Album Review: Roc Marciano – Reloaded | WELCOME TO THE HIP-HOP CAFE

Originality: 4/5

Beats: 4/5

Impact: 2/5

Overall: 4/5

Let me start off by saying Reloaded is the best rap album this year. Roc Marciano reminds most people of a young Raekwon with the way he flows and plays with words, also a little bit of a Mobb Deep feel to his music. If you into that mafioso, gangsta, gritty grimy rap this is the album for you, Roc brings a 90s feel to his music (hence the comparison to Raekwon and Mobb Deep) so if you are in need of gangsta rap this is the album to check out. Reloaded is highly anticipated for the fact that the scene of mafioso rap craving this presence and intricate wordplay. His cinematic wordplay and lo-fi production meshed excellent in this album, from the first words said in the first track to the last if you ain’t know his name you’d think you listening to a young Raekwon.

This album is cold, gloomy perfect winter time crime music. If you listen to this in the NYC subways you’ll immediately want to hit anyone that looks at you wrong and the rob them. This album is filled with supreme storytelling, drugs, murder, witty and gritty rhymes, this album paints a picture of the 90s in NYC while drug dealing. His first LP Marcberg and now Reloaded sound similar, in Marcberg he used produced every track but on Reloaded he had help from Q-Tip and Alchemist so it made it that much better, the album flows perfectly the rhymes, beats and samples fit in flawlessly giving you a little vision of how everything was back then. Both his LP’s could’ve been released in 1993 and made some noise that’s how good these albums are. Reloaded has so many quotable lines its ridiculous “We flipped the hard still And watched you cartwheel Parked the Civil on the dark hill Feel the wind chill The pill of imbecile like Seal Blood out the pen spill I chill by the window sill Think about mils I’m on a no frills, niggas heels The dillingers reveal but not on film” his rhyme scheme is flawless as you can see with the wordplay and thought provoking lines. “Sip the henney without the chaser, piss on the city from the skyscraper Face your fears, your prayers fell on deaf ears I parked the yacht by the pier and shot the deer My bitch rock the weird Moncler, resemble Pam Grier My vision is clear, I sip the Everclear“. Those are lines from Thugs Prayer pt. 2. “Pull out the fast European cab, crab Call it the cooler, I’m basically a jeweler You tryna fool a consumer Cubic zirconia, I copped the gold in Mongolia Spoke harmonies at the podium” he says the flyest shit and makes you paint a picture of his bars, hes a cinematic rapper each couple of lines will have you imagining those times or movies that relate to it. “Foreign exports, dress boards, select the escort That was just a fresh thought Ralph Lauren tee, the Porsche Jeep come with the warranty Performance fee worth a quarter key Let the mink drape, drink the grapes behind the gates The G5 skate, apply grace Tongue kiss a fifth, I wrap your bitch up like a gift This must be how it feel to reel in fish” Marc is a lyrical genius that is terribly underrated, he was part of Flipmode squad and a lot of people don’t know that but know he on his own dropping quotables like no other.

The lyrics and production were great and fit with each other flawlessly, each track paints a picture and the skits and the beginning and end of songs are great. He has perfect flow and is one of the best storytelling rappers in the game now, Young Chef (as i call him) is one of the best unrecognized rappers, extremely lyrically gifted but sadly wont get any recognition in this era of rap but more than likely he’ll settle anonymity and have the real will relate and listen to his work. His music doesn’t have hooks or high uptempo beats so it wont be played on the radio, so if that’s what you’re looking for hes not the rapper for you, if you miss 90s mafioso music this is for you especially if you enjoy Raekwon and Mobb Deep body of work he is very similar to them.