(APT 3D)

As blessed as I often consider myself for the journey I’m on, doing this review shit and the growth I’ve experienced and people I’ve met! But what a surprise to be able to say I can review this man’s latest album after a 20-year hiatus! Talk about God’s Plan! Let’s talk about it!

This is the unexpected yet new drop by Roc Nation’s General Memphis Bleek! Rightfully named ‘Jay-Z’s Protege’ and as this album proved, ain’t no one ready to resurrect the era of ‘Prime HOV’ more than Memphis is! 

Across this album, we have 11 songs and 31 minutes of content that features the likes of 

-Cool & Dre

-Jon Rise

-Tish Hyman

-Smoke DZA

-Benny The Butcher

-Kruziano

-RJAE

Right off the fucking bat, this album sounds like it was ripped right from the early 2000s, and I love it! Not in the sense of nostalgia-biting or unoriginal music but in that OG mainstream quality that we’ve definitely lost! Back when mainstream rappers could still deliver modern-day classics that meant something! Before it was overtaken by the mumble rap and nonsensical artists of today!

From the first track, we hear that production that you’d happily bump in your cars, clubs, warehouses, and headphones! This energy, this overwhelming sense of pride, passion, and excitement is so long lost in the big scenes that it literally drew a tear from my eye in awe of the sheer explosive and incredible performance (and that was just to open the track off!)

From there and across the other 10 tracks, Memphis doesn’t miss a single beat! From the banging East Coast loyal production to the no-nonsense and focused bars by Memphis, who after 20 years still hasn’t dropped the ball! 

In this one, he’s putting his thoughts and emotions on paper! His reputation for Roc Nation and his pent-up frustrations and anger with the game and its inhabitants since he left! It’s all just a whirlwind of dedication, devotion, and sentiment towards the Hip Hop Game and his mission to bring back the standards the mainstream industry had before he left! The same standards Jay-Z built since the late 90s, and in this one album, he did more than 99% of the artists in it!

One track that absolutely blew me away was ‘3 Kings’ because that’s when something happened that I never thought would be on my bingo card: Memphis Bleek X Smoke DZA X Benny The Butcher! 

The fact is, when these three go off, it’s an instant classic! It also brings back the prime aggression of Benny from the early Griselda mixtape days, and to hear that level of intensity paired with Memphis was beyond amazing and a track I’m going to play over and over again!

The closing track ‘Word To Hov’ was also a heartfelt outro to this phenomenal return album! Explaining his absence, his mentality, and ending the track with a boss snippet of Hov and his thoughts.

I listened to this album twice in a row immediately. Didn’t even give myself a second of anything else; immediately pushed the restart button. This is a modern-day time capsule into what we used to expect and consider the ‘normal’ in mainstream as far as the quality standards were concerned. Back when you could buy a physical album and guarantee freshness back before the game was saturated with mindless nonsense back when REAL HIP HOP was celebrated.

If for nothing else, then to appreciate the times of old and respect that he was able to drop one of the hottest 30 minutes of the year! There’s absolutely no let-up on this album, and I’m more than honoured I was able to cover it! 

https://open.spotify.com/album/5egzAo6AQ5vriaRGu7Q0UY?si=gIFfjQ6CQcGqNBM8RT0GnQ