EP review-OTR2SJ by Scotty ATL

by Dan-O

My blood boils when I hear censored music. By the time the 90’s came around I was arguing with my parents for the permission to listen to rap music. If you turned on the television people were driving steamrollers over my favorite rap album. C. Delores Tucker had a list of the most offensive rap albums and they were all my favorites. Kids like me fought for the swearing, for our inappropriate content, because the music was saying something other forms of music wouldn’t dare.

Normally I would not review the new Scotty ATL EP OTR2SJ due to my extreme stance on this (the whole thing is censored with sound smudging! It makes me so mad!)…but…this thing is a monster. It buzzes with the kind of electric presence that Scotty has carried as of late. This is an un-ignorable artist. On Pray Alone he raps on a track before Killer Mike and stands shoulder to shoulder. That’s a tall order for anyone in rap.

It helps to have DJ Burn One standing in the shadows with the appropriate blast or horns or background guitar. Listening to the beat for Making Progress mutate as new elements come in is spellbinding. None of the beats over-extend or reach for club banger status, it’s that trademark Burn One minimalism filled with rich additives.

Every second on OTR2SJ feels important. No BS interludes or wack guest verses allowed. Rich The Kid stomps onto Bad Boy 97 like a giant and Scotty sounds like he expected that to happen. For me it doesn’t get better than the rich piano and tasteful guitar on The Journey and Scotty pronouncing “F your list, this is hot piss pouring on parades.” Most of the songs are about his progress through the industry, not in a braggy way but a determined/reflective endearing way. The soundscape reflects that tone perfectly. Even though I would love it a thousand times more with the cursing left in it’s a piece of music so good that it feels like what I was fighting to listen too the back then anyway.

Stream or Download OTR2SJ below:
http://www.datpiff.com/Scotty-ATL-OTR2SJ-mixtape.625376.html