Antagonist Dragonspit – The Ugly Truth LP (Audiomack)
“Tell em why you mad son!” That’s the first thing that came to mind as I went through this project. 90’s era production, a focus on lyricism, and an absolute disdain for the current “Turnt Up” state of Hip-Hop.
Antagonist Dragonspit – The Ugly Truth LP (Audiomack)
“Tell em why you mad son!” That’s the first thing that came to mind as I went through this project. 90’s era production, a focus on lyricism, and an absolute disdain for the current “Turnt Up” state of Hip-Hop. If that’s your thing, you’re going to love this. If you are in the median though, this project may exhaust you, as you will hear over and over again about real Hip-Hop, fake drug dealers, or simply what “Real” is. One can’t help but feel like a horse led to the water and forced to drink, and at 18 tracks you had better be thirsty. That is not to say that there isn’t some really good stuff here; tracks like “Beautiful Liar” and “Slaves” really bring it and should not be missed. Antagonist also shows you that he is a talented producer on several tracks, but one can’t help but feel that at some point, at some vocal track laden show in a crowd of sheep, Antagonist became a wolf and this project became his teeth. I was once told that “he who points the finger is in need of a mirror.” I am a man who considers Gucci Mane to be his Saul turned Paul, and I hope just as much as I know that Antagonist will one day realize that it is he who is antagonizing himself. I look forward to his next release, as one cannot be the wolf and the dragon at the same time.
Antoine – Where Is $ammy $uavis (Datpiff)
Don Diego de la Vega had Zorro. Steve Urkel, Stefan. Antoine has $ammy $uavis. His smooth player alter ego, who like Stefan often comes well-dressed thanks to the production on this project (especially the tracks produced by Caleb Sarikey Beats), is still Steve Urkel at the core. Admittedly, it sounds like Antoine had a lot of fun making this project, but that doesn’t always translate into fun for the listener. There’s even a track on here called “The Explanation” that is over 5 minutes long and is just him talking about this project. I for one, would rather read an interview, and felt this was kind of indulgent of him. Art shouldn’t come with an instruction manual; let your talent (which is present throughout) speak for itself. Perhaps I’m too serious, maybe the RnB influences threw me off… but this project just wasn’t my cup of tea. But then again, I am Black Liquid, and I prefer coffee.
