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The newest Brooklyn standout, Fresh Daily, emerged onto the scene after being formerly known as Ill Tarzan (I believe a lawsuit ensued) with his first release under the new moniker, The Gorgeous Killer in Crimes of Passion. Gorgeous Killer features all-star beatsmiths Illmind, 88-Keys and Analogic to name a few, along with appearances from Okayplayer-rooted Tanya Morgan, Cool Calm Pete, Homeboy Sandman and more.
Gorgeous Killer opens up with a brief, straight to the point introduction right before the first horn-heavy banger kicks off. It’s got a nice feel to it right off the bat, feels like an introductory track—you get a taste for Daily’s slightly unconventional flow and his ability to craft short and catchy hooks. This feels like straight up hip-hop right off the bat, there’s no beating around the bush: Daily is here to drop bars.
Another bit of dialogue toward the end of the track where Daily proclaims himself the “new Jack of boom bap,” a title he may well deserve. If you’ve been introduced to any of his early work, the Brooklyn MC laid jaws out with the release of “Untucked Nunchucks”—but we’re not quite there yet, we’ll leave that discussion for when the track gets here.
A quick change into “Break a Leg”, a beat-box laden beat comes right out of the chute, and is then put to life with real drums and orchestration, a nice transition. The rhymes are realist, Daily is hardly making profound statements (“They say break a leg before you go and do your thing / I hope that shit comes back around on ‘em like a boomerang”) but the smooth delivery and confidence on the mic is absolutely undeniable. Daily is not afraid to drop off kilter bars, force syllables and stutter-step sentences to fit the rhythm, and never seems awkward with his often mismatched bar-lengths.
“Me First”, is a comical collaboration with highly-revered trio Tanya Morgan where the chorus slot is filled with the sample-soaked instrumental as a backtrack to the four MCs arguing over who will spit first and then each rhymer dropping 16’s. This is the first of a line of tracks that feature funky cuts and very audible samples that add a sense of classic boom-bap that he mentioned on the first track. One of the most notable tracks include “Video Gamin’”, which features a recognizable sample of the late Biggie Smalls and features F Dot flowing fluently about his escapades with various video games and console systems.
At the midway point, the album takes a turn for the better, with Homeboy Sandman’s awkwardly-constructed verse playing quite nicely with the smooth demeanor of Daily. Immediately following the appearance from the poster boy of New York’s underground comes a track serious consciousness: an ode to Daily’s affinity for breasts. It’s a well-crafted joint that serves quite nicely as an array of misogynistic mammary references.
The ninth track of this album you notice an audible difference from the outlay; crunchy sample pops and boom-bap patterns are laid aside in favor of an introduction of titillating ivory-tickling. The beat picks back up on the booms and baps but features an organ playing over a punchy bass line; the beat serves as the perfect bed for Daily’s lyrical onslaught. “Untucked Nunchucks”, the single released from this album turns out to be the hand-down hotspot of the disc. The slow slap-and-rhyme styling of the beat lends nicely to the discerning ear as the Brooklyn MC takes the East coast’s signature sound and jam-packs it full of punch-lines and plenty of complex rhyme structures.
“One-touch and you’re dumb-struck / swing like un-tucked nun-chucks, I’m hood like 1-2-6 / kicks like a gun-but, son-what, none-too-sick,” are the opening bars for the highlight track. It’s clear here that Daily has a lyrical dexterity that would leave most average MCs stumbling, but this one grabs the opportunity and stabs the listeners ear with a verse-to-verse certified banger. There’s no chorus, and there shouldn’t be. If the album to this point was a 7, this track is a 15. New Jack of boom-bap? It’s starting to look like the truth.
The next highlight is the “up from the gutter” anthem, “Gutterman”. “Bitches don’t give broke n—-s no play / and all I wanted to do was stab like O-J,” he rhymes, outlining grinding out a life of growing up in poverty and on food stamps to become successful over a kick-filled orchestral instrumental.
“Love Breakdown” and “Crimes of Passion” provide a somber peek into the mind of Daily, nodding to hip-hop and aspirations for changing his life. Great, soulful tracks again show another dimension to Daily’s persona both on and off the mic. He’s right at home among the last track, “Jedi Academy”, a great display of skills from Daily, Von Pea (Tanya Morgan), 8thW1, Print, and Homeboy Sandman. The verses mesh nicely, butting up against each other almost seamlessly and each MC holds his own.
The album, overall, is excellent. There are few weak spots to speak of, but nearly all of the tracks are heavily shadowed by what should be in any serious debate for best track of the year in “Nunchucks”. Although every track is consistent and strong, nothing satisfies quite like the straight-forward, boom-bap, and lyrically complex lusciousness of the lead single. One of the top albums of the year, but it suffers somewhat from having an almost too-high highlight; after all, if Tom Brady is throwing strikes for USC who’s paying any attention to the offensive line?
November 6th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by aboveGround Magazine and aboveGround Magazine, Armando Acevedo II. Armando Acevedo II said: Word… much love 2 AOK RT @abovegroundmag Review: Fresh Daily(@FreshDotDaily)-The Gorgeous Killer in Crimes of Passion http://bit.ly/1FjdN1 [...]