REVIEW: KILLER MIKE – PL3DGE

Killer Mike
Pl£dge
Grand Hustle Records

 
Atlanta is a crowded place. Home to everyone from Outkast to Soulja Boy, it can be a struggle to compete for attention and give an original voice. One man who could easily feel aggrieved is Dungeon Family affiliate, Killer Mike who has had to watch as things like Snap and tons of other bullshit have enjoyed there moment in the sun at the expense of his coke-rap Pledge Allegiance trilogy. Fortunately he hasn’t taken the route of most New York rappers and declare it the death of hip-hop, an achingly boring tactic that never hides the fact that it’s bitter resentment. Instead it’s just served to make him hungry, and for large parts of Pl3dge he finds his own lane, standing above his peers from his illustrious hometown.

The album kicks off with triumphant openers So Glorious and That’s Life sounding like southern fried Dipset, a great match for Mike’s booming delivery. They also display perfectly his strengths and his place in the ATL landscape. On the latter he laces the track with warnings of blind political allegiance and calls out corrupt preachers, while still bellowing like a disgruntled beast. This is a trick he rations well throughout the album, and shows a depth and attention that sets him apart from the average ‘trap-rapper’.

Not that the album is canvas for political diatribes, with a healthy amount of ignorance. Ready Set Go for example, with Mike’s new label boss T.I on the hook, is a world class, blacked out, trunk rattler and lyrically is an onslaught of ‘I’m the shit and you ain’t’. The track is probably the most satisfying moment on the album and finds Killer Mike at his intimidating best. When stuck in this mode he is a fearsome MC; while he may not have the most agile flow, he certainly makes up for it by sheer force.  He continues the trick on Go Out On The Town and Animal with some appropriately dumb cameos from Young Jeezy and Gucci Mane.  However, the momentum that has been built in the early stages of the album fades badly by the end.

The rest of the album plays out like a self-conscious desire to add range and comes up with ideas that simply don’t sit well with Mike’s abilities. Player’s Lullaby is an incredibly pretty song that in the right hands would be acceptably smooth, but comes off sounding confused and lethargic. Inflecting hip-hop with syrupy R&B has to be handled very carefully and on the PL3dge it’s a move that doesn’t work. Everything, complete with a misguided sample of Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, continues the frustration and serves to dampen the enthusiasm that marks the first half of the album.

The end of the album drifts off in underwhelming style, and threatens to undermine the whole. But in the exhilarating moments that precede it, Killer Mike lays down enough to stay ahead of Atlanta’s hungry chasing pack.

David Acaster

Filed under: Hip-hop, Rap, Reviews by D.K.