label: family jewels
producer: granite sandstone, molemen, scandls, seel, morty
guest: pugzlee atoms, seel
year of release: 2001
contact: email
rating
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tracklisting
1. Intro
2. So Bogus
3. Remember (Interlude)
4. Get Outta Dodge
5. Infinity F.U.'s
6. If Words Could Kill
7. No Love
8. Fat Broke & Ugly
9. M.F.G. (Skit)
10. Momentum feat. Pugzlee Atoms
11. God Dammit
12. Winning & Losing (Interlude)
13. The Scumbag Anthem feat. Seel
14. Caminando Sobre Agua
15. Outro

 

Paradise Lost

Judging from the cover, Matlock the rapper is from Chicago and not from Atlanta like the lawyer. But there are more differences, like the ATL one is Florida state's hero and the senior citizens poster on the wall idol. And the Chi is still on the way to be that. Okay, just bugging. But he tries to become one of the hottest stars that shines over this town that's strong with lyrical skills. So Matlock takes the mic in a firm grip like the winter cold the city. And all the halfass emcees might better get off their lounger, and seriously sharpen their battle verses.

Because Matlock is further practicing his over the span of one album, hence on "So Bogus" he lets you know how wack you are, and one "Get Outta Dodge" he aligns punchlines like empty cans that he wants to target practice with. This cut is however more than just the rhymes, cause Panik of the Molemen steps to the board and he puts together a melancholic piece, that's built around a piano and takes us a couple of years back in style and flavor. Another Molemen, this time it being Memo, provides a beat on "Momentum". It is heavily bouncy, and one definite neck attack. On this cut fellow windy city emcee Pugzlee Atoms teams up with Matlock to do some serious damage. And they sounds great together and even inspire each other to come with hotter fiery verses. This has to be the dopest cut on here.

Now if take a step back to look at this in a more overall kinda deal, then one complaint has to be that lyrically not much changes. Matlock is going for the bragging and boasting pretty much on each track. Sure he's able to always come with another dope line, but it still keeps the lyrics one dimensional. So it's mainly the hooks and the beats that let us find a difference between the tracks. And that can go bad, as well as good. But stuff like "God Dammit" is rather boring, due to a boring beat. There's nothing really wrong with "Fat Broke & Ugly", where Matlock is talking about 'broads', but the beat takes a little time to adapt to and sounds better loud than quiet. Finally, "The Scumbag Anthem" that features Seel is a rather standard orchestra sampling cut.

Better are the slow and sad "Infinity F.U.", produced like the majority of the beats by Granite Sandstone. Also good is the strangely sounding holed out "If Words Could Kill", as well as the second best track "No Love", that gives us some dope ass samples that Morty found. "Caminando Sobre Agua" is then even flipping the lyrics, it going for the more reflective and finding truths, over a dope rolling instrumentation. So there's a healthy amount of dope tracks on here, that will be a treasure to hunt down for all those cats that can't get enough of battle hip hop.

review: tadah

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