Joseph Anthony Budden II is an American broadcaster, cultural critic, media personality, and former rapper. He first gained recognition as a rapper is with his 2003 top 40 single “Pump It Up” and as a member of the hip hop supergroup Slaughterhouse.
Apollo Brown and Joell Ortiz have recently announced their dropping a collaboration project together, called ‘Mona Lisa’, and the whole of Hip-Hop’s collective jaws have dropped!
Apollo Brown has provided the culture with mad classics (including Ghostface Killah’s ‘The Brown Tape’) and Ortiz has been dropping lyrical gems for years, as a solo artist and member of Slaughterhouse, so this project is expected to raise the bar big time!!!
The first drop from the project is called ‘Decisions’ and it’s exactly what you would expect from the two!!!
Stream here – Apollo Brown & Joell Ortiz – Decisions (Stream)
Royce returns with the follow up to 2016’s ‘Layers’ album with a more personal approach on ‘Book Of Ryan’!
Already supported by some phenomenal singles (‘Boblo Boat’ with J. Cole, ‘Dumb’ with Boogie, and more recently, the Eminem assisted ‘Caterpillar’) that got the album off to a great start for the fans but with such big single choices how does the rest of the album fair?
Royce Da 5’9″ – Caterpillar (feat. Eminem & King Green) (Official Video)
Extremely well to answer the question! Royce is lyrically on point throughout the whole project and let’s us into the world of Ryan!
Tracks like ‘Cocaine’, ‘Strong Friend’ and ‘God Speed’ are great examples of more personal efforts from Royce!
However their are a few misses too such as the Pusha T, Fabolous, Jadakiss and Agent Sasco assisted ‘Summer On Lock’ a track with huge expectations based on it’s line up but some how it just falls flat (but that’s more to do with the beat as opposed to the bars mind you) and ‘Amazing’ which just seems like it’s trying too hard to be a big commercial record!
All in all though it’s difficult to slander this album as it’s lyrically on point and a real open book into the mind of Ryan Montgomery! Definitely worth your time!!!
Highlights – ‘Caterpillar’, ‘Strong Friend’, ‘God Speed’ (truthfully though theirs too many dope cuts to choose from!)
Stream + Purchase here – Royce Da 5’9″ – Book Of Ryan (iTunes Stream + Purchase)
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