There is no doubt in my mind that this Band of The Hawk crew has some of the best spitters in the game! I feel like they bring this veteran style to modern day rap music that cannot be ignored at all. Well this time around, the group gives us an album full of hot instrumentals, reminding us how important the production is to what they do as a whole. 

TOP 5

5. NO FOOLS

On No Fools, all you get are bars, as STX raps in this sly way that has him sounding like hes simply speaking some real st to his listeners. I love the cypher like vibe of the beat, and love STX willingness to let his strong Southern accent glow!

4. CURSES

Curses is that instrumental that will remind you of those chill Saturday Mornings when you were a kid in which your mother is cooking breakfast in the morning for you while you sit back and watch cartoons. It just has this nostalgic feel to it, one that i think comes a live more and more throughout. When it comes down to it, its soulful music at its finest!

3. THOSE .HOES. OVER. THERE

Did you expect a song called Those Hoes Over There to not be explosive?

Those.Hoes.Over.There really shows off the creativity in Noah Archangels sound. With the root of the beat having this vintage appeal to it, Noah lets this Foxy Brown like character sing a little, preach a little, and kill us with sass. I love how Noah allows the instrumental to be her slave in this whole ordeal, adjusting to her words while letting her black magic glow!

I feel like watching some Shaft after hearing this!<

2. FALL FOR NUTTIN

Fallin 4 Nuttin is a song that I think people will look past when they hear this album, but I think its an absolute gem! Yes it has a simple sounding beat, and both artists on the track do sound a bit dull vocally, but I think thats the beauty of the track! Its organic, and it shows us that the idea of love can actually be simplified. Call me crazy, but I really enjoy the approach!

1. BLACK LOTUS

An out of this world rap beat, tough bars, and an abundance of punchlines dominate Black Lotus.

Based off of the way each member raps on this song, you can tell there is this competitive nature that the crew has as a whole, which results in bars that stand out like Trump at a Black Lives Matter rally. At the same time, I can see this respect for each others artistry, as each member never steps on anyones toes throughout. All in all, everyone compliments each other well, and I love how all the members featured on this song has their own unique style of rapping. This is the definition of a rap collaboration to me!

SONG BY SONG BREAKDOWN

1. OLD GODS AND THE NEW (4/5)

2. JAMITQUY (4/5)

3. BLADE RUNNER (4.1/5)

4. KUNDALINI (4.4/5)

5. WENDY AND LISA (4.3/5)

6. DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE (4.3/5)

7. MOO VIEW (3.9/5)

8. TRANSPRESSIONS OF TRISMEGISTUS

9. PILLOW T@LK (4.4/5)

10. ROGUE 777

11. NEBUCHENZZAR

12. INTERMISSION (4/5)

13. THOSE.HOES.OVER.THERE (4.5/5)

14. THE WATCHMEN (4.5/5)

15. CURSES (5/5)

16. NO FOOLS (5/5)

17. JUS ENUFF (4.3/5)

18. THE MAGNIFICENT BREATH (4.5/5)

19. MILES FOR HEAD (4/5)

20. FALL 4 NUTTIn (4.8/5)

21. DIEVERGENT (3.8/5)

22. BLACK LOTUS (5/5)

OVERALL RATING

8/10

The number one thing you get from this album is versatility. Noah Archangel continues to show his impressive ability to mix together a myriad of sounds, subsequently creating a body of work that invigorates many different emotions dislodged inside you. It literally feels like he pieces together a musical puzzle with this project, something that I think is really hard to do.

Aside from the impressive instrumentals that you get on this album are some really good features. As I stated in the intro, the Band of The Hawk really understands how to infuse this old school sound into the music of today, and that results in a great mixture of hip hop sounds spanning a few generations. If you are a fan of Hip Hop, you will love every single bar they spit.

As a hip hop fan, you cannot ask for anymore than what you got on The Maschine Wars: Songs of Solomon. The Band of The Hawk continues to remind us just how beautiful and pure rap music can be, something that I think can easily be forgotten if we only focus on the music that is out today.