Written By: Mike Double G
Grade = 89% or 4 ⭐️
Commencement (Lukey Cage)
J Batters ✅
Way We Move (Feat. Shotz) ⭐️
Kill All Rats (Feat. Ransom & Rome Streetz) ⭐️
Toast ✅
Losses to Blessings ⭐️
Highly Praised ❌
Sons of Kings (Feat. Knowledge The Pirate) ✅
Red Beams ⭐️
Forever Ago ✅
Big Ghost Limited and Conway the Machine connect again. Ghost’s grimy street beats are the perfect match for the Conways grimy street lyrics. This project drops less than 9 months after the pair put out No One Mourns the Wicked. At just under 30 minutes this is the perfect appetizer for Conways most anticipated album of his career. The entree being the LP God Don’t Make Mistakes. His first and last LP under Shady Records. For most artists this project with Ghost would be the main album of the year but not for Conway. The Machine dropped the deluxe version of From A King To A GOD less than two months ago and his LP God Don’t Make Mistakes comes out in 7 days.
Everything about this projects screams spooky, dark, and grimy. From the digital album cover, to the grimy over the top lyrics, to Conway himself. The machine has the perfect lyrics, story telling, and look which says spooky, dark, and yes grimy. This is his lane and this is where he is at his best. The album cover is a skull with sunglasses, a gangster hat, and chains on. It looks like Conway if he was a skelton. As far as the content, Conway says it the best in the song Toast. Conway spits:
They said that grimy rap is dead, I came to resurrect it.
I would like to say I was surprised but the song Kill All Rats brings up 6ix9ine which we all knew was coming as soon as we saw the title. In the second verse Rome Streetz says:
Took a oath that I would slit the throat of any Danny Hernandez. Had six nines in my possession, but I sold 'em all. Never tell you motherfuckers to who, I know protocol.
Ransom is also featured in this song and has one of the best verses on the entire album.
Blow your cartilage in a million pieces, with a brilliant thesis I'm a god to these gangsters like a Sicilian Jesus
While Ransom had a great verse Conway had many verses just as lyrical and threw in a lot of good punchlines. An example being on the track Toast. Conway spits:
A lot of blemishes on your record, there’s a few errors, so you built a brand off of cap like New Era.
This album dropped just a week before his debut LP with Shady Records. Knowing this I think Conway purposely kept one of his most outlandish and over the top songs towards the end of this album. In Red Beam Conway says:
Most of our moms were drug addicts...walk in, see the shooter’s baby in his arms. Fuck your bitch and your kids n***a!...They found pieces of his brains in the kitchen, Machine you trippin.
While many may think Conway actually is “trippin’” I think this is some of the rawest content we’ve heard in a while, from any one. When listening to this song I couldn’t help but think of Eminem songs like Kim and Cleanen Out My Closet.
While technically this album wasn’t promoted as the second installment of No One Mourns the Wicked I believe this project is the perfect sequel to that album. The album is structured the same and is musically similar thanks to the beats and production of Big Ghost LTD. I think No One Mourns the Wicked was better lyrically and had better features while this project had better hooks and more personal content. The only song I wasn’t crazy about on this project was Highly Praised. I didn’t think the beat was that great and I don’t like when Conway raps that slow. The only other negative is that it’s a little short for a LP. Otherwise it’s pretty much flawless.
As Conway gets more popular his LPs on the major labels are going to be more radio friendly. However, if he keeps dropping raw projects in between the more mainstream albums he’ll be able to keep his day one fans happy. Like the first project from Conway and Ghost this is another 4 ⭐️ effort.
Best Song = “Red Beams”
Download: If It Bleeds It Can Be Killed