‘As You Sow So Shall You Reap‘ is the latest studio album from Recognize Ali, as he continues to demonstrate his drive and dedication to the craft. Not only does Rec drop a multitude of music, but he always manages to find a way to deliver his message, concept and showcase his thoughts in a crafty and creative way. This latest project, has all the elements of his largely successful formula – dope beats, cohesiveness of project and some rewind worthy bars that make you stay connected to the lyrical prowess as well as nodding your head to the boom bap production. Clocking in at 12 tracks and around the 30 minute mark, it is a project that hits the mark in terms of providing the more astute hip hop heads something significant to dive in to, but also those who experience their hip hop in a more casual manner, a project to bump in their rotation.
The intro ‘Build Or Destroy‘ uses a Franklin Saint (Snowfall) speech to kick things off, before it’s a menacing score hitting those headphones for ‘Toasters’ and Rec’s gruff flow immediately captures your attention, riding over the progressing guitar riff to spit some ‘king of the jungle’ bars. A more traditional boom bap track is next for ‘Neighbourhood Grim Reaper‘ which is home to more bully bars as Rec kills the track and D-Styles slices up some samples on the wheels. It’s a head nodder no doubt, an anthem to bump while you’re riding around the hood, before ‘Fish Stew‘ takes a more minimalist approach on the production tip and Rec gets to spitting that full force, bully bars that slap the speakers around.
‘Slay‘ is a nefarious tune, the guitar just echoing throughout, providing an evil undertone for some crafty keys to tap dance on the top. Rec does his thing, and DJ Grazzhoppa really makes a statement with his cuts on this joint, creating another banging soundtrack for life. Tony Mundo starts ‘Veteranos‘ off with his silky flow over an instrumental that is once again, a more tame, soul infused product from J Blunted. Then Recognize Ali takes over, spitting a mixture of facts, bravado bars, introspective angles which culminates in an honest and authentic, emotion-infused track.
As the title ‘Death Machine‘ insinuates, this isn’t a laid back, easy going kind of joint! The horns are triumphant, but things turn dark and moody when Rec gets on the mic and starts to spitting that ghetto gospel and the keys tickle away in the background. The hook closes the door on everything! ‘Business Never Personal‘ is a more deliberately delivered track, the drums are crisp and melodic which emphasise the anthrax that Rec is spitting on the mic, before the energy is ramped back up on ‘Day Of Reckoning‘ and some killer cuts and samples featuring D-Styles. There is still very much a palpable energy on this joint as it shakes those speakers.
‘As A Man Soweth‘ we get a more soul-infused, almost gospel sounding track that allows Recognize Ali to take the pulpit and speak his social commentary in the form of heartfelt hip hop lyricism. ‘Spin Outs‘ is a more grimey track, the production is really murky and menacing which is perfectly suited to the gruff and rugged flow of Rec, before the album reaches its conclusion with ‘The Genocider‘, an upbeat, boom bap banger, that really pops and closes out the project with a real sense of purpose and energy. DJ Tray gets busy on this one, cutting the wheels up perfectly to really make this track pop and that horn infusion really snaps!
Overall, it’s yet another fantastic offering from Recognize Ali. It’s nothing that we haven’t seen or heard from him before, but when you have a track record of producing high quality, replay worthy, well curated hip hop projects – then we always want more of that! Rec is still razor sharp with his pen, and his beat choice remains on point, which makes ‘As You Sow So Shall You Reap‘ another must-add to the collection.
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