Revivalism’s a tough game to play for long. MCs who get hype claiming they’re “bringing the old school back” often become played out by their second album, their skillful emulations concealing the fact that they don’t have much new to say. It’s easy, after all, to imitate the greats, but all too difficult to show and prove in a way that’s bigger than the sum of your influences.
Roc Marciano’s debut LP “Marcberg” tore up the blogosphere’s year-end best-of charts in 2010 off the strength of the Long Island rapper/producer’s effortless evocation of the classic NY street rap tradition. As an MC, Roc combined Kool G Rap’s greezy street talk, Ghostface‘s far-out lyricism, Cam’ron’s mean-spirited disses, and Curren$y’s eye for detail with his dusty crate-digging production, made to be blasted out of subway terminal boomboxes (or maybe the LIRR). Since then, however, Roc has been busy collaborating with artists outside of the True School NYC bubble, from Gangrene to Random Axe to Das Racist’s ‘Roc Marciano Joint,’ leading this critic to wonder if his next LP would be a step in a more stylistically irreverent direction. It’s a time-honored formula, practiced by everyone from A$AP Rocky to Curren$y to Roc’s former Flipmode Squad leader Busta Rhymes – get weird, turn pro (word to Hunter S.). Now that “Reloaded” is on shelves, the truth is better than any of the expectations: Roc Marciano has crafted an album that uncompromisingly flaunts the nostalgic style he became known for even as he refines it in a more introspective direction, making for a darkly impressionistic LP that’s one of 2012’s best.
The biggest difference between Roc Marciano’s two albums is the tone: the MC you hear on “Marcberg” is out in the streets, showing and proving; on “Reloaded” he’s back at home, blunted and deep in thought. Roc’s stream-of-consciousness flow, delivered in a more fatigued voice than in the past, lists the barest details of past schemes between mean-spirited punchlines that’d make Cam’ron crack a “U MAD?” smile. The opening lines of ‘Thread Count’ set the tone: “In seclusion I pin up piff in the Landcruiser/ Tan like I been to Cuba/ Keys is white like sand in Aruba/ Exude confidence from my view of the metropolis.” Roc addresses his lyrics to no one in particular, as if he was talking to the island of Manhattan itself. Indeed – besides Roc – the city is the most important character described in this album. On ‘Flash Gordon,’ he describes how, even in the most intimate of settings, he’s more in tune with his environment than with any other person: “We still getting it, piping dimes on the terrace/ I’m thinking ’bout my life, where it’s headin’/ I sleep with heat under the pillow, the cash is where I left it, it’s nothing/ I watch the city while I’m fucking.” Marciano brings the underworld of NYC to life with his vivid descriptions; ’76’ describes “some guys who slide a line inside a Newport,” ‘Emeralds’ contains the impressionistic line “chain chunk brolic cheddar cheese.” On the album’s best tracks, like ‘The Man’ and ’76’, his mix of grimy storytelling, punchlines, and lyricism are reminiscent of Raekwon’s “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx.”
This is late-night paranoid rap in the tradition of Geto Boys’ classic ‘Mind Playin’ Tricks On Me,’ only instead of sitting alone in his room staring at candles, Roc Marciano is blowing “Lou Ferrigno indo out the Benz tinted windows” (‘Tek To A Mack’). Roc is unconcerned with other rappers, preferring to retreat into his own mind – he preemptively dismisses rival MCs by claiming (on ‘The Man’) that he: “Never was a hater/ never gave a fuck enough,” perhaps the most efficient diss line since Jay’s half bar on ‘The Takeover.’ Appropriately, the features on “Reloaded” are limited to just two songs, both featuring the Brooklyn fireman-turned-rapper KA, who shows up to “strangle a human anger with monstrous lines” on ‘Nine Spray.’ KA and Marciano have worked together often and they both share a streetwise-yet-distant personality on the mic, meaning their collaborations on “Reloaded” are both dope.
Perhaps Roc Marciano’s greatest improvement from “Marcberg” is in the production. Unlike his previous LP, Roc didn’t craft all the beats himself, employing The Alchemist, The Arch Druids, and Q-Tip for production on the singles. The Q-Tip-produced ‘Thread Count’ is one of the album’s highlights, featuring a classic Tribe drum break chopped to unrecognizability under a head-nodding baseline and reversed vibraphone samples. Marciano’s own beats give “Reloaded” a coherent musical background, one that evokes the sounds of a New York City winter like few albums since GZA’s “Liquid Swords.” The drums on most tracks are buried deep in the mix, echoing in the distance as if they were banging from a passing Jeep, while the subtle instrumental accompaniment gives Roc’s quiet, blunted voice room to breathe.
Roc Marciano both has and hasn’t changed since “Marcberg.” He’s still keeping true to the old-school NYC rap tradition, but this time his reference point is less Boot Camp Clik’s aggression and more Mobb Deep‘s woozy late-night hardbody impressionism, and his alienated tone sets his work apart from mere imitations of the classics. Roc’s flow and production are just as on-point as ever, and this album’s tracks fit together more cohesively than his previous work has, making “Reloaded” an LP you can easily get lost inside.
Comments