Partnering up with RJD2 to provide the beats and production Aceyalone has delivered an album that sizzles. Granted when I first listened to it I had some reservations, some vocal passages sounded underproduced, but after several listens the vocal parts are spot on with Aceyalone proving that he is nimble, able to slip in and out of double-time with each syllable as clear as the preceding one. Magnificent City stitches together several vignettes of street life interspersed with tracks about life, relationship, and requisite honorific to The Herb.
Magnificent City opens up the the funky bounce of “All For U”, setting the tone of the tracks to come. Built on a rubbery bassline, overblown horns, and double-time guitar riff Aceyalone is free to be loose and laid back with his delivery. It is a refreshing take on the braggadocio which instead of rhyming about beating down haters with spit he builds an altruistic persona who is willing to pitch in where necessary, remember the fallen, and give what he can. It is a solid opener that will get your neck loose and ready to nod to the disco tinged “Fire” that follows.
“Junior” features a hustlers bass line altering between quick walking doublebass with distortion rounding out the top and loose and fat downbeat strut all working under an ethereal choral loop that sounds like Lt. Uhura from Star Trek, and a warm flute sample. RJD2 nail the mood of Aceyalone’s story of a young street hustler who worked his way up through the streets with a quick smile, easy attitude, and sharp mind. It is an engaging story which has not gotten tired with each listen and reinforces Aceyalone’s ability to use rap as a medium for telling deep and nuanced stories in under four minutes.
From the cock rock leanings of “Heaven” to the 70’s prog rock influenced “Supahero” the partnership between Aceyalone and RJD2 is a fruitful one resulting a in a string of tracks that are strong alone but even better strung together. Magnificent City is at the top of my list for this years best albums and I hope that it also proves to be the start of more efforts between the two. Very highly recommended.