Phil Ade-R.O.S.E.(Result of Society’s Evil) Mixtape Review
by Dan-O
Between R.O.S.E. and Young Moe’s Humble Hustle 2 (https://freemusicempire.com/2013/06/15/young-moe-humble-hustle-2-mixtape-review/)the DMV(Delaware, Maryland, Virginia) have a definite 2013 sound forming. Just because R.O.S.E. has a Kendrick Lamar style cover doesn’t mean all of its content exists in that off tempo Top Dawg zone. Songs like 2am (featuring Bun-B) and Nas Told Me jam the heck out. Not to mention the fabulously foul capitalist anthem Money with a game changing base line from producer 6ix and a simple snide fantastic chorus from Phil Ade.
On the production side Sunny Norway is behind the boards for nine out of the seventeen tracks, giving a warm needed backdrop on songs like City Lights or a more urgent darker soundscape like the one present on One Time or Big Mistake.
The guests do a pretty impressive job; Bun B is solid as always, Rockie Fresh has had a very good year that continues with his guest verse on Get Back. The case could be made that nothing about R.O.S.E. is that quotable, verses while well put together are full of what you would expect. It’s part introspection, part come up and as dope as songs like The Dreamer and Under Achiever are they don’t have rewindable lyrical moments. Good news-not everything needs rewindable lyrical moments. Good music is music you can listen too over and over and most of R.O.S.E. is good music. The biggest negative about the project is the song Every Bag which features an annoying hook about buying hot chicks…you guessed it….every bag. To be fair this song is for a different demographic, I understand that.
The complaints are minimal. I have to commend Phil Ade, Sunny Norway, and Teddy Roxpin for crafting an extremely cohesive project. All the tracks swim from one to the next in a natural way. This synergistic quality is what makes Every Bag stick out so much, so in a way its a credit to the work that it feels so foreign. Nothing feels like a single, this is an album and as free albums go VERY worth your time. The versatility of the DMV is the ability to do stuff that feels Trap-ish(like Money) but switch gears naturally to a song about love/sex(Xscape) or family. The best DMV rap finds a way to be earnest even in its least genuine moments and this is definitely a Phil Ade trait.
At the end of the second to last track, Disappointed, 2pac explains the rose from concrete metaphor in another of the spellbinding interviews he used to give(did anyone in hip hop history give better interviews?). You see the next track named Roses and picture it immediately as a down tempo introspection but that’s not what happens. What you get is a Sunny Norway piano with freakish urgency and an autotuned chorus that seems part trashy and part drunk talk honest. Even when Phil Ade does subtle he does it bigger and crazier than you pictured it. He chooses to end his opus jamming out, which I can always appreciate.
stream or download R.O.S.E. below:
Freemusicempire 
Leave a Reply