Rome Clientel – The Empire 2: The Battlegrounds (2012)

Artist: Rome Clientel

Album: The Empire 2: The Battlegrounds

Source: DharmicX

Traclisting:

1. The Glass House
2. Free
3. The Crisis
4. Gone Too Long (ft. Devon Wright)
5. Chips Fall
6. My Inner War
7. Betta Luv Em’
8. You Want War
9. One Life To Live (ft. Reks)
10. Troubled Child

Note:

Rome Clientel’s art is a demonstration of what is good with hip hop right now.  With his new project, The Empire 2: The Battlegrounds EP, Rome Clientel takes big beats and grimy bars up-a-notch. Thus giving you Golden Era flavor with new school flow and vocabulary.  The intangibles (ie his baritone voice) are an asset that can’t be ignored.

My Inner War, produced by Kount Fif, reminds me of a Kool G Rap song.  As a matter of fact, Rome’s flow and voice slightly resemble the aforementioned. The big drums, the piano keys, and the subtle feminine vocal sample make this song eerily hard, as in a horror movie going on in the streets.  But the track is the perfect opportunity to check out Clientel’s flow and verbiage:

I’m the last of my pedigree / Some say dying breed / But I’m full recognizable just like I’m Siamese / Some will bite the hands that feeds em’ / Other dying saying please / It’s the reason I have enemies / And why they try and squeeze / How we used to be closer than the legs on centipedes / Til’ they see a little shine and forget they were friends of me…

This EP is filled with verses of similar ilk which is certainly appropriate when given the title of the project, The Battlegrounds.  Rome Clientel delivers bars in devastatingly and orderly fashion like a Roman Legion.  One song, that summons that imagery is the Parks produced, You Want War which we featured here not that long ago.  The intro makes you think that you are going to battle the forces of evil and essentially that’s what Clientel does, challenging anyone who thinks they can do it better, and those who consider themselves to be emcees.

One Life To Live has Rome Clientel and fan favorite, Reks, teaming up to take no shorts over a super live ATG production.   The production by ATG is uptempo and high energy, but the vocal sample he uses really makes the whole song.   And usually, when Reks does a guest spot, you can forget it.  He usually outshines whoever else is on the track but on this joint the two emcees both deliver strong verse of equal measure.  Rome’s verse speaks on a personal front as to why he endures the eternal punishment of being an emcee.  his love of hip hop has given him a tough skin so he can pursue his music.

The Empire 2: The Battlegrounds is chocked full of verses and beats that will remind you of how some of the OGs of this rap shit did it.  Rome Clientel delivers ten times out of ten on these tracks.  He’s bringing that street hardened, battle tested mentality to the microphone. The production is solid throughout, if not considered exceptional in some places.  This is definitely a release that hip hop heads will be able to sink their teeth (ears) into.