By Odeisel

I can hear the jokes from cats telling their friends about this track.

“Yo, you heard that new joint?”

“Nah, What?”

“That’s Hard!”

“Pause, son!”

Makes you recall the days of The Chronic-fueled deez nuts jokes. There’s nothing funny about this leak from the Pete Rock-produced Smif-N-Wessun project. As if the brothers from Bucktown had any issues with grime, they enlisted Decepticon Sean and hard-spitting Styles P for the very gully and aptly-named, “That’s Hard.”

Pete Rock uses a dual arrangement of heavier strings on top for oomph and lighter, more agile strings in the background for motion and pacing. A banging drum forms the foundation and scratched-in smaples add the adobo to the track.

Styles P opens with a bad seed in him, resistant to religion. He’s loco and hardheaded; drawn to the streets with no attraction to the Bible or the Koran. Tek is just trying to get rich without dying or rotting in jail. Sean P owns this track with lines like “No acting, Bokeem Woodbine, Rap president, rule the world, Kurtis Blow” throughout his verse. General Steele runs the anchor leg reminiscing about when rap was real, before the Barbies and the bullshit. Each member lends a different flavor to the track and Pete Rock salutes them all with samples that recall each, at the end of the record.

The track is a no-holds-barred piece of music from a musical master and four rappers with over a decade fo history each totheir credit. Hardcore New York rap shit, without all that bringing NY back or taking it back to the essence mumbo jumbo. Gritty city rap. “That’s Hard.”
Pete Rock & Smif N Wessun “That’s Hard” feat. Styles P & Sean Price by duckdown

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