A collaborative EP between Black Soprano Family members Benny the Butcher and Connecticut emcee Fuego Base, “Ashes In The Safe” is proof that sometimes a small plate of food will suffice. Both the album’s front cover visuals and title imply such extreme wealth that they can afford it if their money were to literally burn. There’s also chemistry between Base and Benny since, between the two of them, they share an abundance of experience and lived street tales with vivid details in their boastful raps. What also works in their favor is their ear for beats, striking a counterbalance between polished and grimy here. In nine tracks, “Ashes In The Safe” is a strictly B$F affair, no Griselda.
The John Sparks-produced intro consists of various noises from city landscapes and bars from Benny and Base, sampled into a back-and-forth configuration. “Sundial” is the song that truly kicks things off. Harlem Zone and Nyckles Productionz laced the beat (as well as tracks four through six) with an airy piano sample looped with bass and boom-bap snares. Base’s cadence and rhyme schemes sound like a laid back Jadakiss, but without ripping from the latter. “Pyrex & Prayers” is a solo Fuego Base track, with him rapping two verses and handling the hook over Jamar Johnson’s string-based production.
“Like It Is” has a pitched piano sample over some menacing bass and drums, with Base and Benny providing loose crime narratives with a sampled voice in the background proclaiming, “These are the real Sopranos.” Base begins the first verse on the Reverend X-sampling “Rev X” and laces his verse with standout wordplay such as “There’s new dishes on my pallet, I’m loving Italian / You never caught a charley horse while you fucking a stallion.” Fellow B$F member Sule raps the second verse, and Benny encapsulates all three emcees’ aim to destroy the track with this line: “Real Soprano shit, me and Sule locked / And me and Base got a competition going / To see who dope can make they face lock.” There’s an epic orchestral sound that makes “The Fighting Irish” very cinematic as Benny and Base rap about their strokes of good luck.
“Big Shirley”, a reference to Cole’s unseen girlfriend from the ‘90s sitcom “Martin”, is another Fuego solo track as he provides semi-autobiographical pop culture referencing raps over LT Beats’ production such as “Shot my shot like Cartwright, I had bad form.” Philly emcee OT the Real has two appearances on the album, giving his gruff flow to the album’s closer “Castellammarese War”. He begins the raps over Nickel Plated’s menacing piano-driven beat. Of all the album’s productions, this one bumps the hardest because of the drums. He’s also featured on the EP’s single “Warehouse 4”, produced by High Honors. Also featuring fellow B$F member Rick Hyde, all four rappers spit like their rent money is due:
For once, I don’t care about the length of an EP. With “Ashes In The Safe”, Benny and Base brought enough filling material in this small dish without it becoming filler. Though Benny is overall consistent and has one-up on Base lyrically, it’s the latter who had more shine on this outing, holding down mic duties alone on two tracks. But nonetheless, “Ashes In The Safe” is a strong sign that listeners will receive more joint material from Benny and Base in future releases.