By T J Love

White artists in Hip-Hop have always had a complicated, if contentious relationship with the culture itself.  For some Caucasian emcees and more prevalent among their often rabidly loyal fans of the same persuasion, there’s a  near-constant dynamic of voyeurism, appropriation, and a mindset that willfully and stubbornly either refuses to acknowledge, respect, or conveniently forget, where this music comes from.  When he’s not busy being cast in Ben Affleck movies(Gone Baby Gone and The Town) Beantown-bred Slaine is an individual whose authenticity, motivation, and reverence is decidedly not in question.  His music career was instigated by a chance meeting with the legendary MC Shan which led to an encounter with House Of Pain’s DJ Lethal.  Subsequently, he discovered the Black Hebrew Israelite sect Great Millstone and released two controversial mixtapes The White Man is The Devil volumes 1 and 2 and formed a group, Special Teamz, with respected Boston veteran Edo G and fellow native Jaysaun.

Despite a discography of mixtapes and collaborations more than ten releases deep The Boston Project is only his second official LP.  Ostensibly it’s a solo record but the name is apt as Slaine enlists a slew of Boston’s best unknown and unsigned talent and uses his album as an opportunity to wake up those who have criminally slept on the Hip-Hop from the City On The Hill.  Slaine only rides solo on the first song of the 17 track project while the balance of The Boston Project features over twenty emcees. Surprisingly it works, beautifully at that.  One gets the sense that all who participated in the album knew what was at stake and brought their best to help accomplish Slaine’s mission.  The production duties are handled by Lu Balz, who held it down on this project more than chronic depression.

Slaine has been blessed with a characteristic that most rappers would kill for: a genuinely dope voice with a character as gravelly as Doc Rivers and as raspy as Jadakiss.   Combine those features with pretty good,  occasionally even brilliant bars, and an excellent intuition for cadence, and Slaine is a captivating dude to listen to.  For their part, Slaine’s goon squad of spitters ride shotgun with him as captain of the ship, not only ravenously ripping mics but providing an inside view  of Boston the public doesn’t know about;  everyday life in the projects and grimy streets of Irish ethnic enclaves.

Nothing But Business feat. BR and V Knuckles, is a banger that manages to be ominous, dark, and bouncy at the same time. V Knuckles goes in on the track with a rhyme style reminiscent of Young Zee, spitting rewind-worthy compound rhyme patterns.

Who’s nastier?/no one spit the news raspier/I chew half of ya/my crew’s after ya, massacre /in the street makin’ cake flip, no spatula/passenger, in the Acura/ with a after puff/laugin’ but ain’t nothin’ funny but the money/I’m hungry,you  gimme counterfeit you taking from me/I throw your ass off a fucking bridge and cut the bungee/spit a lungy from my tummy on your corpse you fucking dummy…”

Damn.

Lu Bangz keeps your ears in a submission hold with Bloodthirsty feat. 357 and Phinelia, ingeniously incorporating a Catholic choral sample and throwing it over neck snapping drums, intermittent piano chords, and guitar licks.  There’s a lot going on with the beat and in the hands of another beatsmith all the individual elements present would make for a final product that sounds overproduced, but Lu Bangz is a talented arranger and The Boston Project benefits greatly from his acumen.

There’s  so many joints on this project full of lyrical mayhem but one of the illest posse cuts in 2013, period, is Bible Pages feat. Big Kurt, Shizz Vicious, Lateb, Moroney, and one of my frontrunners for emcee of the year, Esoteric.  Slaine changes up his flow a bit with a quasi-double time delivery on Bad Guy feat. Millyz and Smoke Bulga, with Lu Bangz on the production tip actually crafting a Dirty South beat that’s sounds better than most stuff actually from the south. The fact that the beat goes so hard actually helps the emcees step comfortably out of their comfort zone style-wise and excel.

If Slaine’s goal was to bring some shine to the top notch talent in Boston while further establishing himself as an artist in his own right The Boston Project is a rousing success.  Normally when an artist has a lot of guest stars it’s traditionally viewed as a mark against them, but Slaine is a sizeable presence on any track he’s on, his bars are on point, and there’s no mistaking that this is his labor of love.  Producer Lu Bangz also deserves kudos for the serious work he put in because his level of craftsmanship on the beats likely inspired everybody who graced a track to give it their all.  If there’s one thing that’s readily apparent, no matter how many Ben Affleck movies Slaine winds up in, it’s that he makes hip hop for fans of hip hop, not people who don’t even listen to rap. He doesn’t have to make a song like White Privilege because it’s apparent in his art that he respects the architects.  Real recognize real.

3.75 Out of 5

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