Even though this is Muzeone’s first record don’t get it twisted and think he’s a rookie. Muze was part of one of the best duos in CHH in Redeemed Thought (which was himself and Stephen the Levite). Fast forward to know, Muze is still making beats and is still on the rhymes, the emcee is also now part of the super crew Scribbling Idiots. So after all that history here we are with MuzeOne’s debut album “The Cold War”. People have been waiting for this album for a long time (almost as long as Duke Nukem Forever!!! But not really).
Before listening to this I had only heard verses from MuzeOne on the Redeemed Thought album “The Body of Christ Plus” along with both EPs that he dropped. The album starts off with Muze flexing his lyrical muscles, straight ripping tracks in half and giving the dead body for the listeners to hear. Now one thing I will warn the listener is that Muze is real good at stringing his words together and if you don’t pay attention you will miss something (I know a hip hop record that you have to actually listen to….ABSURD!!!). Muze also shows a massive amount of versatility in this release, the title track has him spitting clever lines showing that no emcee should ever mess with Muze and as you’ll see later we see different sides of the SI emcee.
The first four tracks show Muzeone’s lyrical ability, but as the album progresses we see the other sides of him. “Father Time” is naturally about time, Muze sits back and thinks about how he used his time and encourages the listener not to waste their time. We see yet another side of Muze with “Loves” which is all about his wife and the impact she’s had on him.
In my opinion with “The Cold War” the heart of this album lies from track 9 all the way through the end. “News” was my favorite track in the early listening of this album. Muze brings J.A.Z and Sev Statik and they all talk about the problems that are in society. From drugs, to greed, to the choices we make and more. This was my favorite beat on the album, Teddy P killed it! I feel like the song after “News” “More 2 Say” is the sequel to the aforementioned track Muze continues the analysis more or less saying there are problems in this world and even questions something of the practices of our world.
Now if tracks 9-14 are the heart of the album tracks 12 and 13 are the definitely the soul of the album and my favorite two tracks on this album after giving it a full listen. “A Mother’s Grief” is a track featuring MuzeOne’s wife known as J-Wisdom and this track will shoot you right in the heart and you can hear the frustration and pain in her song. The song is done in a spoken word tone but with a vicious beat that fits the tone of J-Wisdom’s poetry perfectly. I don’t want to reveal the details of the track, but I’m going to tell you right now that it’s one everyone needs to listen to. It’s emotional and you can feel every nick and scar that is expressed through this song. Muze takes the same approach just with rapping in the next song “A Grief Observed” he holds nothing back. Him and his wife went through some real tough things over the last couple of years and these two tracks are eye-opening to their experience but at the same time eye-opening to the grace of God.
The “Cold War” is a record that fans of MuzeOne have been waiting for, it’s not a classic by any means but it shows the versatility of this emcee. We get to hear battle raps, introspective raps, and raps about what he sees in society. Muze also handled some of the production on the album. Muze brings a balanced number of guests, but without a doubt holds his own on this album. The newest Scribbling Idiot has clearly evolved since his days with Redeemed Thought let’s just hope it doesn’t take this long for him to release his sophomore effort!
Rating: 4/5 (Solid Release, Go Buy It)
If You Can’t Buy The Album Download These Songs
- “A Mother’s Grief”
- “A Grief Observed”
- “News” feat. J.A.Z and Sev Statik
- “Home” feat. JustMe and Ruslan
- “Cold War”
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