We here at TMT love a good quote. Just check out our Music Reviews section. I don’t write many reviews, but I do enjoy a quality quotation as much as the next person who takes what another person says or writes, wraps it in punctuation, and bases an article on it.
“The older you get, the more you mature musically and conceptually.”
– Jazz drummer Willie Jones III
For one reason or another, despite it being around for almost four decades and regardless (or perhaps, in some cases, because) of the sincerest efforts of its elder statesmen, hip-hop music is still seen as a young man’s art form, as if even its greatest contributors are somehow exempt from the above quote’s claim. Well, I for one don’t believe it. I refuse to accept that once an MC reaches the age of 35, he suddenly becomes incapable of recording an album as strong as or stronger than his previous work. And as further evidence of this disgruntled-old-man claim (in this case, coming to you from a disgruntled young man’s mind/keyboard), I submit to you, dear listener, the latest from Mobb Deep’s Prodigy and his longtime collaborator, Alchemist.
If this album’s 16 tracks show us anything, it’s that both artists, well into their 30s, are continuing to mature musically and conceptually, and that Alchemist’s current prolificacy just might go down in history as the type of run rap fans can tell their grandkids about. As if to hammer the latter point home, Albert Einstein features Action Bronson and Domo Genesis — with whom Al released 2012’s Rare Chandeliers and No Idols respectively — and Roc Marciano, with whom he’s “working on a project,” according to a recent interview.
Roc also says, “I bang the billionaire heiress on the terrace/ I’m from Terrace [Ave.] where sellers twist vanillas, switch bellas,” and that, I figure, is as good a quote as any to end this post.
Stream Albert Einstein at DJBooth.net.
• Prodigy: http://themostinfamous.com