“Don’t be a fucking eggs benedict” – Sean Price, “Intro”
I took Mr. Price’s words to heart and gave the mixtape, “Broken Eggz”, hosted by Sean Price with PF Cuttin on the ones and twos, a strong listen. The album is an awesome exhibition of the thought-provoking and classically New York MC style as rendered by rap duo Rim and P, Da Villins. I’m really glad I got a chance to listen to “Broken Eggz”. It’s a got all the elements that originally caused me to be enraptured by hip-hop as a choice art form for conveying reality, both external and internal.
The album gets right into it from the get go, establishing PF Cuttin as an active and present DJ, scratching decisively and employing his breaks at the exact right moment to add complexity to the affected song section. The cuts that start off “BK Nicest” for example, are exactly the kind of musical moment that elevates a head nod listening experience to that of a clutched dome. The exclamation “clairvoyant!” on “The Grustle” feels that much more elegant in the care of PF Cuttin’s breaks and cuts. It’s the kind of decision that makes the listener ready to get the full effect of what the rappers are doing to the track they’re working with.
And while we’re on the subject, Rim and P certainly do some impressive things in terms of their flow and musicality. “Held Myself Down” achingly expresses the inner world of an artist who is exploring his journey to self-determination, making his own way in a world where “everyone is my rival”. “Hoodbond” feels at times existential with lines like “making an art of dumb shit, I’ve been mistaken as smart” but immediately affirms its own intellectual quality later in the track referring to the work of rivals as “Dada”. With a comfortable fluidity, tracks like “BK Nicest” and “Beginnings”, allow the pair weave in and out of the ear of the listener, offering witty bars that are reminiscent of two neighborhood hero MC’s trading bars in the park. I want to say that it’s a lost art but, here we have it, alive and well in these two artists.
I originally feared that the use of classic boom bap beats would distract from the contemporary state of mind that Rim and P might have to offer, but my assumptions were absolutely wrong. Instead, the backdrop of those beats seem to offer fresh breathing space for Rim and P to experiment with a range of rhyming patterns not to mention opening up some pretty fun moments for Sean Price adlib genius, keeping the listeners excited and ready for more. All in all this mixtape fulfills the promise P makes on “Hoodbond”. A team effort of including some very well crafted features, “Broken Eggz” by Davillins most certainly succeeds in its effort to “back smack the track up” in the best way possible. Much respect.
“We different. You, you not us, man” – Sean price, “Ghetto”
– iLikeZach
