Chicagospel

When talking the role of ‘curator’ you’d be fooling yourself if you say you never fucked with The 17th Cipher. She’s been making moves in the culture for a while now and so soon after dropping her record alongside Work Scorsese she’s back again stronger than ever! Let’s talk about it! This is the brand new album presented by curator -The 17th Cipher alongside MC’s -Rufus Sims and -IAMGAWD with the collection of producers such as -Billionaire Boyscout -Scripz The L.O.T -Work Scorsese -Jagwar Dot -Doc Da Mindbenda -The Black Depths -ILL City -Clypto With features such as -JuJilla -Shawnna -Panamera P -Jae Haze -Vic Spencer -Philmore Greene -Josh K -MAR -Kid Breeze -Liym Capital As per usual, another huge roster move by the curator. When reviewing these records I try to make sure the reader understands the gravity of names and accomplices on this record. There’s always so much going on and when you try and absorb it all it can be a bit daunting at times but that’s what I’m trying to help cut through on these reviews! At the heart of it all you have the two MC’s Rufus and IAM. They are the constant in this project as they rap on every single track together in a duo effort. Now whether they have experience rapping together like this I’m not sure but on this project will bey do their best at turning all the different parts and characters into a single mind frame and create their idea of ‘balance’ across the record as they deliver close to 50 minutes of dope, fresh and in parts old school inspired verses that worked because of the fact both men have such unique and contrasting styles that it made for a ‘Ying and Yang scenario’ The way they could pass the MC to the other and ensure they could keep the fire and momentum going! The fact that even in between the various features and names associated they still shined with the main character energy and cut through it all! Don’t get me wrong I fuck with a lot of the features on here especially my main man -Philmore Greene! And his verse would definitely be my stand out for the guest roster but even in saying that these two MC’s continued to nail the executions, the high expectations of that truly cinematic smooth, soulful energy handled as tastefully as ever and in fact the whole album’s performance worked so well BECAUSE the two frontman operated at such a high standard! Shoutout to both of them! The other features on this album did a great job at maintaining the vibe of the record. Each person I can confidently say helped bring their own rhythm and cadence that helped the specific tracks in their various moods feel emphasised and powerful in their own rights! Of course most tracks have multiple names and that would make it a bit harder to stand out but that’s the beauty of having so many different MC’s! More opportunity to bring your personal style to the front and they all did! When we discuss the production aspect we have a whole list of names this time around instead of one! These people were recruited to help create, expand and sonically draw that luscious soundscape that is this album. I suppose they were going for ‘Chicago & Gospel’ combined? From what I’ve heard of many Chicago based artists and what I know about Gospel I’d say (if that was their intentions) they did a truly magnificent job! We can talk about cuts like -Supervillains that has that magnificent explosive classical inspiration! You’ve got those high strung lush chords shrieking throughout the entire track that’s combined with those subtle bass strings, rhythmic drum patterns that takes a backseat to those loud strings! This is the track that has the Philmore Greene feature that amongst the rest stood out like a gem! There’s even tracks like -City Of Win(d), Pt. 2 which has that interesting preacher intro that soon evolved into this smooth as hell instrumental that comes packed with that looping vocal harmony with what sounds like some bass drums and background strings that this time take the back seat to that engaging vocals! This is on the more stripped back aspect compared to that last track but it remains addictive as hell! The song ‘Over Decent’ has this mellow atmosphere to it that stood out to me. It kind of had a light G-Funk element to me with those funky bass chords combined with those shimmering piano keys and what later has a slight usage of synth chords! The drum work on this one felt surreal in its methodical pacing! This song also had another interesting introduction talking about ‘being decent’ this song also has a dedicated chorus! With electric strings to go with it! Definitely a solid project by everyone involved. While I do seek out the albums made by one producer more then others, on the times I do listen and cover these types albums you know it can’t go wrong when 17th Cipher is behind it!