Expanding performance in a new collaboration between New York recording artists NEMS and Ron Browz. One is an underground veteran from Brooklyn’s Coney Island who rose to prominence in the battle rap scene in the early 2000s, and the other is a Harlem native who gained widespread recognition for producing Nas’ iconic JAY-Z diss “Ether.” They had crossed paths on songs like “The Bar Exam” and “Count It Out” before “I Should Boom You” this spring, with a follow-up coming three months later.
“Glocktalk” opens with both hosts spitting gangster shit over a backing track played by Ron Browz himself, while “Yams” is a 109-second tune that’s completely club-ready. Just before “Work It Out,” starring Will Traxx, found the trio telling those who wanted to party just follow the bassline, “Unbelievable” recalled the surreal amount of money they made.
The second half begins with the up-tempo Losing Control admitting in chat that they want to fucking get into “The Greatest,” taking the trap route to instrumentally talk about their legacy. A$AP Ferg’s High Regards join forces to put everyone in their Fuck Ya Lyfe bag, while “DEDM (Don’t Ever Disrespect Me)” tells the world in the final moments of I Should Boom You Too that to despise them would be their greatest failure.
I still think the original “I Should Boom You,” which came back in April, contains some of the best rapping of Ron Browz’s career, and although I’m not a huge fan of “I Should Boom You Too,” it’s still worth a listen if you’re a fan of him or NEMS. Its production is still clearly rooted in the traditional boom-bap sound, except this time there’s more of a trap undertone, and the original material, excluding both mixes, feels more like outtakes left over from the original album.
Rating: 6/10
