By Sunez aka #SkillastratorLO
(As published in the books The Real of 2021 (And 2020!) and The Real of 2022 by Sunez aka SkillastratorLO. Email sunez97@gmail.com) for these crucial texts of Hip Hop)
Bronze Nazareth 2021
For this writer, there is no way around seeing Bronze Nazareth as one of the greats out of the Dark Ages. Emerging out of RZA’s Wu Elements producers as the most prolific and as that next generation, Bronze has been where to go to hear grimy drums and Soul samples used in the spirit of RZA. A spirit that is based on amplifying not the Rhythm of the R&B that makes it so gorgeously Pop as Kanye West did. Instead, it’s about extracting and augmenting the Blues out the R&B and letting that track carry the hells of wars past. Unlike RZA, Bronze is so much more focused on the slap of the drum and a consistent thickness of it. It has led to incredible beat albums for other MCs from Dom Pachino to Willie The Kid, his stellar solo LPs (i.e. Great Migration, School For the Blindman) and his Wisemen crew LPs. However, since I heard his early beat snippets in 2004 and every published attempt I’ve had, since 2005, through my independently owned LaVoe REVOLT and the majors The Source and HipHopDX and the many pieces for the juggernaut PremiereHipHop.COM, I always felt his MCing was the real jewel. A lyricism of poetic prose that can become surreal in its ability to fragment the phrase to concentrate the rhyme and complete flow, leave deeper meanings to be found where we may only be left with the beauty of the wordsound.
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