Album: Jewelry
Artist: Your Old Droog
Genre: #HipHop
Sub-Genres: #Underground
Label: Mongoloid Banks
Non-Airable Tracks: All
Jewelry is Your Old Droog’s third album of 2019, following April’s It Wasn’t Even Close and June’s Transportation. The New York rapper hit his stride in 2019 closing it out strong with his latest Jewelry.
Fitting that this album released on the first night of Hanukah because this record is an ode to Droog’s heritage. In the Music video for BDE we see Droog and collaborator Mach-Hommy celebrating the holiday in style with hugging relatives, lighting of the menorah, and a solid gold dreidel. This song also features a verse from long time legend MF DOOM. It amazes me how someone could get three verses from the enigmatic artist in their lifetime, let a lone a single year. This is 100% due to the content Your Old Droog releases.
Jewelry begins with a brash drum loop on top a smooth piano sample and Mach-Hommy singing in Yiddish. This is a perfect opener to a great album full of grimy raps. The next track, Jew Tang opens up with Droog’s flow we’ve been accustomed to. Bold, gritty, and intensely New York .
Desert Eagle is one of my favorite tracks on the album. Absent of any drums, the beat is comprised of a sample that sounds like the flipped police car that is seen on the cover. This is not boom-bap, which many like to box droog into. Desert eagle is stripped down to its necessities and Mach-Hommy’s raps here are seriously on another level. I’ve spoke about this man before and he can spit on any beat and turn it into gold. Fast, speech-life, and one instance where the word “flow” is accurately used.
Droog rides over the beats on this album impeccably. The best example of this is on Generations. The Edan production sounds like something out of Film Noir, dark, sly, and complex. Generations chronicles the story of a Family and their troubles. A father bruttally trying to provide to for his family, a grandfather wanting to immigrate, and a grandson who is dropped in the misdts of gang violence. We can assume this is autobiographical due to Droogs outspoken nature of his family history of immigrating to the States from Ukraine.
In closing, this album deserves a listen, same with Your Old Droog’s entire discography. Droog knows what he is good at keeps doing just that. Why stop now?
Sounds Like: Mach-Hommy, Wiki, Quelle Chris
Recommended Tracks: BDE, Generations
Reviewer’s Name: Pryce