Shady Blaze + Squadda B- Shady Bambino (Green Ova, 2011)
Green Ova’s rise to power continues with this tape, the newest from the collective. Squadda produces, Shady raps here. And when I say he raps, I mean he murders these tracks with ferocious and dexterous double-time raps. Squadda’s production here is a bit more varied than the druggy, psychedelic beats he threw out on the excellent I Smoke Because I Don’t Care About Death solo tape from a couple weeks ago: not only are his effervescent, glimmering vocal-based tracks evident, there are also some legitimate slappers on here, and a couple tracks that successfully combine both elements (“Chillin On the Turf” might be the album highlight).
Everything from this collective just sounds tighter and more assured of itself than it did in 2010. While they had already developed a pretty fully formed sound last year, this year there seems to be a lot more focus and ability to realize that sound. While they are still releasing an enormous amount of content, almost all of it is worth checking for. Squadda’s ISBIDCAD and now Shady Bambino definitely stand as two of the best tapes released already this early year.
-Flex
