Philadelphia, PA emcees King Syze, Planetary and Reef the Lost Cauze have teamed up for a new collaborative EP produced by Snowgoons. All three of them were members of the Legion of Pharaoh, and Planetary formed the OuterSpace duo with King Syze’s brother Crypt the Warchild a year before AotP was formed. Reef, on the other hand, made an excellent collaborative EP with King Syze a decade ago called Year of the Hyenas, and reunited with Planetary on Murderers’ Row.
After the title intro, the first song “Yard Rec” is a hot opener that everyone is listening to in case they don’t know and “Royal Family”, joined by Planetary’s kids ELEMXNT and Kxng Charisma and Trxstworthy, is The only song. Before “Heat Wave” talks too much about cripples, “The Most Imperial” brutally lets everyone know the type of person they have together.
“Death Penalty” kicks off the other half of the EP, with a piano-driven boom bap instrumental warning everyone that last year was their last, while “187” finds the trio making murder an art form. The ending song “Something Outta Nothing” officially brings the Murderers’ Row to a successful conclusion, as they achieve their goals through sneak attacks, thefts, dilly-dallying and random thinking.
Year of the Hyena holds a very special place in my heart because it was released in the winter of 2014 when I was a senior in high school and I played it heavily because it was one of the most stressful times in my life, But Murderer Row recaptures the energy of their previous collaborative EP and adds Reef the Lost Cauze to the equation brilliantly. Snowgoons’ signature boom bap production combines with each AotP member’s performance to create an exciting hardcore hip-hop experience.
Rating: 9/10
