Brooklyn, New York City, sometime in the seventies. A cheeky boy wanders through the block, corners at the store and picks fights with the real big boys. What’s played at home is Al Green and Minnie Riperton, scratching and sampling is done by and with mom’s records. The story begins. Five solo albums and more than three decades later, Masta Ace goes back and tells the story all over again. About hanging with the Juice Crew, about his beginnings as a rapper and about escapades on tour. Young Ace shares his groupies with Big Daddy Kane and travels the world with his homies. His heart stays in Brooklyn. Once again, Masta Aca takes us by the hand and on a walk through his past; maybe there’s no other MC who can describe the surroundings as vividly and at times it is as if the listener is actually walking by their side. The album’s soundscape is made of dusty samples and sluggish drums by none other than DOOM.
The beats on his »Special Herbs«-series, which Ace partly used for »MA DOOM«, inspired him to write again. Of course, the musical exchange took part mostly one-sidedly. Ace waited for a single line by the Supervillain for such a long time that he even started to complain on Twitter, but in the end, Ace got a small homage by the Brain on the album. DOOM’s rapping skills might evoke different opinions, but hearing Masta Ace again in all his brilliance makes up for it all, including the fact that there’s actually little new on »MA DOOM«. We know all the stories about the hood in real-time from »Sittin’ on Chrome« and »Disposable Arts«. It is said that the masc-weirdo’s recycled beats all came into being at herbal beat-sessions with a shelf full of O.S.T.-records. That’s why there are numerous nostalgic references for nerds of the fictitious arts, but no actual customized Ace-pieces. But then again, the project started out as a mixtape, anyway. »MA DOOM« is not the successor of »A Long Hot Summer«, even less of »Disposable Arts«. Additionally, the record doesn’t try to reestablish Masta Game in the New Yorker Rap-game between Joey Bada$$ and A$ap Rocky. It was a purely personal motivation which made him create this new album. »MA DOOM« is dedicated to his mother, who died of cancer a few years ago. It’s a tribute to the person who introduced Masta Ace to music. This way, Masta Ace defends his standing as the master of storytelling and as one of the most unrecognized MCs of all times. But mostly, as the son of Yvonne.
FaltyDL
In The Wake Of Wolves
Central Processing Unit