Man, I was so excited to fuck with this LP. As soon as I saw the name and the album cover I knew I’d love it and guess what? I did!
What we have here is a 12 song, 24 minute wrestling themed project by rapper Fam Ross and producer Kheyzine a man who I covered last year with his work ‘Steel Dreaming’ along side ARSINEL so it’s good to see him already back at again and this time giving the listener a sonic roller coaster of a lifetime with some of the most raw, rugged and cut throat production of the year so far!
This whole album sounds like it was intended to come out rough around the edges and it suits! The instrumentals are wild, unpredictable and grimy. There’s tracks like ‘VNTG’ which has this unsettling Jazz loop played over and over again which kind of sounds like a horror ‘Twin Peaks’ style instrumental but done over Hip Hop mixing! Songs such as ‘Cranberry Juice’ which provides the listener with one of the strangest production in a minute with a whisper vocal loops for the main beat.
When I was listening to this specific song it kind of reminded me of that Westside Gunn song ‘DunnHill’ Ft Rick Ross where the chorus was whispered wordplay but this use of it is a lot better then that song but definitely strange and unexpected!
The point being is that Kheyzine is letting loose on this one and leaving no stone unturned!
Now, on to Fam Ross. A man whose job it was to compliment said beats with equally raw and grimy bars and he does that to a tee! He featured incredibly dope bars, great lyricism and flow as well as original energy, aura and cadence across the LP.
He wasn’t alone on this one either bringing with him names such as
-ARSINEL
-Silent Sniper
-Audio Messiah
All who help bring matching energy and vibe to the project and elevate it! They all come together on that before mentioned whisper track ‘Cranberry Juice’
Also, I fucking loved the Sgt Slaughter voice samples across this thing. Especially the end skit track ‘Exit’ with just 6 seconds of Sgt’s voice to close the album off. Absolutely brilliant and I’m sure any wrestling fan will appreciate it.
So, how does this album hold up? Fantastic. We’ve got so many albums so far across the years such as
-Nobody Bleeds Like Flair
-Nacksaw Jim Duggan
-The Steiner Brothers
Now you can add ‘Slaughter Tape’ to that list to dope Hip Hop X Wrestling inspired albums!
The Serpent Tongue Reviews 