(Still Trying To Figure Me Out)

I want to start with this one. That is one dope album cover! I remember when it was posted and I was like ‘yoo, that is dope’ sometimes art just screams at you in its power and this is one of those cases! Anyway let’s talk music! 

This is the brand new album by two of the biggest in the game! Between MC Eddie Kaine and Producer BharamaBull and this album comes equipped with features as such

-Reek Osama

-Monday Night

-Mani Coolin

-Twizzo

And with just these four names we have what could easily be taken as an ‘AOTY’ contender with just name power alone. But let’s start with Eddie! This man has been a beast since I first discovered him (which was on his album with Big Ghost -Last Exit to Crooklyn) and since then I’ve been on his wave and it’s been an exciting journey! As he continues to drop fire after fire and expanding his legendary discography working with the who’s who of the industry and now he’s literally face to face with the BULL himself!

On this tape we heard Eddie in his bag. His confidence and charisma is at an all time high as he drops some of his best verses we’ve ever heard in a minute, across this lavish production 

Eddie Kaine is showing off his trademark hard hitting verses across his infamous methodically pacing. He ain’t trying to be the new Tech N9Ne or talk that crazy shit he wants every word he spits to be felt by the audience, he wants all his bars to flourish in the minds of the listeners and brandish his slick street poetry mixed with power bars that make you feel inspired and confident to go pursue your own shit! 

I love the fact that there are a few more methodical performances by Eddie! Specifically track -Top Of The World and -Cups Up which feel more like celebration tracks than anything else. It’s Eddie letting us know that you can achieve anything you want if you just put your mind to it!

I also love how he interacts with the various features! I honestly believe he has the skill to work with anyone, but especially these four help him elevate and sound as crisp as ever as they go verse for verse, making those specific tracks the ones worth checking out on repeat! If I had to play DEVILS ADVOCATE, I’d have to say -Monday Night killed it the most on this one. He’s been on a crazy feature run lately, and he hit peak on this one! 

When we discuss the production aspect of the album, we are talking about a man who is a lot more versatile than you’d think. If you actually deep dive his albums and listen to the beats, there are so many flavours and styles that he likes to incorporate from his instrumental albums to his full-length bangers with rappers! And on this one, I feel like he’s on a different path than usual. It’s in the middle of gritty and atmospheric! It’s a league of its own.

If we start with the opening track -Still Trying To Figure Me Out, with those wavy chord progression, synth chords, thick bass, and light drum beats that all come together to create this spiritually awakening type instrumental that forces you to think about the world and life itself. It feels like the best opener you can ask for, for an album of this magnitude!

As the album goes on, we have tracks like -Smoking Burner, which has this gorgeous instrumentation with what sounds like flute loops that run throughout the track, high-pitched violin samples, and thick bass enough to knock you out of your chair, combined with some more atmospheric drum patterns that give this track the sonic skeleton that it needs!

Of course, that ridiculous Reek Osama feature who closes the track off with his trademark viciousness! Absolutely killer.

I loved the song -Cups Up as it has that melodic vibe to it with those intricate piano chords, light strings in the background, and then as the song evolves, we have some more scattered keys and a subtle vocal harmony that adds some nice texture to the song!

Also love that background bass, this song combined with Eddie’s singing chorus makes this a more memorable cut than most!

The song -Pray For Me was also a stand out! I loved those deep and classical vocal harmonies that looped throughout the track as well as those methodically paced drums and those groovy guitar strings and shimmering keys that make this one of the more minimal tracks on the album but one I was absolutely fascinated with!

As expected, these two bring out the best out of each other! From the dynamic production to the powerful vocals and those shattering features! Everything comes together perfectly on this one! 

https://open.spotify.com/album/16mL9vNGwCQnnmp6L1eOv6?si=yASzoPD1RzuWulk5hBDniQ