Deathblow
I've been bumping this all summer long, and upon my approximately fiftieth full rotation of the album in like three months, I decided to dedicate a thread to it.
Basically, I expected it to be exactly like any other Jedi Mind Tricks album since VBD; awesome production (give or take a few terrible upbeat experiments), essentially ruined by simplistic, repetetive battle rhymes. At first I thought my original theory had been proved correct. It was repetetive, and the production team did not include Stoupe, so why bother? That was after one skim listen.
Now though, after being absolutely blown away by the sheer amount of punchlines, Doom-style pop-culture references and pure JMT/AOTP style violence crammed into a lot of the verses (mainly Celph Titled, Esoteric and Apathy's, and luckily they are probably the most frequent performers on the album), and having given the beats time to settle in my head (King Among Kings is the most addictive beat I've heard in some time), I can honestly say that I haven't enjoyed a hip-hop album this much since, I'd say Hell's Winter. Even Vinnie Paz and Crypt can't ruin it.
''I put you up on the IV, not the Roman Numeral 4
But the IV that leads to the funeral floor''
''Face it, mother****er I can pay to get rid of you,
I got more heads in the hood than pagan rituals''
''Stop trippin', little chicken, I ain't payin', I'm pimpin'
If ya waitin' for trickin' then you should date a magician
Wake up and listen, and keep this in the back of your mind
My thoughts are heavy, the weight alone could fracture your spine''
- Apathy
''My team drops bread like chicks on health kicks
Ya squad could rock Bird throwbacks and couldn't "sell ticks"
I melt shit with the words I spit
Steven King, disturbed and sick
You know Shay's killin' rappers that be speakin' on their dealin' coke days
Only birds you ever flipped was due to road rage
Only gray you ever pushed was due to old age
Bomb grower? Nah dude, the only weed you ever moved was with lawn mowers''
''You could never fathom the level beyond your God or your Devil
If every thought is a pebble my style's boulder, I told ya
A radical rebel and yes the jacket's full-metal
And men I'm hackin' through several I'm like a soldier, I'll fold ya''
-Esoteric
''Unload the MP5 and leave your studio sprayed
And have blood squirting out ya head like Coolio's braids''
''I don't have to use the name of God to get my soldiers to blasphemy''
''Hang em out, these pussies is wet, leave em to dry,
I do the work of the devil, Ima hell of a guy''
''The game's changed, now there's more than 5 Perfect Exerters
Hang my portrait on the wall and you can frame me for murder''
-Celph Titled
Argue with it, you cannot.
Basically, I expected it to be exactly like any other Jedi Mind Tricks album since VBD; awesome production (give or take a few terrible upbeat experiments), essentially ruined by simplistic, repetetive battle rhymes. At first I thought my original theory had been proved correct. It was repetetive, and the production team did not include Stoupe, so why bother? That was after one skim listen.
Now though, after being absolutely blown away by the sheer amount of punchlines, Doom-style pop-culture references and pure JMT/AOTP style violence crammed into a lot of the verses (mainly Celph Titled, Esoteric and Apathy's, and luckily they are probably the most frequent performers on the album), and having given the beats time to settle in my head (King Among Kings is the most addictive beat I've heard in some time), I can honestly say that I haven't enjoyed a hip-hop album this much since, I'd say Hell's Winter. Even Vinnie Paz and Crypt can't ruin it.
''I put you up on the IV, not the Roman Numeral 4
But the IV that leads to the funeral floor''
''Face it, mother****er I can pay to get rid of you,
I got more heads in the hood than pagan rituals''
''Stop trippin', little chicken, I ain't payin', I'm pimpin'
If ya waitin' for trickin' then you should date a magician
Wake up and listen, and keep this in the back of your mind
My thoughts are heavy, the weight alone could fracture your spine''
- Apathy
''My team drops bread like chicks on health kicks
Ya squad could rock Bird throwbacks and couldn't "sell ticks"
I melt shit with the words I spit
Steven King, disturbed and sick
You know Shay's killin' rappers that be speakin' on their dealin' coke days
Only birds you ever flipped was due to road rage
Only gray you ever pushed was due to old age
Bomb grower? Nah dude, the only weed you ever moved was with lawn mowers''
''You could never fathom the level beyond your God or your Devil
If every thought is a pebble my style's boulder, I told ya
A radical rebel and yes the jacket's full-metal
And men I'm hackin' through several I'm like a soldier, I'll fold ya''
-Esoteric
''Unload the MP5 and leave your studio sprayed
And have blood squirting out ya head like Coolio's braids''
''I don't have to use the name of God to get my soldiers to blasphemy''
''Hang em out, these pussies is wet, leave em to dry,
I do the work of the devil, Ima hell of a guy''
''The game's changed, now there's more than 5 Perfect Exerters
Hang my portrait on the wall and you can frame me for murder''
-Celph Titled
Argue with it, you cannot.