about scaring haters & the instrumental has a solid rap rock sound to it. The song “Prisoner” addresses all MCs from the real to the wack over a somber instrumental from Marco Polo & the guest verse from Freeway midway through fits in a lot better than I actually expected it to. The song “Clans & Cliks” is a collaborative posse cut with 3 members of the Boot Camp Clik (Smif-n-Wessun & Sean’s former Heltah Skeltah cohort Rock) & 3 members of the almighty Wu-Tang Clan (Raekwon, Method Man & Inspectah Deck) over a gritty instrumental from Nottz & I can say it truly is a hardcore hip hop fan’s wet dream. The track “Resident Evil” is pretty much gun talk when it comes to the content, but the production truly enhances the ruggedness of it. The penultimate track “Rap Professor” tells the listener to “acknowledge the scholarship” & how he makes “nice rap shit” over a funky bass guitar provided by DJ Skizz. The album closes out with “Price Family”, where Sean talks about fucking shit up & slapping ear rings off a woman over a funky boom bap beat. Hell, the verse from Bernadette about wack rappers needing to get off Sean’s dick & to shut the fuck up were pretty cool as well. Can’t forget how flawless they compliment each other from the leading up into Bernadette’s verse to them nothing rapping together for a few seconds before a sung outdo over some piano keys. While posthumous albums can be hit or miss for me, this one was a home run. The bars are head, the features are all on point, it’s well produced & overall well put together. Not sure if this is the last Sean Price album we’ll ever get but if it is, then he went out with a bang. Rest In Peace to one of the most underrated to ever do it

Score: 4.5/5