Here’s the eighth mixtape from Washington, D.C. emcee/producer Ankhlejohn. With his second album “Van Ghost” produced by Big Ghost Ltd., he has recorded his last 7 tapes as well as 8 EPs and 7 full albums for underground bands over nearly a decade. My other favorites from his discography include As Below produced by Navy Blue, the Rome Streetz collaboration Genesis 1:27, The Michelin Man produced by Cookin’ Soul and Live! at the Disco Last Summer produced by August Fanon. Exactly a year later, V Don produced “All Things Beautiful Die Young.”
“Origins” gets things rolling with a 125 second intro talking about being paid to justify the drumless orchestra backing him, while “No Specifics” goes for a boom bap vibe that references The Sopranos, one of my top 3 favorite shows. $ha Hef joins Lordy so they can talk some “Monyun” over samples and some drums, while “Trauma or Tragedy” takes a more laid-back tempo and talks about what it was like to be there when powder was still stone.
Babymaine joins Ankhlejohn for a gangsta rap/boom bap crossover on “Inglorious,” detailing their experiences living in the Bronx and the DMV, and just before “Stoneisland” wraps up the first half of “Everything Beautiful Died Early,” he reflects on his huge inspiration, Juelz Santana. “Vegan Goose Down Silence” begins by talking about the second leg of making this tape because he felt the game needed him to lead “King, Pawn & Rook,” which features Crimeapple breaking out of the mafia lifestyle.
“Solar Fax!” talks positively about his desire to make self-education more mainstream, while “Laugh and Cry” touches on the theme of gang life again, explaining that it’s almost a cycle. “Day 1” is about his refusal to disrespect the plate he comes from and his knowledge of the game from the beginning, while “Packback” ends with observing the amount of love that was lost in his youth.
Next fall, it will be exactly ten years since Ankhlejohn introduced himself by riding the subway through The Red Room, and in the past 14 months, he has transformed the greatest work of his entire career from “Michelin Tire Man” to “Live!” At the disco, everything beautiful now dies young. There are only a handful of guests on this show, as opposed to last spring’s previous production where Lodi was alone at the microphone, but they were carefully chosen because everyone was interested in V Don’s unique production style.
Rating: 9/10
