“A song like this in these days and times? It’s beautiful”

As the title indicates, it’s the perfect summer album. Beautiful weather, your spot in the park, one big boom blaster, a ball, some beer, your best friends and this CD and I can assure the upcoming summer’s gonna be remembered. Masta Ace has been long known in the underground as one of the most consisting rappers over the past two decades. From his first appearance on Marley Marl’s “The Symphony” in ’88, Ace has been doing what he does best without compromising in favor of a bigger paycheck. Repping Brooklyn as his first priority, the street tales of New York has been the backdrop for his past releases and this one isn’t any different. Always with a humorous approach, he captures the big city of dreams in it’s simplest way with his laidback flow, sharp lyrics and witty punchlines.

There’s no way out of it, Masta Ace is my favorite MC of all time. So picking between his releases is like choosing your least favorite child… well almost the same! Since “Take A Look Around” has already been posted, I felt people should see what Ace turned out 15 years later. Leaning on his trademark flow, Ace almost effortlessly strive through the album. No matter what wordplay filled verse he delivers, it still sounds as if he was standing right there besides you, talking with you and for me – that’s his essence. What this album gives you is that sense of pure humanity, someone just trying to give you his point of view and telling his stories, without being cocky.

Ace, being the independent man he is, picks out beats from never heard of producers to cats like Marco Polo and 9th Wonder. Actually, I’ve never heard of 7 out of the 10 producers who guests the album, but nevertheless, all mixed together in a boiling pot filled with brilliant guest verses and lovable skits (I know this sounds crazy, but the 4-5 skits here aren’t annoying at all), you have an album that proves the legend from Brooklyn is still on top, and still making better music than basically everything else you’ll hear from 2004. Everything I adore in Hip-Hop music is contained in this album, there are some weaker spots on the disc but they are few and the amount of dopeness found in classic tracks like “Good Ol’ Love”, “Da Grind”, “H.O.O.D.”, “Beautiful”, “F.A.Y.”, “Brooklyn Masala” and “Relevations” is undeniable.

Whether it’ll be soulful Motown inspired beats, neck breaking drums, insightful lyrics, funny anecdotes or just amazingly constructed songs like “Brooklyn Masala” where Ace gets his very best Slick Rick on, it’s given to you in the best spirit of the Hip-Hop legacy, that he helped grew in the first place.

“Now if you call me and I’m not around
I’m probably putting my grind down
Doing shows out of town
I be the manager, road manager, and call handler
Booking agent, choreographer and tour planner
I be the V.P. of marketing and promotions
Producer and arranger, with a range of emotions
And after it all, I still gotta perform
At three o’clock in the morn’, when half the fans are gone
But it’s fine, been on the grind since like ’88 or ’89″

by Oskar