It was a joy to fans of the hip hop renaissance that has started to flourish in recent years when two of the most impressive lyricists in recent times announced that they were teaming up for a collaborative album. 

There is a certain joy that comes with hearing two MC’s who feed off of each other’s energy while also sounding as if they are trying to out-rap one another on every track. That is exactly how Ransom and Rome Streetz sound on every song they’ve made together prior to this album. Needless to say, my hopes were incredibly high. 

In the lyrical aspect it lives up to the hype, but the production throughout is on and off in terms of quality, which does take away from the overall product. 

That being said, the lyrics and flows delivered by Ransom and Rome on this new tape are absolutely jaw dropping at times. The opening track is a complete bar-fest that plays out over an ominous piano beat broken up every couple of loops by a powerful guitar.

Possibly one of the most memorable lyrical demonstrations this year is on the track “Claudine.” Ransom and Rome go back and forth telling a dark story of their hometowns where a drug addict robs them and they take their revenge. 

Ransom and Rome are some of the best at putting together a verse that grows in intensity throughout and they deliver lyrics about their perilous lives before rap trying to survive in the insanity that is Rochester, N.Y. 

They lay out their trauma and counterbalance it with flexes of the lucrative lifestyles they can now live without the stress and intensity of their hometown and it all comes together to give a vibe that is equal parts menacing as it is hopeful. Another thing I enjoyed from this project was the new emphasis from both of them on choruses. In the past, both of them, whether on solo songs or together, would focus primarily on long and complex verses and fill in where a chorus would normally be with a sample break or simply let the beat ride for a little while. 

On “Coup de Grace,” they both offer up some surprisingly catchy and easy to remember choruses that help break up the barrage of lyrics throughout the verses. We got a glimpse of this on Rome’s last album a few months back, “Razor’s Edge,” where he delivered an outstanding chorus on the track “Same Way.” 

Both Ransom and Rome Streetz excel on albums that are fully produced by one producer. Rome has shown this in all of his work with Futurewave and DJ Muggs, not to mention that  Ransom has created magic with Nicholas Craven. 

I’m not sure why they did not decide on a producer to craft the sound of this project as well, because I think the variation in producers gave the project a couple of beats that fell super short. The track with The Game, “Pray for the Weak,” has a very redundant beat that stretches on for much too long. 

The same could be said for the closer “Death Becomes Life,” where the beat just did not catch my ear that much. Besides those few beats, there are some absolutely incredible ones on here. Notably, “Bandoleros” has a very dark Nicholas Craven beat that has the most haunting vocal sample he has used in recent memory. 

Overall, “Coup de Grace,” is a display of top-tier rapping and lyrics, and although the production causes it to lag a bit in the middle of the project, there are still a lot of great gems on here that are not worth missing out on. 7/10

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• JPEGMAFIA – LP!

Weekly Song Recommendations:

• Travis Scott – Mafia (feat J.Cole)
• Amine – NEO
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