Rochester, NY rapper\/producer 38 Spesh (born Justin Harrell) certainly knows how to keep himself musically occupied. From the mid-2000s to now, Spesh has released over three dozen projects, both in solo outings and collaborative efforts. Fairly recently, he\u2019s made rounds with controversial comments about veteran emcees, particularly Jadakiss. Whether he\u2019s issuing an actual challenge to Kiss or just making those comments to plug his latest album is unknown. Who knows? It could be both. But either way, it\u2019s free promotion for Spesh as he dropped \u201c8 Shots\u201d not too long ago. Though an established double threat behind both the mic and the boards, Spesh loosened up the reigns over the latter for this album, relegating himself as producer of little over a third of the twelve total tracks.<\/p>\n
The album begins with \u201cFree Game\u201d laced by Bernard Woodside. A victorious-sounding production with female vocals crooning in the background, Spesh raps a semi-autobiographical verse condensing his transition from a no-name to a somebody. The bass line on \u201cThe Main Line\u201d is the standout aspect of the TrickyTrippz production. Method Man is featured on the hook only, though a single verse from him wouldn\u2019t have hurt. 38 Spesh & Rooq lace the beat for the more low-key \u201cUsed 2\u201d, a short account of 38 Spesh still being able to get paid even in changing times. TrickyTrippz uses some tricks up his sleeve for \u201cBe the Best\u201d, a dramatic soundscape with cinematic elements for Spesh to spit grimy, but uplifting rhymes over.<\/p>\n
TrickyTrippz provides some vintage strings for \u201cTrust Us\u201d featuring Ransom & Smooth Haynes. Ransom comes with the toughest verse, but when Haynes began the second verse, both his cadence and delivery had me thinking I was listening to Cormega. The self-produced \u201cSpeshal\u201d is described as an interlude, but it\u2019s not exactly that. It\u2019s a means for Spesh to spit some boastful rhymes on how \u201cNiggas talk slick \u2019til they drip from a leaky face \/My gun big and black with a switch like T.D. Jakes.\u201d The slurred sound on \u201cHeavy Burden\u201d is ridden nicely by Spesh, who wastes no time in dropping punchline-laden bars in his first verse. Produced by TrickyTrippz, guest rapper Dave East comes in with a determined flow packed with internal rhyme schemes. This album was released in late May, which is considered Mental Health Month. Perhaps that\u2019s what inspired the LT Beats-laced \u201cMental Health\u201d. Along with Buffalo emcee Ch\u00e9 Noir, Spesh explores the stress and pressures of street-level figures and how their mental welfare is forgotten about more often than not:<\/p>\n
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The psychedelic bass-heavy lush production on \u201cGreat Wall\u201d is courtesy of Spesh himself. Featuring a verse from Curtis Coke, he spits with the ferocity of one who\u2019s been at different levels of street hustling. The M.Otheproducer-laced \u201cRenovations\u201d is without drums and contains a guitar-synth backdrop as Spesh uses the concept of renovation to describe how he gained the ill-gotten means to do so. There\u2019s a foreboding production on \u201cCold War\u201d provided by Moose Tarantino. Busta Rhymes is featured and spits a longer verse than Spesh, capping his off with \u201cThirty-five years a body, but still been killin\u2019 \u2019em recently \/ Disintegrate these niggas to particles, they ask for leniency (Leniency) \/ Pardon God, I\u2019m only bein\u2019 me (Bein\u2019 me). \u201cEverything\u201d closes out the album with \u2018everything\u2019 (specifically, the beat and rhymes) done by Spesh. Most of \u201c8 Shots\u201d contains the word \u201ctrust\u201d dropped in the lyrics, as promoting Spesh\u2019s label or something else entirely. But in any case, with \u201c8 Shots\u201d, 38 Spesh continues to be a staple in hardcore east coast street raps.<\/p>\n
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38 Spesh :: 8 Shots<\/p>\n
7Overall Score<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rochester, NY rapper\/producer 38 Spesh (born Justin Harrell) certainly knows how to keep himself musically occupied. From the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146,85,46,409],"class_list":["post-537530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}