Bruse Wane's.. Earl Manigault Of Rap.. Declared a Hip Hop Classic by Monolith Cocktail.. read their review below:
Bruse Wane ‘The Earl Manigault Of Rap’ (Wane Enterprises)
Born in Jamaica, schooled in the Bronxdale housing projects of Soundview New York, inspired by the lyrical prowess and skills of fellow Bronx representative, the late, Big Pun, the dark knight borrowed alter ego Bruse Wane is known to deliver some of the rawest and ‘thunderous ‘of epistles.
From beneath the biblical album artwork of his latest diatribe, the promoter/manager and no-nonsense rapper’s ten commandments repel the over-consumed, all production and no substance hyperbole of the current hip hop music scene. For Wane, hip hop ain’t meant shit since the year 2000. He returns to the golden age, but he’s not quite as unequivocally nostalgic as the third generation character in the soul-kicking ‘Ol Head’ homage. Despite dismissing both the old-timers and the millennial generation’s tastes in music, adamant that he experienced the most important era at the dawn of rap music’s blossoming, the thirty/forty year olds that made this record have a keen ear for modern trends. Classical influences, going right back to the playful beat box era of Doug E Fresh, Whistle and Dana Dane on ‘Phenomenal’, to the subterranean eeriness of early RZA on the Fam-ily featured team-up ‘Gah Dammit’, are given a contemporary R&B and languid west coast and southern ‘downlow’ sway.
Yet, there’s no mistaking that Wane’s brand of underground rap was hewn in the Boogie Down Bronx, with all of his roll call of guests hailing from the real Gothem City. From the same side of the Manhattan tracks, fellow Bronx affiliate Chris River, son of the already mentioned Big Pun, carries on the family business; spitting an uncompromising in your face ten bars on the sneering, seething ‘Venom’. A poignant reminder and obvious tribute that poison-baiting track also features the late Brooklyn acolyte Sean Price, who passed away back in August. His last recorded lines are purposeful and commanding, and their meaning obviously amplified in the present context.
Wane is best when he tackles the subjects that matter the most and tap in with the zeitgeist, whether it’s the deaths at the hands of the police epidemic that has spiraled out of control in the States – Wane name checking in particular Eric Garner who died from a heavy-handed police chokehold technique in Staten Island in broad daylight – or the tribulations and trails of making it in the fatuous internet age. Comparing himself to the late South Carolina, Harlem raised, street basketball player Earl Manigault, Wane’s own journey bares some similarities, though the ‘Goat’ as he was known, was fallible to the demons of drug addiction. Throwing away what ‘could have been’, the powerhouse player of the High School league’s potential was cut short when he ran with the wrong crowd and ended up serving various stretches in jail. He continued in a checkered vein, failing to make the cut with the Utah Stars team even though he has been compared to the best players in the history of the game. He would however return to the streets and lay on his famous ‘walk away from drugs’ basketball tournaments for the kids in the projects, and muse philosophically on his life: “For every Michael Jordan, there’s a Earl Manigault. We can’t all make it. Somebody has to fall. I was the one.” There can’t be a more resigned but important message than this, and it is one Wane knows only too well, alluding to his own struggles. Though his own potential is far from spent, The Earl Manigault Of Rap an under the radar classic.
Original story and review was published Nov, 30th 2015.. On Monolith Cocktail and can be found Here
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