It’s been a minute since I last covered this man. It would have been in the early months of 2025, and since then I’ve been curious to see how he’s progressed and evolved, and now I can finally get that answer, and we together can find out how the new drop is!
This is the brand-new record between MC MR. Ripley and producers
-Thebeatdealers
-Handz
And MC features from
-Dios Negasi
-Bank Boy Billz
-Hiway730
-Mars Hall
And this one, if we start with the MC work, has the penmanship and integrity of Ripley on a whole new level. I’d describe his performances on this one more methodical compared to the last one I heard of him, and in utilising that pace, you make sure each word, bar, and verse feels that much heavier and felt!
I felt myself hanging on everything he said because of his presence and his way with the pen game!
He’s a man who has a slept-on vocabulary that shines through track to track. Whether it be when he’s telling mini stories or his brash street bars or his more introspective takes, no matter what he’s actually rapping about, the strength of his words is amplified 10x fold thanks to his talent as an MC!
After all the music I’ve consumed over the years (even before this website), I can confirm that it’s not easy to keep an audience engaged and focused on an almost 40-minute album without having a strong sense of direction and passion that we can hear and latch onto! Yes, this album has a few features, and yes, they help amplify the record, but for the majority, Ripley is rocking it solo because HE CAN! Because he has the abilities and cadence to do so!
Powerful voice, intelligent studio personality, and enough experience to make him memorable on the mic, this man has all the makings of an MC that will undoubtedly stand the test of time, and this record is definitely a strong case forward for that!
If we’re talking about the production side of things, if I had to describe it in one word, I’d say ‘impactful’. Just like the lyricism, all the beats/instrumentals on here are absolutely cutthroat and deep!
For example, on tracks like -Fully Loaded, we have a track that has this mob mentality intro that already gets you hyped before the song evolves into a track with a combination of intricate piano keys, smooth drum patterns, as well as some nice subtle bass that helps wrap all this track together into this adrenaline-filled rhythm that I found myself returning to more than most of the tracks!
We have tracks like -Break Da Bank, which I’d say has probably the most funky instrumental on the whole album! It has an unusual yet killer vibe with those plucked chord progressions combined with those delicate piano keys and bare drums, as well as this spiral-style sound effect that comes in and out of the track every 30 seconds or so that I can’t really put my hands on, but it definitely stands out!
There’s the track -Cherish The Day, which alternately has what I’d consider one of the more smooth and mellow vibes across the whole album! From those light vocal harmonies, light drums, what sounds like either a high-pitch synth chord or vocals amplified to such a high pitch and used as a chord layer (similar to when Stevie Wonder used the Talk box on ‘Close To You’) that kind of vibe!
As well as an overall atmosphere vibe that I just fell in love with!
So, please do me and yourself a favour and check this one out! It’s got all the elements of a banger with fantastic atmosphere, production, and MC work! Listen for yourself below!
https://open.spotify.com/album/2d7nIXcfyDrTIxYyThzP2U?si=_iebfH8HTmugPqcCiQId3w
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