Matt Maddox – Righteous Fury (2014)

Artist: Matt Maddox

Album: Righteous Fury (Amazon, iTunes)

Tracklisting:

1. No Country For Old Men produced by Engineer
2. Interlude produced by Sultan Mir
3. Sick & Tired cuts by TMB produced by Sultan Mir
4. BARbarians ft Godilla, UG & Born Unique produced by Hellzwind
5. Work ft Mina Fedora produced by Skammadix
6. El Mariachi produced by Nemesis
7. The Get Back ft King Magnetic produced by Skammadix
8. Comedy Pt 1 produced by Skammadix
9. Murder Weapons ft Swann Cuts by TMB produced by C Lance (of Jedi Mind Tricks)
10. Spider Man ft Adlib & Reef The Lost Cauze produced by Vanderslice
11. Mjolnir ft Burke the Jurke Cuts by TMB produced by C Lance (of Jedi Mind Tricks)
12. King Killer produced by Sicknature (of Germany’s Snowgoons)
13. Olympus Has Fallen Cuts by TMB produced by Hellzwind
14. Upon A Pale Horse ft Edd Bundy Cuts by TMB produced by the UK’s Edd Bundy
15. Comedy Pt 2 produced by Skammadix
16. A Time To Kill Cuts by TMB produced by Hellzwind
17. Street Art ft Tragedy Khadafi Cuts by TMB produced by Skammadix
18. Reality’s a Bitch produced by Skammadix
19. Show Must Go On produced by Nemesis

Note:

Some albums ease a listener into the moment, while others grab you by the throat and demand your attention.  Righteous Fury, the most recent album from Matt Maddox, is going to fall in the latter category.  From the instant you hear the first cut. you are both engaged and threatened by what you hear.   You are threatened because, from the jump, you find out that Maddox is not going to be mincing words and he will name names of those siting on the pedestals.  He has thrown ‘today’s hip hop’ on it’s head and as a listener you can not remove the headphones, you become obligated to listen to this release from start to finish.

The first track, No Country For Old Men, lets you know from the jump, that Maddox is not meant for this era of rap.  He resents the pop-hop culture, the skinny jeans era, and most of all, a dereliction of skills and dues.  This my friends is the precise definition of ‘body bag rap’.   There is a savagery in his voice when he lets these lyrics fly in the face of a dope Engineer beat:

I had Wu-Tang, Rakim, Big L , KRS, and Nas / These kids have Niki Manaj in fluorescent bras / Went from Big, Kris The Teacher / To  Wiz Khalifa, twisting reefa / Jacking Jim Hendrix’s features /Guess to each his own, but when you own each / Ain’t hard to see how you’re marketing to cloned sheep

If there was ever a nail that was hit on the head with a lyric you can refer to this quotable above.

Sick and Tired, is produced by Sultan Mir.   He puts his own twist on the same sample that Xzibit used in his first single, Paparazzi.   Just by virtue of using that sample, knowing that older heads are going to instantly recognize it, it does two things:  1) It instantly throws us back to the Golden Era of hip hop 2) The song has a high standard to live up to

Both Sultan Mir and Matt Maddox live up to the expectations.  Each putting their own unique flavor, making the track more contemporary and giving it much more angst.  Maddox uses the song as a cathartic moment to get the weights of the world off of his chest.

This is album is laden with dope guest spots and producers, and it would be impossible to address every nuance of every tack.  But consider this:  The album features production from from C-Lance, Skammadix, Sicknature, Engineer and Vanderslice.  The guest features include King Magnetic, Reef The Lost Cause, UG, Godilla, Adlib, and Tragedy Khadafi.  That is a top notch guest list.  But regardless of all of these dope features, what you will summarize from this album is how ill Matt Maddox is on his own merits.  His aggressive delivery and flow coupled with his great punches means that he can go line for line with any emcee on this release.

If I could use one word to describe this album it would be, relentless.  The beats and bars are…relentless. Each thump of the snare and each phrase uttered is a constant reminder of what hip hop should be in this day and age.  Righteous Fury (name very appropriate) is an album that serves a matter of retribution for anyone who has devalued what hip hop is today.   I can unequivocally stand behind the man’s message and his skill.