Song Review-Excellence by Moss Da Beast featuring Bloomfield produced by 1Mind

by Dan-O

It’s not easy to switch gears. Even the very best Emcee’s build a comfort zone and don’t come out. I was surprised at the gear switch I heard on Moss Da Beasts new mixtape Marley Son 3. When he sent me his mixtape Soulmate I loved the hard-bitten D-Block feeling of it but Marley Son 3 showcases a whole different side; an appreciation for the Native Tongues chunky naturalistic sound. The weed rap aesthetic just seems like good cover for an approach best described as zoning; taking advantage of the slowing down of space and time in the weed rap approach to load bars with personal stories and intelligent concerns about life.

1Mind seems to get it exactly. Never overloading any of the four tracks he produces but giving them an earned warmth to go with their boom bap. This beat more than the others knocks even beneath its subdued surface while never taking the spotlight away from its star. The mantra for Marley Son 3 is right in this song “I wake up pray up bake up and start it. I know I ain’t the biggest baddest but I’m lionhearted.” How many rappers can say they are not the biggest and baddest and sound comfortable doing it? If Soulmate was a place to rest his hostile NY Goon rap influence this song and a lot of Marley Son 3 become a love letter to Q-Tip and Prince Paul. It’s about time somebody wrote one.