Detroit Conglomerate Sun Tzu Cadre’s producer/emcee 13 Five’s debut full length project
By Tamara El
Album Title: 13th Amendment
Artist Name: 13Five
Production Credits: C-Rius Touch, Dr. G, X the Detective, Yusef Truax, Mista Rodgers, and 13Five
Mic Rating: 2.5/5
Its 2014 and Hip Hop fans are itching for new artist that bring the next generational type of music: vibes that challenge the status quo or what listeners thought was hot to them. Every artist nowadays seems to be listening to their fans and respond by saying, “I’m different!” Now whether or not they really are is a topic to be discussed at a later time.
13th Amendment is a solo release from Sun-Tzu Cadre’s own, 13Five a Kentucky born and Detroit bred lyricist featuring Sun Tzu Cadre, Jon Connor, Hell Razah, The Wiseman, Boldy James, and Nya LoveChild; is the first solo project released from 13Five. The album sounds a little dated. Stuck in the 90’s almost. I loved the golden era of Hip Hop, but this project falls short in striving to capture the best part from that era. The albums sound unique to itself and in a category of its own. There was no direction on the project, or central theme tying the project together at all. Each song was it’s own project sort of hashed together for one cd. Likes: tracks 7 and 13 Bearable: tracks 8, 9, 11, 15, 17, and 19. Dislikes: all of the rest of the tracks.
Another downfall of the project is that it had WAY TOO MANY SAMPLES. 19 out 20 songs had a sample of sorts. What’s worse is that none of them really fit the lyrics or the production. Like they were added simply because they “could be.” Jon Connor, who recently signed to Aftermath, Probably had the best verse on the entire project, and he’s an artist from Flint, MI. The majority of the album seems to be more focused on and saturated with sampling that on some of the tracks you get the feeling of repetitiveness. On “Full of Lies ft Hell Razah” which is the albums debut single 13Five and Hell Razah rap over a mediocre beat: “It all started when John Hawkins was 23/ And ‘Good Ship Jesus’ had us screaming give us free/ And freedom comes at a cost, thats what I heard/ That’s how they justify the wars stirring up the Earth/ Pandora’s box don’t close after you open it/ Easy to enter bullshit, harder to get ghost from it.”
One thing that can’t be denied about this album is that 13Five used his own life’s experiences and turned them into lessons to educate his listeners on his life changes and growth as a man, father,and lyricists as detailed in the song titled, “NuBeing Queen.” 13Five never misses a moment to capture his listeners with the reminders of what the harsh realities of this world can bring especially when a person isn’t properly nourishing their minds like on the track “Sole Food,” Sole Food is produced by Madd Militia’s own Yusef Truax. On the track 13Five raps, “I’m from the days of bologna and mayonnaise/ a place where the beef use to come with a can drained of corn that doesn’t break down, (grab that box of jiffy) and glory greens/ now niggas send you to glory just for the green/ i’m pro-teen but anti-depressant/ and these men are ruled by the bread, over the message.” Tellingly, these memories of eating the wrong foods is what could definitley make the song relatable to some of the listeners.
This album is not the typical mainstream album that the masses of people are use to hearing. 13th Amendment is a narrative of 13Fives trials, tribulations, and triumphs retold over exceptional production; Overall, most the lyrics were just ok. Nothing profound or jaw dropping. Not to mention most of the time it appeared that the artist were competing with the production or track in general. I would never buy this, ask anyone to play this, or even turn it up if it were on at someone’s house. With 13Five being a brand new artist and this being his first solo project released he definitley has opportunity to follow up with a great sophmore album. Peace!
-Tamara El(@mwilihakalu)
