(Mom & Dad)

When a legend of this calibre drops, the world is sure to stop and listen. 

This man has spent decades on the top of the ‘lyricist’ list, whether that be under the ‘Army Of Pharaoh’ banner or solo albums, he’s remained the king of the mountain for so long, we as a culture just expect classics from him, regardless of the situation or context, and with this latest album, he does the impossible for the 9th time, so let’s talk about it!

This is the 9th solo release by legendary MC ‘Apathy’, a man who doesn’t need explanation at this point. If you haven’t heard of him, then you ain’t a fan of the underground; it’s as simple as that. With a career lasting just shy of two decades, he’s re defined what it means to be an MC in the game and has made all the new generation model their flows and delivery after his blueprints, and now that he’s back on his own, he’s come with an interesting semi-conceptual album regarding ‘Ronald and Nancy Reagan’ and talking about how they raised him in a theatrical yet beautifully crafted introspective record that blows away all expectations!

This album features 12 tracks, all produced by Apathy except for tracks ‘3, 4, and 11’ done by 

-Playa Haze

-Little Vic

With Tone Spliff on the cuts! While featuring the likes of

-Suave-Ski

-Little Vic

-Slaine

-Ryu

Now, as far as the production goes. This has to be one of the most delicate, ambitious, and atmospheric Hip Hop albums I’ve heard this year. The elements of 

-Jazz

-Old School Hip Hop

-Classical

-Soul

-Ambient 

-Funk

It consists of the most pure, organic, and natural instrumentation I’ve heard in the game right now, with how smooth, soothing, and breath-taking each track is and how well each instrument is tuned, executed, and flourishes under this masterful production.

It feels like the listener is taking a 42-minute mental massage while letting the fluent and heavy content and detailed music speak through your body and soul as you experience a score rare to find in the Hip Hop Scene (Underground or Mainstream).

I love the various use of sound effects to further develop immersion. From the opening track rain sounds that open and end the track, or the second track train horn as it drives past the area.

Probably my favourite usage of this (plus my favourite track) would be ‘Mom & Dad’ as we hear the snippets of the Regans themselves which elevates the heartfelt and detailed personal story told by Apathy on that track. Plus how he keeps going back to ‘I was raised Ronald and Nancy, even though neither one was my family’ it all just felt surreal and damn near cinematic with every use of that chorus.

This feels less like an album and more a live performance of Apathy’s mind, heart and soul. This album really blew me away sonically because whenever I think of him I’m always thinking raw, rough and rugged sounds and production to slap you in the face with! But to hear him approach an album with such finesse and emotion is a side I personally haven’t heard from him before and yet as expected it’s a lame he has no problem riding in and still was able to make a strong contender for ‘Album Of The Year’ absolutely incredible!

As far as the MC side goes, this part should be obvious to anyone who is familiar with his work. He came into this game as one of the strongest on the mic and he still holds that credibility! Once again he brings fourth his trademark in depth lyricisms with his meticulous flow and delivery! He’s never missed a beat before and he doesn’t start now!

As mentioned above, his pen game is elevated even more then before due to the ‘conceptual’ nature of the record and sharing with the audience his personal stories and experiences that tie in with the ‘Regans’ and as such his pen game has evolved and made every track a mini story with more substance and detail then most MC’s have in their whole albums!

Although I was unfamiliar with them up and until now I love the features he chose for this record as they help embrace and maintain the energy and emotionally driven style on the record. They all paired well with Apathy and they all demonstrated fantastic chemistry and none came across awkward or otherwise bad or negative in any way! They kept it fluent with dope verses which complimented Apathy’s style!

Overall, a fantastic record! Definitely a stand out for this year. Whether you want to talk that gorgeous production or that interesting and personalised concept! Either way this is one for the record books! 

https://open.spotify.com/album/6F9DG493h2dGfe7CpaJ5ZS?si=9wRgz2PYTe6dWUeoS5YAag