It’s been a hot minute since I last reviewed this man. If my memory serves me well, the last time I did was his record completely produced by Swab! One of the dopest albums of 2025, and now he’s back better than ever with one of the best producers we have right now. With that being said, let’s talk about it!
This brand-new album release is by MC Generalbackpain & Producer Onaje Jordan, and together they rock a solid eight tracks with almost half an hour of content and the likes of
-New Villain
-Deuce Henessy as the feature, and this one surprised me with its smoothness and overall elegant feel, which complements General a lot more than I thought it would!
Not to knock the brother, but I’m used to hearing him on those unforgiving boom-bap wave instrumentals, those ruthless cuts that feel like sonic shreds to the body! But on this one, we hear a more light sound that helps show just how diverse he can be with his performances and how he handles the beats!
Across these eight tracks, we have General coming it with his trademark gargantuan voice and flow that feel like mini uppercuts to the jaw with his verbal exclamations! I’m talking about those savage flows, vivid imagery, his unique way with words that take the beats hostage as he places his lyricism across the production in such a way that you feel every single word that he puts down!
He’s always had a powerful way with his wordplay, such an intense performance that you’re forced to pay attention to whenever he speaks!
That’s not even including his talents as a lyricist! He has a hypnotic way of spitting, as if he’s spitting hip-hop voodoo the way he’s slick with his words and the way he can manipulate his voice to bend to his will across the instrumentals combined with his shotgun shell delivery, and you have a recipe that is literally KILLER!
Stronger than ever, he’s showcasing why he should be on everyone’s list in 2026 (as if he wasn’t in 2025), but especially now as he’s turned even more compelling and mesmerising in that time frame and has helped create a set of verses that are sure to live rent-free in your head for the remainder of the year (if not further).
Of course, there are two people to this equation, and the other (as I mentioned above) is the renowned producer Onaje, who has spent the last few years creating a signature sound that has captivated new and old-school fans alike with his creative take on beats as well as his regular homage paying to the classics, and this time is no exception as we get a combination of both!
On this album, ‘as it literally starts off’ on the track -Laugh Now, we get a sample of Biggie Smalls that’s blended into that heavy, gritty, and trademark General type atmosphere with those violin strings, heavy drums, and ridiculously layered bass that makes you scrunch up your face and mean-mug everyone!
But as the track ends, we have more lighter experiences such as tracks like -Polo Flow, which shows us a more classical mix and methodical vibe to the man!
You’ve got those glistening piano keys in that gorgeous motion, that’s combined with that traditional hip-hop beat and funky drums, of that is all together minimal yet so hypnotic that I found it one of the strongest songs in the record!
Or we can even look at the track -React, which had a phenomenal mix of 90’s and present-day as we hear that ‘Ol Dirty Bastard’ snippet in the sample that is combined with those clicking keys, light synth chords in the background, and those minimalistic drums that make this feel like one of the more atmospheric cuts we heard, period!
What an insane return for GeneralBackPain! And such ridiculous production from Onaje, this thing had no way to fail! Make sure you check it out below now.
Shoutout to the features who contributed to this record!
https://open.spotify.com/album/4YjJCmJXtowLccnvwFbZos?si=TgJ3rjKEQWC-Fw8jHQm6WQ
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