Los Angeles emcee/producer AFRO teams up with Boston, MA underground veteran Stu Bangas for his debut full-length studio album. After winning the Rap Flow Defining Competition, he became a protégé of RA the Rugged Man, and with the support of Duck Down Music Inc., his fifth EP AFRO produced by Marco Polo introduces himself as a promising player in the underground music scene. Rising star. Earlier this spring, I covered his self-produced ninth EP, The Drawing Board, and while I think it’s his best work to date, The Bad & the Ugly: The Goods Always Die First certainly There’s plenty of potential to surpass it.
“Hip Hop Tournament” starts with a roaring instrumental caused by a horn, addressing those who want to fight him, while “Bring Ya Best Army” brings an incredible atmosphere to the table and has people talking about his opponent Remain pristine while bringing out the best from their arsenal. “Lost Souls” discusses the titular people hovering around his character with more kick drums and snares, just before “From Dusk ‘Till Dawn,” featuring Lil D, talks brutally about the unstoppable situation .
From there, “Pay Attention” maintains a booming pace that recommends actively listening carefully as he demonstrates how it’s done, leading to “Hallucinogenz” which samples a bit of psychedelic rock with nothing but money bags in mind Nothing. “Scumbag Story” grimly slots into his storytelling bag, grimly discussing a young kid before “Eyes Closed” boasts that he can do this shit in his sleep.
“Breakadawn,” starring Horror City and Motion+, comes close to the finale of “The Bad & the Ugly: The Goods Always Die First,” with the trio promising to keep it together forever before “Run 4 Ya Life!” To end it all in the form of this murderous terminator, everyone listening is advised to bring a pen and a microphone instead of a gun, clarifying that your death will be a good time for him.
For over a decade I’ve felt that AFRO had enough potential to make a classic studio record, and it finally happened with Halloween, which pretty much erased everything he’d done to date. The features are passable, but Stu Bangas’ production shows itself from beginning to end to be a perfect match for AFR-O’s brutal lyricism.
Rating: 9/10
