Big fans of Old Droog at this blog, and big fans of MF DOOM, so I was thrilled to see the masked rapper appearing on “It Wasn’t Even Close.” Along with the likes of Mach-Hommy (executive producer), Tha God Fahim, Roc Marciano, Wiki and others.
This is the fourth album for the Coney Island rapper, and his skills are on full display. Droog’s a wordy rapper, with a tremendous vocabulary, who drops similes and metaphors fast and furious–and they’re all ones you’ve never heard before. Like how many rappers talk about Pig Vomit from Howard Stern? Or write a whole rap like they’re Eddie Murphy? Or use the Russian folk song Babushka as a music bed? He’s an “innovator–a technique integrator,” jumping from style to style effortlessly, sometimes in the same song.
Your Old Droog is emphatically NOT Nas. He’s just a great Brooklyn rapper with smarts, street cred, and his fourth great album in a row.