Artist: Moe Green
Album: Lionheart EP
Source: 2DopeBoyz
Tracklisting:
- Grind Season (prod. by Bedrock)
- Zeus (prd. by BK Beats)
- All The Money In The World (ft. Nio the Gift) (prod. by Johnny Juliano)
- Iced Out Lifestyle (prod. by Indecent The Slapmaster)
- Image Interlude
- Extra Extra (prod. by Ca$h Martin)
- Masterpiece (prod. by BMore Redd)
- Deja Vu (prod. by Rob-E)
- OWTB (prod. by DJ Flow)
- Dreamin’ (ft. Amy Serrata) (prod. by Bedrock)
Moe Green caught my ears with his Rocky Maiavia project a few months ago and I always keep my ears open for anymore of his music. Thusly, I caught wind of his latest, Lionheart. I quickly gave it a listen and the whole project proves to be noteworthy…again. Moe Green has become the epitome of consistancy. He never drops anything less than a dope project.
Usually I prefer the beats that knock and look for producers that I am really familiar with. Lionheart is not on some ol’ boom bap shit but the production is nonetheless hot. It is at times subtle and at other points it is a little more demonstrative. Green seems to have a good ear for dope instrumentation to rhyme over.
What I really feel from this album/EP is Moe Green’s flow and style. He’s not flipping heavy vocab, but he seems so at ease on the mic. Lionheart is a really easy listen. All the tracks are above average and some of them can simply be qualified by the term, ‘blazing’.
I am going to do something really different. Usually I talk about tracks from an album in the order they occur but this album ends so strong that I wanted to talk about three of the tracks that closed out the album.
Masterpiece certainly lives up to it’s title. Bmore Redd really laces a nice beat for Moe Green to spit over. It leads off with keys and then transcends into a funky head nodder. It’s amazing that something as simple as a synth loop can really prove to be the added touch that makes that production bump. Moe Green then proves on a lyrical basis that he is ready to take his life as an artist to the next level. Check some of his bars…
“…smile like Kerri, but her ass like Beyonce / OG swag say’ she know were my where my mom stay / So for Halloween she my queen. I’m Delonte”
“…bow to your sensei / running from the Green, rappers getting Kunta Kinte…”
On the track Deja Vu, Rob-E utilizes a familiar sample and gives this track a very ethereal feel. It’s mellow but yet it draws you into the story that Moe Green narrates. The first verse tells the story of a dysfunctional relationship. The second verse, in turn, tells of his come up and survival in the midst of chaos. Moe Green asserts that cooler heads will prevail. It’s a dope track thru and thru. One of those jams that people relate to and bring artists and fans closer together.
OWTB is a slow paced track put together by DJ Flow. The track is heavy on the bass which makes it bump in the ride, but there are other subtleties that make the production special. There is the twang of what feels like a funk guitar and some keys in there that are incorporated flawlessly within the drum pattern. The song’s content deals in what most of Moe Green’s contemporaries deem to be success in the game (ie money, cars, clothes, and hoes) and how he tries to avoid that mentality. But it gets difficult when you see your people as the have-nots and you can’t provide them with the things they want.
All together, I like what Moe Green brings to the table with Lionheart. The project embraces both dope production and lyrical talent alike. People often refer to the times they heard their favorite artists when they were hungry. Well, this is how I view Moe Green. He is hungry. He is intelligent and has a nice flow, but it’s the hunger that may separate him from the pack. From the moment you hear the intro to the last cut you just have the feeling that this man is going to leave an indelible impression on hip hop as we know it.
Hip Hop Dependency 