(Summer Slam)

Wrestling-themed album. Wrestling-themed album that includes Xavier Woods?! Say no more, I’m in.

This is the latest full-length album by MC/Producer Sayzee! After covering his last album ‘Two Way Mirror’, I was curious what would come from him next, but I can safely say I wasn’t expecting this! 

This album features ten tracks, 28 minutes, and the likes of 

-Xavier Woods

-Jason Packs as the guests! 

Now, as far as the production goes, I’m surprised to report this feels like a fusion of rock and jazz. Actually, quite an interesting variety, especially for a rap album, but these beats are very unconventional and actually the perfect aesthetic for a wrestling-themed album! From that opening track ‘Recepits & Dues’, after a brief roasting by Woods, we get into this soft rock/Gospel Choir production with those angelic vocal arrangements! 

After that, ‘Big Van Vader’, we have this nu-metal feel beat that fuses old-school horror chords and synths with haunting keys over a glitchy/electronic beat that suddenly goes into this 80’s metal-rock chorus! This is like the wrestling version of ‘Sicko Mode’ with its constant switching! Plus, that guitar outro was fucking sick!

‘20 Inch Pythons’ begins with a heavy distorted country sound that progresses into an experimental hip-hop beat! Once again proving a more ‘rock’ base for the production other than your traditional hip-hop sound! 

The point is. Very unlike his last more traditional record, we have Sayzee let his creative and unconventional side run wild and in the process create one of the most interesting and memorable scores of the year!

As far as his rapping goes. He’s just as good on the mic as he is on the beat! I love so many things about this album.

I love the fact he’s added so many wrestling samples of different wrestlers to get every wrestling stan listener hyped throughout the record!

I love how his lyricism is based on wrestling! That sounds self-explanatory, but a lot of artists will use artwork and album names to bring in fans, only for the record’s content to be nothing different than a normal hip-hop album’s lyrics and all!

BUT that is not the case here, as he makes sure each verse on each track has layers of one-liners, witty punchlines, and references enough to keep a wrestling stan on his toes! I thoroughly enjoyed the effort and attention to detail he put into his lyricism!

I loved his passion and his enthusiasm! How excited he sounded to make an album of this magnitude and to be able to craft what very well could be one of the premier wrestling-themed records of the last few years! 

Regardless, this one is definitely one for the ages that will have you down for the count! No matter how Charles Robinson takes to get to the ring, you ain’t kicking out of those heavy-handed beats and even heavier rhyme schemes! 

https://open.spotify.com/album/6DnTe5HTCasJJIS98FlT8c?si=YzdH6XuWRo-5ssfj3xGC4g