Delayed by almost two decades, but worth the wait, this stylish hip-hop follow-up to 2003’s acclaimed Ghetto Pop Life LP is a second collaboration between producer Brian Burton and New York MC. It was made around the same time as Burton’s Grey Album with Jay-Z (2004) and captures Burton’s particularly breakthrough talent for beats, tunes, mash-ups and soul samples. This revived work in some ways runs parallel to last year’s Cheat Codes with Black Thought that included a track originally recorded with MF Doom. And here there’s wonderfully inventive, articulate work, from the rich vocal harmonies and slick, confident rapping on opener to All I to soulful closing track World Music. The single Brooklyn Bazquiat is classic, punchy, breezy braggadocio with jazz flute, Dear Poppa is Jemini’s tribute to a troubled, absent father, the title track has a free-flowing jazzy feel, while Locked Up flows wistfully in mixing the idea of prison with lockdown. Timeless, but also a document to great period where hip-hop saw a great revival after its early 90s pomp. Out on Lex Records.
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