#jake one

I have always respected Russ’s independent grind as he pretty much writes, produces and engineers himself completely independently and found a lot of his early success from releasing a song on Soundcloud every week for 3 years. The first time I heard him was What They Want which is still one of his biggest hits. I like that song but I still was never the biggest Russ fan as I never really cared for his sing-songy music and didn’t love his melodies. Even though I haven’t paid much attention to his music other than when he first blew, I never understood all the hate surrounding his music. Russ has been the rapper that is cool to hate on, similar to how J. Cole, Logic and Eminem are viewed for some reason. I think people hate on Russ because he is so braggadocios about his independent success and probably because he is a white rapper too. Last year, Russ put out a 5-song EP called Chomp which featured him raping alongside KXNG Crooked, Ab-Soul, Busta Rhymes, Benny The Butcher and Black Thought over production from DJ Premier, The Alchemist, 9th Wonder, and Russ himself. That EP caught my attention as I love every single one of those names that Russ collaborated with and that project was very good. It was good enough to make me go back and check out Russ’s other projects but I just wasn’t really loving them. The ZOO album I thought was pretty good though. Chomp 2 is made in the fashion of the first one, with an absolutely stacked lineup of rappers and producers only it is a full-length album. The rappers and producers that Russ got for this album are so good that that was pretty much the sole reason I listened to it and what made me want to review it and I am glad I did because this album is really good. Russ really came with his A-game on this album and I felt like I got a much better idea of him as a rapper and how skilled he actually is and his skill level is high as he gave up so many great one-liners throughout this whole album. The highlights on this album definitely are the features but I did like the songs where Russ raps by himself. Sheep did a good job setting the tone and Golden was an even better closer, not to mention how great those beats from Jake One and Boi-1da are. At first I wasn’t sure what to think of the Russ beat on Bucket Hat Low but I immediately loved it as soon as Papoose started absolutely murdering the beat. His rhyme schemes were crazy on that song, not to mention his actual bars. Russ came right after with one of his best verses on the album. One of Russ’s better verses on the album is on the song Faith, featuring Jadakiss and is also produced by Russ. This is the best he has flowed on the whole album too. This album is very minimal when it comes to hooks which I like because it keeps the very freeform lyricist vibe of the album consistent, as well as making the songs better because Russ’s melodic hooks are actually the thing that makes some songs less enjoyable. Faith had a great hook but I really did not like some of the hooks like on Nothin New, which is a shame because I liked Russ’s verse and I liked how The Game was rapping too. The same goes for Get It. I liked everything about that song except the hook. I loved CyHi’s verse and Lloyd Banks sounded great. I liked Russ’s hook on Salute a lot. I thought it fit the great 9th Wonder beat and helped break up the great features from Styles P and Westside Gunn. Another one of my favorite beats on the album is obviously Free produced by DJ Premier. I was glad to hear Big K.R.I.T. do a feature where he gets to showcase his incredible rapping ability and Snoop Dogg sounded the best he has sounded in years over this beat. He sounded so chill but compelling; that beat really brought the best out of him. Just when you think Russ got enough heavy-hitting lyricists to rap on this album, Jay Electronica hits you with a killer verse over a Harry Fraud beat. We hear Joey Bada$$ rap for the first time in a while and he kills it alongside Wale and Big Sean over a really dope boom bap beat produced by Hit-Boy. I didn’t even name all the great rappers and producers on this album but I think that is what makes this album really great. This album definitely would not be as good without the features but I think the features are the whole point of the album. The idea of Chomp is Russ showing that he wants to be recognized as a lyricist and that he is able to keep up with the best of the best over production from hip hop’s greatest producers. It is a celebration of lyricism and is set up as an album made for showing Russ’s love for the sport of rapping. He can definitely keep up with them, that is for sure.

(THE CORNER® | OPEN MANUAL AUDIO VISUAL)