UFO Fev – “The Ghost of Albizu 2: Albizu’s Revenge” review

Harlem, New York emcee UFO Fev surprise-releasing his 12th studio LP. Coming up a little over a decade ago off his full-length debut Around My Way, it wasn’t until 2020 when he saw his biggest year yet by dropping not 1 but 3 well received projects: the Statik Selektah-produced sophomore effort Fresh Air along with the Termanology-produced debut EP From El Barrio, With Love & the Big Ghost Ltd.-produced 3rd album The Ghost of Albizu. This was all followed up with Magnum Opus along with the Vanderslice-produced Enigma of Dalí & 4 EPs: The Most High, Prayer, Weed & Music, E Pluribus Unum, Sunsets in the Ghetto & of course the Finn-produced Blood on the Bills. I even enjoyed the Fredro Starr produced Strapped & Pyramid Schemes, although The Ghost of Albizu 2: Albizu’s Revenge already raised the expectations looking at it on paper.

“Road to Redemption” gets the ball rollin’ on The Ghost of Albizu sequel talking about spending it all & making it back twice because he’s a hustler with a Jose Santiago hook performed in Spanish whereas “The High & Mighty” embraces a sample-heavy boom bap direction admitting to thinking before he speaks now. “My People” loops up some sped-up vocals talking about Puerto Ricans wanting to be free since he himself has Puerto Rican origins while “Scarlet Fever” featuring Red Inf makes sure they leave no prisoners boasting that nobody can stand a chance against them.

Jose Santiago comes back to kill it with the choruses 1 more time on “Work Hard, Play Harder” blending rap rock & boom bap together except he’s singing in English this time about getting it out the mud off the muscle just before “Puerto Rock” leaves wack rappers layin’ on their backs & flexing of him opening up his own lane for Puerto Ricans who’re nice on the mic. “Culture Cypher” jazzily takes us all the way back to the South Bronx where hip hop all started leading into “Vengaza” dustily talking about the concept of revenge.

Lil D saves my personally favorite guest verse of the 2 during the boom bap & chipmunk soul fusion “Benicio” to kick off The Ghost of Albizu 2: Albizu’s Revenge’s last 6 minutes or so assuring that the plug knows his face & he’s been simply running in place as of late prior to “The Cornerstone” finishing up the album with 1 final jazzy boom bap joint about being emotionally generated rather than AI generated & a hook homaging “C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me)” by the almighty Wu-Tang Clan.

Crazy to think it’ll already be 5 years this upcoming Halloween since I first got introduced to Fev by hearing The Ghost of Albizu and catching up to both Fresh Air & From El Barrio, With Love afterwards. And I understand that some weren’t feeling Pyramid Schemes as much as Enigma of Dalí, but most people are gonna enjoy The Ghost of Albizu 2: Albizu’s Revenge a lot more since it continues the hardcore/conscious themes & jazzy boom bap sounds of the predecessor expanding it occasionally in favor of rap rock & chipmunk soul.

Score: 4.5/5

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UFO Fev – “Pyramid Schemes” review

This gotta be the 11th studio LP from Harlem, New York emcee UFO Fev. Coming up a little over a decade ago off his full-length debut Around My Way, it wasn’t until 2020 when he saw his biggest year yet by dropping not 1 but 3 well received projects: the Statik Selektah-produced sophomore effort eFresh Air along with the Termanology-produced debut EP From El Barrio, With Love & the Big Ghost Ltd.-produced 3rd album The Ghost of Albizu. This was all followed up with Magnum Opus along with the Vanderslice-produced Enigma of Dalí & 4 EPs: The Most High, Prayer, Weed & Music, E Pluribus Unum, Sunsets in the Ghetto & of course the Finn-produced Blood on the Bills. Last time I covered Fev was last summer when Fredro Starr fully produced Strapped & Vansleazy coming back for Pyramid Schemes was a thrilling surprise.

After the intro, the first song “Snake Charmer” is a jazzy hardcore hip hop opener talking about his lane being him fusing street knowledge with the drug game whereas “Dynamite” featuring NEMS crosses over rap rock & boom bap boasting that they feel like $1B each. “Razor Keys” hooks up some prominent pianos talking about eating all these wack rappers for dinner retiring from pushing dope to rap until “Momotoro” gets back on the rap rock vibe refusing to dumb it down.

“Stunt Squad” featuring Red Inf could’ve been recorded around the same time as their Vanderslice-produced collaborative effort Chemistry last spring although it’s still hardbody & after the “Never Heard of You” skit, “Blue Face Hunnids” brings the keys back in the fold talking about times where he feels like he could’ve been greater. “Hit List” takes a soulful approach quenching for blood while “Money Man Jr.” featuring FLZY finds them exceeding & expanding.

The penultimate song “No Grant Hills” returns to the boom bap talkikg about grinding to the point where he hasn’t even slept in days constantly trapping out the Airbnb & prior to the outro, the closer “Free Sam Bankman” calls for the freedom of FTX CEO & Alameda Research co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried a.k.a. SBF after he was sentenced to 25 years for 2 counts of wire fraud, 2 counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud & conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Even if 1,000 Yard Stare produced by Body Bag Ben slipped through the cracks a little over a month ago & I didn’t make the time to cover it, I still thought it was a great way for him to start his 2025 & now he takes it to a new level with Pyramid Schemes. For the people BY the people, it’s guest list is stronger than that & Painting Houses 2 combined with Vanderslice’s gritty production pulling from boom bap & jazz rap to rap rock.

Score: 4.5/5

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UFO Fev – “Strapped” review

Harlem, New York emcee UFO Fev teaming with Fredro Starr to produce his 8th LP. Coming up in 2014 off his full-length debut Around My Way, it wasn’t until 2020 when he saw his biggest year yet by dropping not 1 but 3 well received projects: the Statik Selektah-produced sophomore effort Fresh Air along with the Termanology-produced debut EP From El Barrio, With Love & the Big Ghost Ltd.-produced 3rd album The Ghost of Albizu. This was all followed up with Magnum Opus along with the Vanderslice-produced Enigma of Dalí & 4 EPs: The Most High, Prayer, Weed & Music, E Pluribus Unum, Sunsets in the Ghetto & of course the Finn-produced Blood on the Bills. A year & a half after Painting Houses though, expectations for Strapped were up there.

After the titular intro, the first song “Best Dressed” is a drumlessly crooning opener & a full circle moment for Fev himself whereas “Batumi” dives headfirst into boom bap territory doing exactly what he’s supposed to do right on schedule. “Can We All Get Paid?” works in a soul sample with kicks & snares asking if everyone can make bread in order to live better days ahead of “Bullets” featuring Red Inf recapturing the energy of their Vanderslice-produced collab EP Chemistry about 3 months ago.

“Fast Life” atmospherically breaks down the lifestyle he lives of being at his level within the underground just before “UFO Teknology” featuring Teknology brings the trio together over a soulful beat so they can reassure everyone knows the game & the subsequent outcome of it. “Peace God” takes a jazzy approach attempting to teach his youth some knowledge leading into “Sade X” calmly showing off his new glow.

Nearing the conclusion of Strapped, the penultimate song “Free Rice” returns to the boom bap with a spacious twist instrumentally listening to b-sides as well as building a catalog & dodging bullets in the matrix prior to “Visiting Hours” officially wrapping up Fev’s best album in a couple years mixing pianos & crooning background vocals bringing fresh flowers to his old girls behind bars wiping his tears away assuring him they’re ok.

Fredro Starr has really been elevating his game behind the boards these last couple years & much like how he gave SmooVth his best album in recent memory with Project Near You, he helped Fev deliver what has to be the most I’ve enjoyed a project of his since Blood on the Bills a year & a half ago. The general sound expands beyond boom bap in favor of jazz rap & drumless while Fev shows the audience a personal side to him.

Score: 4.5/5

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UFO Fev – “Blood on the Bills” review

UFO Fev is a 38 year old MC from Harlem, New York who came up in 2014 off his full-length debut Around My Way. But wasn’t until 2020 when he saw his biggest year yet by dropping not 1 but 3 well received projects: the Statik Selektah-produced sophomore effort Fresh Air along with the Termanology-produced debut EP From El Barrio, With Love & the Big Ghost Ltd.-produced 3rd album The Ghost of Albizu. This was all followed up with Magnum Opus along with the Vanderslice-produced Enigma of Dalí & 4 EPs: The Most High, Prayer, Weed & Music, E Pluribus Unum & more recently Sunsets in the Ghetto. But for his 6th full-length over here, Fev’s enlisting Finn of the Brown Bag Money collective behind the boards from start to finish.

“A1 Credit” is a gully opener where Fev comes out to admit that he don’t need any credit & that he ain’t slept-on until Pro Dillinger tags along for the jazzy “Drop the Needle” talking about not freezing when the world gets too cold for ya. LRed Inf then comes into the picture for the boom bap-heavy “Check the Balance” going in depth of doing it for the love & doing just that when they wake up whereas “Wash the Bills” takes a more drumless route talking about being a hustler.

However on “Drug Free”, we have Fev over a bare sample explaining how badly the crack epidemic impacted his community leading into the Ty Farris-assisted “Tax Man” returning to the boom bap letting y’all know it’s about respect rather than money. “Caged Birds” has a more mellow sound to it venting about life going on & on, but then “Left vs. Right” goes chipmunk soul detailing a conflict with both hands. The track “Watch What You Say” pretty much says it all over a somber yet dusty beat & prior to the spoken word outro “Words of Wisdom”, the gully “Keep Spending” with Saipher Soze truly sends off the album with the 2 MCs about how drug dealing is essentially an American past time.

Fev’s last 4 EPs have been hit or miss with me personally, but it just goes without saying that Blood on the Bills wipes the floor & will go down as one of his best projects much like Fresh Air or The Ghost of Albizu. Finn continues to cement himself as one of the best underground producers that Canada has to offer in recent memory with his incredible raw sound & Fev himself sounds rejuvenated on the mic.

Score: 4/5

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UFO Fev – “Enigma of Dalí” review

This is the 5th full-length album from Harlem emcee UFO Fev. Coming up in 2014 off his debut album Around My Way., it wasn’t until 2020 when he saw his biggest year yet by dropping not 1 but 3 well received projects: the Statik Selektah-produced sophomore effort Fresh Air along with the Termanology-produced debut EP From El Barrio, With Love & the Big Ghost Ltd.-produced 3rd album The Ghost of Albizu. Dude just dropped Magnum Opus last month & is already enlisting Vanderslice for the follow-up Enigma of Dalí.

After the titular intro, the first song “Crack Shifts” is an eerie boom bap opener with him & Flee Lord talking about that’s exactly what they be workin’ whereas “Moody Bass” has a more rich instrumental & Fev saying he’s gonna take this shit mainstream. Red Inf tags along for the mellow “Pack Flip” talking about a plan to wake up the masses just before advising to keep it off the speakerphone when talking money on “Home Team”, which has some amazing sampling throughout.

Meanwhile with “Artfully Done Street Shit”, we have Red Inf returning over a guitar & some dusty drums calling out those stealing the sauce leading into him saying he’s too far over the top on the dusty albeit piano-laced “Scroll Music”. The song “Jazz Criminals” with SmooVth fittingly has a jazzy beat with both of them getting mafioso while the penultimate track “Scarlett Letters” jumps on top of some violins to state that he’s painting like Salvador Dalí. Then there’s the closer “All That Glitters”, where Fev & Sure Shot come together for a slick romance ballad.

Magnum Opus was cool, but I personally prefer Enigma of Dalí better. Vanderslice’s production is much more consistent than it was on Fev’s last album & the dude continues to reveal himself as one of the illest MCs in the New York underground right now.

Score: 4/5