(Perseus)

Today is an exciting day! Why? It’s because we get a new record that’s composed of two of the most exciting names in the underground as we speak. One of them is an MC who has taken people back with his profound pen game, and the other a producer who has released a couple of my favourite records of the year so far! So when they come together, it’s impossible to be anything else BUT MAGIC. Let’s talk about it!

This is the brand-new album by MC Father Don Juan and Producer bop phrases, and together they have eight tracks with a strict 20-minute time frame to blow your mind, and let me just tell you, that won’t be hard because this thing is INCREDIBLE!

First of all, and I don’t care how controversial this might be to compare to, but fuck it, it’s how I feel, so it deserves to be pointed out. This album legitimately gave me the same vibes as that classic album ‘Orpheus Vs The Sirens’ by the duo of the late legend Ka (R.I.P.) and Animoss (Hermit and The Recluse). 

This album has that same mythological feeling to it, the same vibrant and hypnotic production, and phenomenal lyricism! 

From the opening track, I was blown away with Father Don. He has such an incredible and knowledgeable presence on the mic that makes him sound like a linguistic professor just going off with what seems like an endless stream of vocabulary and charisma strong enough to carry a whole album with no features! This thing is that good.

He never breaks rhythm; it’s just bar after bar until the track ends, and the new one begins where he does the exact same thing. His flow is incredible as well as his cadence when he’s performing certain choruses and establishing himself with a quick switch-up of flow or topic change-up; he still maintains his calm, cool, and steady presence, which always remains impeccable!

Onto the production side of things. As I said above, Bop is one who’s always impressed me multiple times this year, and even so, this might be his best work! I can’t believe how surreal, full of life, and masterful these instrumentals are. It’s almost like they have a life of their own, as if he’s created his own 20-minute cinema score that was meant for Tarantino, but he went last minute, ‘nah, you keep it!’ It’s ridiculously impressive.

Each track has a combination of thrilling, theatrical, and melodic elements that come together to create an immaculate atmosphere that makes one simultaneously feel at ease and ponder on one’s life, their actions, and where they are in the present moment.

He’s always been the type of producer to make a dramatic impact, and this is the most theatrical of all! This feels like a historic representation of life and time itself compressed into a 20-minute lesson, and it’s one class I’ll be taking for months to come!

You don’t understand how hard it is to balance making actual ‘dope’ music and also make it work in a conceptual context without sacrificing either! That’s why I’m so impressed with his work on this record because I’m consumed the entire length of the project, but I’m also bumping my head at the same time!

I don’t know what I was expecting with this record, but it definitely wasn’t this! This record went beyond anything I could have hoped for, and if you guys sleep on this one, I hope you don’t wake up for the foolishness! 

https://open.spotify.com/album/0LVUM462GGNY4x5ehIJqya?si=NqOOXQ3eRp6bR7KSfPKVUQ