Post Description

1. "Intro"   0:26 
2. "Love Means" (featuring Evidence) 3:14 
3. "Squeeze" (featuring Ka and Guilty Simpson) 3:17 
4. "456" (featuring Action Bronson) 2:21 
5. "Drug Lords" (featuring Knowledge the Pirate) 3:30 
6. "Dollar Bitch" (featuring Maffew Ragazino) 3:19 
7. "Didn't Know" (featuring Freeway and Knowledge the Pirate) 4:00 
8. "Soul Music" (featuring A.G. [of D.I.T.C.]) 2:50 
9. "Trying to Come Up" (featuring Boldy James) 3:46 
10. "Psych Ward" (featuring Gangrene [The Alchemist & Oh No]) 3:13 
11. "Confucius" (featuring Ka) 3:13 
12. "Willie Manchester" (featuring S.A.S.) 2:49 
13. "Cut the Check" (featuring Blu and Quelle Chris) 3:31 
14. "Safe" (Skit) 0:24 
15. "War Scars" (featuring Cormega and AG Da Coroner) 3:52 

Total length:
 43:45 



Roc Marciano works in details rather than large, dramatic brush strokes. Like fellow New York MC Ka, Marciano's voice rarely rises above a conversational purr-you need to really lean in close to get the full effect. He doesn't build narratives as much as construct small, distinct images and then stack them on top of each other. Even his beats are designed to shade, rather than color, his songs. Over the course of his first two albums, he's established himself as one of the foremost purveyors of classicist New York slick-talk, digging into a very specific sound and exploring just how far down he can go. His latest release, Marci Beaucoup, finds Marciano stepping out of the spotlight ever so slightly and instead focusing more on his production chops than his already-proven lyrical skills.

Whereas 2012's Reloaded was a comparatively lighter sonic affair than its predecessor, the bleaker Marcberg, Marci Beaucoup hews closer to the grimier aesthetic of Marciano's debut, where the production felt more off-the-cuff and rougher around the edges. Like that album, the beats on Marci Beaucoup are handled entirely by Marciano, and they alternate between minimalist RZA-esque menace and monochromatic soul. As a producer, Marciano shares the same penchant for bite-sized vocal loops that were J Dilla's bread and butter, and he's able to create a palpable tension by drawing out the hypnotic qualities in them. "Love Means" is only allowed to unspool during its brief hook-otherwise, it's all creeping dread masquerading as a serenade. These sorts of little touches can be found everywhere: horns lazily snake into the corners of "Squeeze"; shouts from what sound like children on a playground litter "Dollar Bitch"; elsewhere, a single bleat from an ill-timed chop signals the end of each loop on the loping "War Scars".

These beats are insistent and physical, even when they're made out of lullabies twisted into unnatural shapes, as is the case with "Didn't Know", an example of Marciano's willingness to think outside of the box as a producer. Like every track on the album, a few friends pop by to help out, but only Freeway sounds totally out of his element here, his verse only made worse by the virulent homophobia contained within it.

Because there's not a single track where Marciano raps on his own, Marci Beaucoup feel like a compilation curated by Marciano more than a true solo effort. And as solid as these beats are, they best fit the kind of rappers who operate in a headspace similar to Marciano's, but that's not always who ends up on them. Those with tightly-coiled deliveries fare best-Boldy James scrapes the bottom of "Trying to Come Up" as if he hasn't eaten in a month, and Action Bronson adds some much welcome levity to "456".

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's Ka, the rapper who best compliments Marciano, who steals the tracks he shows up on with his blank-faced gravitas. Unfortunately, too many appearances from third-stringers like Knowledge the Pirate and Maffew Ragazino just made me wish Marciano was rapping instead, and a few more solo cuts would've helped alleviate the frequent soggy stretches. As a proper third album, Marci Beaucoup doesn't stack up to its precursors, but as an advertisement for Marciano's services as a beatsmith, it's much more successful.