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Mozzy – Boys II Men
This ‘Boyz To Men’ off the new Mozzy album absolutely knocks. This beat is hard as fuck and Mozzy’s flow is perfect for it. But after the way Mozzy made magic over that Mario sample in ‘Big Homie from the Hood‘, I can’t be the only one that saw this title on the tracklist and was hoping it was Mozz flowing over a smooth Boyz II Men sample, am I right?
I think I’ve mentioned this before, but before I made this site, Mozzy was probably my favorite rapper of 2015/2016. Then for whatever reason I kind of moved on and wasn’t as into some of his material over the next year or two. But lately Mozzy has been back with an absolute vengeance. Big Homie from the Hood is probably my favorite song of the year so far (yeah I know, December 2019 but still) and this album is really good. I love this one, the aforementioned Big Home, and the surprisingly introspective ‘I Ain’t Perfect’. (Was not expecting to hear the line ‘Compassion for the homeless cause they’ve been through enough’ from anybody I listen to but Mozzy makes it work.) There are a couple of other bangers that I’m sure I’ll add to that list to after a few more listens. I’d go as far as to say that between the quality of the album and his recent songs, the increased mainstream attention/buzz he seems to finally be getting, and his history/track record, as well as the step up in material he’s taking on in this album, Mozzy seems to be making a pretty credible run for the (always up for discussion/unofficial) crown as king of the West Coast. In a lot of ways it seems that Mozzy is taking a Nipsey type turn in terms of subject matter and becoming more concerned about the youth, his community, business etc. and I think he would be proud of this album.
“Suckers on the Gram with blammies they tell them to use them. My brother’s brother just paroled, family reunion. I know 100 niggas broke that ain’t selling the toolage. Pink 50’s is looking crispy the 100s is blue in. My location is the ghetto I’m bomfortably booling. The Crips love me on the beat they fuck with the movement.”
“If they threatened you with life would you crack on your goon? I tend to whisper when I feel there’s a rat in the room.”
“How you put the homies on but let your brother starve? That nigga Bob was taking trips inside his mother’s car. It’s Oak Park 4-5 forever fuck a star. 30 P’s inside a duffel, this 100 large.”
Besides the ‘Big Homie From The Hood’, which absolutely knocks and was a late write-in for (one of the) best tracks from 2019, I’m personally more a fan of the album’s opener, Unethical & Deceitful. Had hoped for more from Pricetag, but it is what it is. Also, Mozzy should keep doing his own hooks. I don’t like the songs where his guests are the ones singing the hooks, such as Can’t Let You Go and So Lonely. Overall, IMO quite an uneven effort but as long as Mozzy keeps knocking out a few good songs per project, I’m not complaining.
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Yohan, thanks for reading and your comment. I know, I really wish Big Homie from the Hood didn’t come out in like mid-December because it would have been high on my list for best songs of 2019 too, I’ll still probably include it this year though. That is probably Mozzy’s best song since Bladadah in my opinion and Bladadah is my favorite Mozzy song. Big Homie from the Hood is a great combination of such a fire beat and such real, deep subject matter and great lyrics.
I feel like Mozzy’s storytelling and imagery are always on point and you see that on this album, but he also seems to have taken a step up in terms of some of the subject matter/themes he’s approaching. It’s interesting because he hasn’t turned into a full-on conscious rapper obviously or anything like that but he appears to be spending more time thinking about his community, his legacy, the weight that comes with being ‘the big homie’ and your whole hood relying on you etc. This album seems to kind of catch him at a crossroads in life.
Yeah I was kind of underwhelmed by Pricetag on this tbh it didn’t really do much for me. I have to give Unethical and Deceitful another listen, lyrically it was really strong but I didn’t love the beat/sample I’ll give it another try though off your recommendation.
I’m with you re the hooks, Mozzy should do more of his own, for a while I feel like he was becoming an underrated hook-smith on other people’s songs but not so much anymore. Yeah I like Shordie Shordie but the hook didn’t do much for me here.
Yeah overall there was some filler on this project so like you said, somewhat uneven but as long as he knocks a few out of the park we can’t complain, which in reality is about all we can realistically expect out of a full-lenght album these days it seems like. At 41 minutes, I’m happy to get a few slaps that I know will have staying power for me. I really liked this one, Big Homie from the Hood, I Ain’t Perfect and can see myself adding those to my playlists for years in the future and I also liked Bulletproofly, and the Homies Want to Know.
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