Smoke DZA – “Flying Objects” review

This is the 20th EP from New York emcee & songwriter Smoke DZA. Starting out over 2 decades ago as 1/2 of Smoke & Numbers, he would eventually go on to achieve a cult following of his own by dropping 7 albums as well as 10 mixtapes & a plethora of EPs along the way. My personal favorites include the sophomore tape George Kush da Button, the Pete Rock-produced 4th album Don’t Smoke Rock & the whole 183rd-produced Ringside EP saga. But when it was announced that Flying Lotus was being brought in behind the boards throughout Flying Objects, I just knew it was destined to be the best thing DZA has done in a while.

“Spiritual” is a psychedelically futuristic opener to the EP talking about faith in the man upstairs whereas “Painted Houses” featuring Conway the Machine takes the eerie boom bap route with both of them coming together excellently cautioning to treat lightly since their respective teams the Smoker’s Club alongside Drumwork & Griselda stay strong. The latter 2 in particular. “Zelle Transfers” takes a calmer route instrumentally spitting a charismatic, 1-minute freestyle & “Drug Trade” featuring Black Thought & later Conway the Machine on the remix was a phenomenal choice for a lead single to the EP with the woodwinds, kicks, snares & mafioso lyricism.

The closer “Harlem World ‘97” featuring Estelle on the hook rounds it all out with elements of deep house & synth-funk trying to school the apple of his eye professing their love for one another. The first of 2 bonus tracks “Beyond Spiritual” featuring Big K.R.I.T. & Wiz Khalifa happens to be a sequel to the opener with the longest reigning AEW World Champion, former CZW Wired Champion, CZW World Heavyweight Champion,アイアンマンヘビーメタル級王座, MLW World Tag Team Champion, the inaugural MLW World Middleweight Championship & the current reigning ROH World Tag Team Champion MJF on the intro & the other finishes the deluxe run with a “Zelle Transfers” sequel.

I went into Flying Objects under the impression that it was gonna be a full LP, but I still came away from it looking at it as one of the best EPs I’ve heard this year. One of if not the strongest in his whole entire discography other than the Statue of Limitations collab EP with Benny the Butcher & Pete Rock obviously. FlyLo’s production is magnificently diverse in sound from boom bap to deep hip house & I really can’t remember the last time I heard DZA himself as focused as he is on here.

Score: 4.5/5

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Smoke DZA & Benny the Butcher – “Statues of Limitations” review

This is a collaborative EP between New York rappers Smoke DZA & Benny the Butcher. The 2 have collaborated a couple of times in the past with “Debiase Decisions” & “Luck of Draw”, but they’re now hooking up with the revered Pete Rock in order of helping them take it to the next level.

The opener “By Any Means” trading vicious bars back & forth nonchalantly over a meditative boom bap beat while the next song “Bullets” with Conway the Machine speaks for itself over a tense instrumental. The track “Smoked & Butchered” gets murderous over an enticing instrumental while the song “7:30” gets mafioso over a luxurious keyboard instrumental. The penultimate track “Drug Rap” needs no further explanation over an eerie boom bap beat & then the closer “Toast” gets celebratory over a blaxploitation-esque instrumental.

As expected, this was a damn near perfect effort. I wish Styles P & Westside Gunn had verses instead of doing the hooks on the joints they were featured on, but Pete Rock’s production is raw & the chemistry between DZA & Benny is fantastic.

Score: 4.5/5

Smoke DZA – “Don’t Smoke Rock” review

After dropping an EP with Harry Fraud back in March along with a much needed sequel to his George Kush da Button mixtape back in Late May, Smoke DZA is now hitting us with his 4th full-length album & he has enlisted the legendary Pete Rock to produce it in it’s entirety. The album starts off with the track “Limitless”, where DZA’s basically talking about living it up over a triumphant beat. The track “Black Superhero Car” sees DZA getting together with Maybach Music Group founder Rick Ross to deliver some boss-like bars & the strings throughout this thing are beautiful. Including the reference to WWE Hall of Famer, former 2-time WWE Tag Team Champion & WCW World Television Champion Larry Zbyszko. The track “Hold the Drums” has no drums whatsoever (hence the title), a beautiful piano sample throughout & a killer guest verse from Royce da 5’9″. On the track “Wild 100s”, DZA’s spitting some mafioso shit over some ominous sounding strings. The track “Last Name” has a mellow beat & DZA’s basically rapping about proving his strengths & putting suckas in their places. There’s also a hilarious line near the end of the 2nd verse about clown dudes marrying clown bitches & starting a circus together by having clown kids. The track “1 of 1” is about how there’ll never be another like DZA & I really like how he got Pete to spit a few lines on here. The track “Milestone” sees DZA, Jadakiss & Styles P looking back at their personal milestones over a relaxing piano sample. On the track “Show Off”, DZA gets together with Wale to get braggadocious & the beat on here sounds like some really cool futuristic boom bap. The track “I Ain’t Scared” has some war-starting horns & you can just tell in DZA’s voice that he’s giving no fucks whatsoever. We even get a short but sweet verse from Pete near the end. The album’s closes out strongly with the track “Until Then”, where DZA hooks up with Mac Miller over an electro-ish beat with some hard boom bap drums in it. It kinda reminds me of something I’d hear from J Dilla, even though Pete Rock was Dilla’s biggest musical idol. In all honesty, I’ll argue that this is Smoke DZA’s best work. Not only is Pete Rock’s production on point, but the way DZA sounds over each & every beat Pete provides overall is almost perfect

Score: 4.5/5