The Boogie Down Bronx is back!
Jim Jones has earned his place in the ranks of hip hop underground legends, from his start with the Diplomats to starring in Love and Hip Hop and appearing in the legendary street show The Wire to earning a spot on the diss list of the greatest rapper alive…
(They’ve made up since then.)
His latest, El Capo, is one of his best so far. The freeform, free association humor runs at max velocity: “Slow down young man, please don’t rush through this life/These niggas buy Chanel, spend money on lots of fail/Iceberg Smurf, where the fuck is the Gargamel?/My ladies stay drippy, boy back from where?/See Superman havin’ brunch at Bracknell…” Street tales (“Make No Issue Of It”) and coming up stories (“Cristal Occasions”) are strong. And the features are well selected from (mostly) New York’s best mixtape rappers from wayback to now: Dave East, Fat Joe, Rick Ross, Cam’ron, Fabolous, Curren$y, and more.
Oh, and there’s even a hot Lionel Richie sample on “Nothing Lasts”!
Produced by Heatmakerz, El Capo runs at 16 songs and, yes, about five of them could be cut (such as “My Era”). But once it’s edited down, this is a really strong album.
