Album Review: Top $ Raz – “The New Flesh” – Album Release Show Wed. Feb. 23 at Southpaw, BK

Top $ Raz, the Far Rockaway MC who has grabbed our attention on more than one occasion over the last few months, celebrates the release of his album, The New Flesh, Wednesday, February 23 at Southpaw in Brooklyn. Also performing to support Top $ Raz and his 6-piece band The Minority Report will be RSNY Music (Yung Juggz, Rockstar Remix, Drugzzzy B), Dope League (Scienze, Dremur, L.A.) andiAreConscious. With many other enthusiastically supportive independent and underground artists expected to be in attendance, one should expect many additional performances, making for an entertaining night for the independent hip hop scene.

As mentioned, Top $ Raz has dropped solidly introspective and creative  material leading up to this release, notably the KO Beatz-produced “Golden,” and the J57-produced “The Plague,” a gritty and smart collaboration with YC The Cynic, one of our “5 Reasons Why New York Hip Hop Doesn’t Suck.”

Top $ Raz has the voice, personality, background and messaging that can help him make a mark on the scene. I’ve checked out The New Flesh, and found it to be a solidly constructed project, with more than a couple of songs that are playlist-worthy. Top $ Raz delivers a stylistically schizophrenic, but well executed album, with good music, smart arrangements, and a couple of gems.

I enjoyed the playful  and bouncy “Cold/Flesh,” the smoothly gritty “Love Me No More,” the standout track “Golden,” the aforementioned “The Plague,” and the verbal weaving illustrated through “Better Days.” Though “So Beautiful” and the title track couldn’t hold my attention right off the bat, this can be chalked up to personal preference, as for any one song that didn’t win me over, there were two that did, proving that in it’s entirety, the project simply works.

Guest appearances include Ciph Diggy, Alvietron, Scienze, YC The Cynic, Grace K, Mic Blaque and Cavalier. Production credits include Coole High, Thinker, The Aqua League, Spills, J57, J Monopoly, KO Beatz and Dr. Khil.

The New Flesh officially drops on February 22, while the album release party goes down Wednesday, February 23 at Southpaw, in Brooklyn, beginning at 8 p.m. DJ Tech will hold down the wheels, while Divino DeNegro of Rise Up Radio andJessica “IHeartDilla” Estevez will be your hosts for the evening.