First and foremost, thank-you to our big brother Tricky for hooking us up with the release of The Godfathers, and giving us an exclusive on the review. You’ve always got our back, and we (Stix, Aimee & InternAdam) really appreciate that you never forget us.

Now I’m going to presume a little that if you’re reading this too-cool-for-school hip-hop site then you are either so underground that if your top 5 artists held a show, their whole fanbase combined would just about fill out a 300 cap venue. Or you too are a self-confessed snobby hip-hop kid like me (although that title really goes to our in-house beatboxer Matt), and spend a lot of your time being slightly disappointed in what the kids today are listening to. Whichever little pigeonhole you fall into, or in between (Yes I’m aware there aren’t just two camps, gosh un-bunch ya panties) then chances are you’re aware of Kool G Rap and the influence and weight he has had on hip-hop over the past 20+ years. You are also probably very aware of Necro, and the length and strength of his career as well, so I’m not sure if either need too much of an introduction. In simple terms, these guys are the MCs that your favourite rappers namedrop when they talk about their influences.

With all that in mind, and with any career that spans longer than 15 years, there’s always going to be a certain amount of pressure to release material that is as strong and respected as their reputation. Kool G and Necro clearly have had some idea of this, and the result is ‘Once Upon A Crime’.
Their joint multi-syllabic rhyme style are of course an obvious high point of the record as a whole, and at times their combined styles intertwined so well that I lost track of who was rapping. That could have been read as a criticism, but  it’s actually a compliment as the two MCs are obviously pretty close and comfortable working together, so after a while you start to feel like you’re listening to one rapper just with a set of multipersonalities. I haven’t heard a duo do that well for a long while, it was really refreshing, and because of this neither rapper outshines or overshadows the other too heavily.

If you’re not too familiar with Necro and Kool G’s style and content, they’re extremely influenced by Mafia films and literature, and the samples and sound clips throughout the record attest to this (well the the name of the record kind of gives it away as well). As a huge mafia film fan this is something I’m personally really fond of, and the use of musical production (all production was dealt with by Necro) from The Godfather films on ‘Omerta’ is pretty perfect in my eyes. Whilst a relatively short track, Kool G’s verse on this really stands out as well, and showcases his vocal talents at their best. This was probably one of my favourite songs on the whole album.

Whether you’re a long-time fan or a casual listener of these two, it probably won’t surprise you too much to learn that the subject matter and content is similar to their earlier records. Just in case you were worried that either MC was planning on writing an electro rap album with whatizface Top 40 singer anytime soon. You can rest assured this is still firmly cemented somewhere between a John Gotti documentary, Slayer’s album covers and crack-era rap. Nestled nicely somewhere within their own spot in hip-hop that they’ve carved out for themselves over the years.

I will say though that yes I am a fan of hyper-masculine hip-hop when it’s done well, and with some kind of clear point to it, which I believe was done on this record. I am however getting tired of the use of the word ‘faggot’ in rap songs. Yeah, yeah you don’t mean it like that and as far as I’m aware both rappers aren’t giant bigots. From a gay woman’s point of view though, it does prove hard having to hear ‘fag’ and ‘gay’ used in a derogatory manner. It’s pretty ignorant.

I won’t end this review on a negative tip though, because from what I’ve seen of Kool G Rap in interviews, he seems like a pretty openminded, and accepting dude.  I just wanted to make light of it and not just ignore it. This is still some of their best material to date, and it completely blows a lot of other plastic rappers efforts out of the water; and if you’re a fan of either, or wanting to hear something authentic and well produced then I suggest you pick this up when it officially drops tomorrow via RBC/Psycho+Logical-Records.

Words: Aimee

For fans of: La Coka Nostra (well obviously), Non-Phixon, Army Of The Pharaohs, The Beatnuts, listening to before a boxing match.

Stream ‘Once Upon A Crime’ here

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Tracklisting:

01 – Teflon Dons
02 – The City
03 – High Tension
04 – Punched Dead In The Face (Skit)
05 – Black Medicine
06 – Omerta
07 – The Pain
08 – Hustler
09 – We’ll Kill You
10 – Crook Catastrophe & The Gunblast Kid
11 – Unsub
12 – I Hate You (Skit)
13 – Gangsta
14 – Trigga 4 Hire
15 – American Sickos
16 – Wolf Eyes
17 – Heart Attack
18 – Once Upon A Crime