Buffalo, New York host Benny Butcher kicks off his tenth extended show for Plug Me Meet III. He has been involved in the game industry for 20 years, and it was not until his last work that he teamed up with his cousin Westside Gunn and Conway the Machine to set off a cultural storm with projects such as “Tana Talk 3” and “The Plugs I Met”. Harry Fraud followed up the mature Burden of Proof with a sequel to the latter, and finally brought it back to the basement a few years ago with Tana Talk 4 . However, after “Summertime Butch duology” and “Excelsior”, “The Plugs I Met 2.5” was released 48 hours after its release.
After the intro to “The Dog & The Wolf,” “Rise & Fall” featuring Elcamino and 38 Spesh jumps on Harry Fraud’s soulful instrumental, explaining that games have a price that we haven’t accepted yet, even if we don’t want to get into “Big Difference,” produced by Bruiser Wolf and Fuego Base by the late DJ Shay, among all the actors who criticized their work.
Daringer and Beat Butcha take the backstage on “Once Upon a Time,” kicking off the second half of “The Plugs I Met 2.5,” replacing the strings with a more sinister backdrop that explains that every leader has been a good soldier at some point in their life, just before Raekwon reunited with Harry Fraud for his “The Talk Show” show, which they disrespected on the show’s closing track “Can’t Be” Much” ends with a symphonic trap that lyrically blends into his cola-rap package.
Many may argue that The Plugs I Met 2.5 is the best thing Benny the Butcher has produced since Tana Talk 4 or Everybody Can’t Go, but I do like it better than Summertime Butch 2 from about a year ago because it’s a huge improvement over its predecessor and has me looking forward to the upcoming episodic trilogy. The production feels like a hybrid of two entries from the “The Plugs I Met” series, having Harry Fraud handle most of the stuff outside of contributions from Daringer and DJ Shay, and all but 2 tracks (excluding the intro that breaks down mafia life) brings a stellar guest list.
Rating: 9/10
