The Underachievers' "The Lords of Flatbush" paints a picture of rooms hazy with smoke. Reverberating, distant chords take their time coming to the listener's ears, fogging the background of each song, while hi-hat and snare step forward sharply and accentuate Flatbush Zombies' evident influence on the pair of Brooklyn rappers. The mixtape's sounds could not differ more from what it's cover shows - attentively styled old homes don't mix well with the brain-dead antics of my generation. However, the house reminds me of the house I grew up in, where I would blast Girl Talk and Aesop Rock within the boundaries of plaster walls.
With that nostalgic thought comes the fact that "The Lords of Flatbush" is a well-fitting title for The Underachievers' tape, with it being both a declaration of supremacy and a reference to the classic 1974 film of the same name. The movie "The Lords of Flatbush" follows two young men played by Sylvester Stallone and Perry King through misadventures in Flatbush, forming a gang, chasing women, and the like. The same basic concepts are modeled in The Underachievers' tape years later, with two young men, Issa Gold and AK, roaming the same streets and doing the same things - mobbing ("Catch me in SOHO with my team, we're riding dolo") and lady-chasing ("Back on the map, now your chick all over my aura").
Other similarities exist in that the movie "The Lords of Flatbush" took place in the heyday of New York, while the effort to create the "sound of New York" is a bandwagon that The Underachievers have helped to build in the current heyday of New York rap. The phrase 'the sound of New York' was popularized with examples from Joey Bada$$' "1999", and had similar sounds to The Underachievers' mixtape, "Indigoism". Jazz overlays and complex samples were thrown in with original touches and riffs, and boom-bap style drums kicked from the foreground. This languid style of production and an accompanying change in line delivery largely attributed to the catchiness and popularity of previous Underachievers' songs, such as "Gold Soul Theory", in which neutral vowels were stretched out and swung in to match the backing track. But The Underachievers have taken a different turn with this style, and while previous songs were more in line with Pro Era's sampled shenanigans, "The Lords of Flatbush" sounds as though those ideas were taken straight to Erick Arc Elliott of Flatbush Zombies for production - which is the case, and likely occured due to the considerable time the two groups have spent together both personally and in concert. Production also includes Lex Luger and EFF.DOPE, the producer of "Sun Through the Rain" off of "Indigoism".
Drawn-out synth chords and a lack of swing takes The Underachievers roots in the sound of New York and diverts them to their own pathway, lauding their successes and grieving the trials of fame all the way. While most tracks on "The Lords of Flatbush" follow this pattern of straight beats and bragging hooks, the track "Melody of the Free" is a nod to Pro Era's sampled beats, with The Underachievers' characteristic synth sounds mingling with lazy jazz - though this song is still not swung, keeping the group in a category apart from most Beast Coast rap groups. As Issa put it in "Leaving Scraps", "'Bout to take 'em up, we evolving", and with the two carving their own sub-genre from the foundation of 'New New York' rap, his words couldn't be truer.
While "The Lords of Flatbush" may differ from The Underachievers' previous projects instrumentally, little has changed lyrically in the styles of Issa Gold and AK. Beats may change, but the duo still deliver rapid-fire lines that hail to positive energy, third eyes, copious amounts of weed, and all that follows. However, new lines sport bragging rights for previous musical successes, as seen on the songs and in the titles of "Leaving Scraps" and "Still Shining", with hooks such as "Gimme that, takin' everything, I'm only leaving scraps". And with successes come trials, as seen on the song "Fake Fans", in which Issa declares "They said they 'bout it, they ain't 'bout it, they ain't with the plan". Altogether, "The Lords of Flatbush" encompasses the entirety of what the pair of Brooklyn rappers has gone through since the release of "Indigoism", making for a fulfilling tape with a clear beginning, middle, and end, leaving only greatness to be expected from their upcoming album, "The Cellar Door".
The Underachievers - "The Lords of Flatbush"
Recommended tracks - "Flexin'", "NASA", "Melody of the Free"
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