D-Tension |
Every night, when I get home from reporting facts, I poison the Internet with innuendo on a Boston-based hip-hop blog called jumptheturnstyle.com. It’s great fun, even though our active commenters are a venomous mix of keyboard-bound cowards and legitimate criminals. But they have one prejudice that rolls me sour, in that they almost unanimously reject Boston hip-hop.
Like its predecessor, which yielded some of the first radio singles for Slaine, DL, and Mic Stylz, A Boston State of Mind Vol. 2 counters allegations that the Bean rhyme scene lacks stylistic diversity. Although the disc leans to the harder side of things, with the likes of Gage and Lord Willin snapping necks, lighter acts like DJ Slim and D-Tension add depth — not to mention a few laughs.
Commonwealth Records patron Dru Garrity corralled a fresh and lengthy 22-cut catch here: Omega Red & Easy Money own “We Hustlers”; DraMatik’s “Born&Raised” is some sort of delicious; Letia Larok’s “A New Day” is one of the realest tracks in Bay State rap history — believe that. At its core, though, this loose comp is woven together by a few repeat offenders — most notably Rhetoric and Amadeus — who spit dirtier than Two Girls One Cup.
