The Cloth

After covering a handful of this man’s music already it’s clear to me now the hype over him. Although I’m not the biggest fan of albums with huge rosters of both producers and MC’s as he’s been shown to favour it doesn’t mean the music itself is bad and in fact he seems to thrive in that amount of chaos. So with this in mind let’s get into another older record of his! This is the 2023 album by MC -Maine The Medicine and Will Sully that features the likes of -Jah Byrd -Mj -Kailin Bouse -Leadgeon -Lambo Lo -Pauly Bagz -DJ BlackMagic -Sanlee -Mercy -Suspect Dru And Production from -DJ Gatsby -Jay Preston -Leadgeon -DJ Cliff -Urban Monk -DJ BlackMagic And across this album we hear a lot of instrumentals that have a more atmospheric tone to it. I probably say that a lot (because alot of the music I cover has that feel to it) but this one specially feels like the type of hip hop that’s not exactly boom Bap or gritty but more rhythm based and spiritual in it’s execution! For example on tracks like -No Breaks as we have elements such as those rhythmic drums, funky bass, light piano keys and some plucked strings! There’s also what sounds like some subtle chipmunk vocals that reminded me of the early 2000’s era There’s tracks like -Bully And The Medicine which has a rather interesting feel to it when you combine those high pitch chords, infectious strings with some minimal style drums that adds some texture to the track! There’s also some skeletal bass features as well that is thrown into that sonic mix which I found appealing! What about the track -Keep Rocking It? Another mellow track that turns the tide on the usual ‘gangsta shit’ with a combination of these beautiful piano keys that go off in a lovely rhythm that is accompanied by some thudding drums and some very light chords that help compliment the piano keys! Again, the instrumentation with the various producers somehow sounds synced and not messy which is an accomplishment! As is come to be standard with this man (and its possibly more obvious to me as I am going backwards through his discography) that his lyricism is the type of a curious/tragic/emotional author who wants to write down on the page everything that’s going on in his life at the moment from rough upbringings to the rough and rugged situations he was placed in to survive to the more uplifting moments of telling us the birth of his latest child! He’s a MC who feels like an open book (literally) never really following a certain lane but rather gives us an open tour into his mentality from the good and the bad and essentially just makes the shit rhyme. He utilises these thoughts with in your face and effect use of flow and pen game as well as a strong performance that actually makes you want to stay around and focus on what he’s saying and why! As I mentioned before he seems to have a strong connection and gained respect by many people as he always seems to have a long list of producers and features ready to come help push his album further! Again I’d rather a 1x MC to 1x Producer ration but that doesn’t mean albums like these automatically flop as is this and many other of his albums have shown! Once again a solid album by Maine and company! Strong writing and performances by everyone involved!