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M-Phazes has been doing his thing so long that his back catalogue looks something like a rap all star game. With his first compilation album we get a brief look into what happens when music speaks louder than location.
When you start an album the way this one starts, (like a korean war film with a haunting guitar line that sounds like its playing itself on its death bed) you could have Foghorn Leghorn rapping for the next 50 minutes and it’d still be a dope album. But when you follow that intro with lyricists like CL Smooth, Heltah Skeltah & Pharoahe Monch what you get is more like black tar.
These things don’t always work on paper though. Just ask Kobe and Dwight about that. These types of works can often suffer because the artists don’t have the time or energy to put effort into something that isn’t there own. The difference here however is that none of these songs were written as a back scratch for borrowed beats. These are songs written in the midst of some classic albums. Sean P at his most ferocious in 2008. Jean Grae at her most vulnerable with a leak from a masterpiece that never happened. Talib Kweli even named his whole album after this track. So you don’t have to worry about any lakers moments here. Plus, you could have Yosemite Sam spitting on these beats and it’d still be smack.
This album isn’t exclusively about the guests. This is more about the beats. This is about the driving force of a pounding low end juxtaposed by the smooth piano samples. The basslines that seem to dance between kicks like they’re dodging bullets. The minimalism that perfectly compliments the first four bars in to the second verse. It’s the space in these compositions that lets such technical lyricists shine. The hypnotic two chord progression that some how still keeps your interest for three and a half minutes. The dynamics used to increase intensity between a technical multi syllabic verse and a hook as big as the one from Gutter Rainbows. A crescendo that takes a track so heavy it almost shook the fault line all the way back to the frequency it began at. This is about song structure, done subtlety.
M-Phazes has hand picked these beats to speak the same language as the lyricist. That’s why this album works so effortlessly. It’s not that any of the songs are outside of anything you’d expect from the featured artist. It’s nothing that’s going to change the history of music or anything. But it is going to change your drive home. It’ll probably blow your speakers before it blows your mind. But sometimes that’s all you need from a compilation album. Something that bangs. And this is definitely that.