by Dan O

Welcome to the flavor age. I was talking to an old head who told me he is a strict bar guy. Doesn’t need the ad libs or the vocal doubles or the crazy flow switches, it is just about the words. He actually said “It’s not about the seasoning for me its about the meal.” I paused to digest what he said and responded “I want the seasoning and the meal!” We live in an era where listeners refuse to accept the either/or of this argument. Artists are providing seasoning and condiments the likes of which we haven’t experienced before. All three artists involved in this song are key players in this new flavor age.

The song starts with Nack loudly stating “ADLIB” as his ad lib and then discussing that ad lib is his ad lib. He launches into the track double time: vote for Nackie Chan, tried to squash the beef hat-in-hand. Nack is in Tazmanian Devil form all throughout the full Mike Shabb collaboration Live At The Tabernackle. His dizzying speed, meaningful vocal doubles, and fearless exploration of his many melodic tones have put him in the 2023 MVP discussion. He’s everywhere. Shabb is so excellent at herky jerky flows and produces beats like this one that are similarly hypnotic, catchy but unorthodox. Stove God really goes crazy. He serves up the biggest juiciest hooks in the business…this is no exception. Once the hook ends he chuckles and his rap verse maintains 70% of the earwig quality of the hook, the laugh reappears in interesting places. The wildest part of the song to me is when Stove God said “We listened to your album that sh_t was z z z z…” and just kept saying z. It shook me out of my listening experience in a good way. The old back packers would never have let this fly. They would have been outraged. In the flavor age it is unique, so it is fly. We love it. Bless the seasoning and the meal.