You thought we were done with the Berner exploration journey over here? Nah bruh we stay on this Berner grind all summer long, can’t stop won’t stop. I’m not sure if I should thank or blame The Martorialist for inspiring me to go down this treacherous but also sometimes rewarding path. About 10 Berner albums deep, imagine my surprise and pleasure when I saw that his 2015 album ‘Harvest Season’ featured not one but two separate tracks featuring both The Jacka (RIP) and Mozzy on each, along with two other songs featuring the Jacka and one more with Mozzy. Say what you want about this affable Urban Farmer, but the man has an undeniable talent for getting great rappers to work with him and join his projects, as well as getting great verses out of them.  I didn’t even know who Mozzy was in 2015 showing that as usual, Berner was ahead of his time.

‘Gone’ has the added bonus of not only featuring the Jacka and Mozzy but also one of my favorite Nor Cal artists who I had gotten into for a while and completely forgotten about, Lil Rue, so it was good to hear him again as well. (Push It and Self Made were both in heavy rotation five or six winters ago I remember bumping them on a New Year’s Eve).

Mozzy raps a bit slower on this track and seems like he has a little bit of a different flow, and it sounds great over the triumphant, battle-ready beat. It actually might be one of my favorite two or three Mozzy verses to date, he absolutely bodies this one…

“I’m still high from that cup of slime. I bang the hood ’cause I’m in love with mine. I fell off like 100 times; I’ma get it back it happens all the time. I started off saran-wrapping dimes, my little brother died that’s when we had to slide. Circle small there ain’t a rat in mines; my Fruit Loops had roaches in it I’m from the trenches I ain’t gotta lie. The older homies had hella bodies, and them the ones that we idolized, I’m set trippin’ til my death day, there ain’t no way that I can compromise, it’s auto switches on the G-lock, 1 up top ahk got them b*tches modified, and I ain’t f*cking with them other niggas,  if you my brother nigga, better be down to ride.”

Berner is out here like the Bay Area rap game Greg Popovich, happily staying under the radar while shrewdly coaching up and getting the best out of his players with his A&R wizardry. I definitely feel like I’m getting a second wind to complete my journey through every Berner project after this one.

P.S., according to Wikipedia, Berner also has his own line of hemp-infused water called Hemp20, this guy just doesn’t stop.