This is the 6th full-length album from New York emcee The Musalini. Beginning to take the underground by storm since 2018 after dropping his debut mixtape Musalini Season, would go on to release 3 full-lengths & another tape before signing to TCF Music Group. Since then, he’s made himself home by dropping a few EPs & Return of the Oroin the early part of this decade. Last we heard from Mus was at the very beginning of 2022 when he dropped my favorite album of his yet The Don & Eye fully produced 9th Wonder to produce his 5th album from beginning to end & has decided to recruit Khrysis for Pure Izm.
“Weed & Coffee” is a jazzy talking about life being beautiful whereas “Goldie in Town” takes a more sample-based boom bap route taking about he had to straighten up. Ian Kelly & Izzy Hott tag along for the soulful yet classy “Well Done” declaring themselves as the top dogs prior to Reuben Vincent coming into the picture for the piano-driven “$200 Pasta” to talk about that’s how they do.
Meanwhile on “Transmission”, we have Mus delivering a funky prelude to the next joint “2 Step on ‘Em” with King Draft embracing a dustier sound doing just that. “Off the Nest” mixes some pianos & an angelic vocal sample talking about doing this for the culture, but then “Nutella” with Planet Asia brings back the soul loop spitting braggadocio-infused lyricism.
The song “Crab Rangoon” with O-Finesse sonically feels like something ripped from a blaxploitation flick spitting that fly shit while the penultimate track “Ghost” with Izzy Hott shoots for a more solemn tone with the beat swearing that they’ll never go back to prison. “Panamanian Brunch” with Ice Lord is a classy sendoff to the album talking about being the big dogs.
Despite that I still maintain The Don & Eye to be my favorite body of work that Mus has put out yet, this is still a solid follow-up in my eyes. The features are alright, but Khrysis’ sound suits Mus just as well as his mentor’s did with the MC continuing to put his lavish lifestyle on wax
Score: 7/10
Source: UndergroundHipHopBlog.com