French Montana –
Excuse My French
French Montana is my pick for this years version of 2
Chainz, because he is already on everybody’s project, and after his album
drops, I expect him to be even more visible. Finally after countless features
and mix tapes French Montana has delivered, Please Excuse My French, and Ill
start by saying this it better than I expected. For the most part French has
proven to be a trap rapper, talking about mostly the streets, drugs, money,
women and jewelry. Don’t expect much change with the album, French is by no
means a lyrical giant or wizard of word play, neither does he have deep
content. But, he can be entertaining.
This album is going to play huge in clubs, dance halls, strip clubs, and
in the South and possibly some radio, anywhere where lyrics and deeper complex
aspects, I don’t expect hip hop purist to love it, but maybe like it. The
strengths of the album are the fact that French understands how to make a song
that palatable, good beats (tried and trued samples), easy memorable hooks,
good flows and good collaborations. His songs are catch so you’ll be singing
along even if you don’t really love the song, and once again its made for the
fun places in life, not really an album for kicking it at the crib or listening
to in the car. There are a lot of features but not excessive, honestly the
chemistry he has with the people he work with it just fits and its almost
expected, but he may want to showcase his individual talent a lil more, because
it comes off feeling like a group album or compilation more so than a solo
venture. Overall it’s worth a listen, I’d give it a 3 ½ stars out of 6
LL
Probably has some radio single, but not urban radio singles.
A lot of features and high profile collaborations, the type
you get when you’ve crossed over and have access to other celebrities.
No better or worse than what’s in hiphop now, just different.
But it’s not anything that most people are going to want to listen to either.
Contains a lot of crossover music, the type you get when hip
hop meets other forms of music, but nothing extra grimy, nothing real soulful.
It makes you appreciate the possibility of versatility and hip hop not just
being in a box, but it’s the type of mash up that just make you frown up your
face and be more or less like, “I guess”.
Their is nothing extremely creative or stand out about the album, sounds
like LL is just getting back into making music because he is way out of his
zone, and it’s a great deal below what’s expected of him. Sounds like it was
made for him, its music made with friends, other artist, and people that it
would be an honor to go in the studio with, but not something to release to the
fans. Most old fans wont understand it, and will want the old LL, even though
he’s grown past that stage, and most new/ young hip hop heads wont hear this
album and understand why he is arguably the Greatest of ALL Time. Younger cats
wont even understand why he belongs in the discussion from listening to this
album. Its one of the low marks of his recording career, and not the way we
expect him to return. He revisits territory that he’s known for making the hip
hop love song, but shockingly doesn’t have a street song with some new young
cats. Its not garbage, but with no stand
outs and nothing in particular special about the album, from a lyrical, song
making or production stand point, its not an album you’ll listen to repeatedly
or casually honestly. 2 ½ stars out of 6 its slightly below
average, especially for him, and it’s disappointing.
Stichiz
Stichiz, the name chosen because of her ability to stitch
various musical stylings and influences together, and boy does the name fit,
because stitch together she does. An obvious student of the game she has a flow
reminiscent of Tech N9ne, a battle aggressive delivery, a la Lady Luck, and
crowd control and fashion sense similar to Soca music star Destra Garcia.
Versatility is the name of the game with her ability to do the spiritual,
introspective songs you feel in your heart and soul like Lauryn Hill, flip
between genres of music, languages and dialects like a Kardinal Official, all
without biting anyone’s style or seeming second rate. Stichiz is uniquely
original. She definitely has creativity,
as showcased by her ability to totally remake a song (Want), rather than just
add her vocals over a beat and leave the original structure intact. Stichiz
treats another artist beat as a blank canvas. However, having so many interests and being so
creative, she has yet to find or possibly create her signature sound. She’s at
her best on up-tempo tracks (Problem) for parties, clubs (I’m Better), and live
performances (Roule ft. Allison
Hinds). She definitely has the hit-making gene. You know you have a hit when
you make a song for Haitians that they’ll love, and non Haitians have it on
repeat, sing it word for word and will be researching the words to see what
they translate to. An’ Ale fully shows the
promise of her potential, and is the best song on the project. Haitian, Proud
and unapologetic about, but don’t try to box her into just the creole hip-hop
box, or any other box. She proves that she has the talent hold it
down on her own and keep you interested, there are no gimmicks; not an
excessive amount of features, no crew tracks to hide her in the midst of, no
scene stealing appearances where you’re really only listening to the song for
the big name act, neither are their features with artist below her level where
she sounds excellent by comparison. Stichiz remains the star at all times and
shows chemistry with her collaborators (Shine Together ft. Destinee of Maybach
Music Latino). The only real problem
with the outing, are that some of the beats sound very similar, and when
spitting in her rapid fire delivery the words are not always crystal clear. Clarity
is a common problem when rapping fast, but a fixable one and one she’ll want to
correct to be taken seriously as a lyricist, because lyricist obsess over their
words being heard/felt. And even though she does her thing on each of the
remake songs, the project would have benefited from maybe one or two more
original tracks.
Stichiz is a true
student of the game and the future is bright for her. It’s rare to find a new MC,
but female MC especially, with this level of skill, that’s relatively clean,
not focusing on sex or sexuality and is just selling the music. If this is the
direction music is going, sign me up. We look forward to hearing more Stichiz. Highly recommend everyone check out
the mix tape. I introduce to some and
present to others, South Florida, Broward County’s own Stichiz and her Stichzophrenics Music, The New Standard. Be sure to download your copy at www.stichiz.com
Mixtapes
Big K.R.I.T. – King Remembered In Time – Dope! Must Hear
J. Cole – Truly Yours
1 & 2 - Highly Recommend
Termanology – Hood Politics 7 – Highly Recommend
Smoke Dza – Ringside – Good
Worth Checking Out
Albums
R.A. The Rugged Man – Legends Never Die – 4 out of 6 stars
Talib Kweli – Prisoner of Conscious – 3 out of 6 stars
Slin-K
@slin_k_polymath
