Bed-Stuy lyricist Rome Streetz teams up once again with UK producer Farmabeats (they previously worked together on ‘Street Farmacy‘ which dropped back in 2018) to give us another solid, street rap album with ‘Kontraband‘. Rome has been crushing it for more than a minute and is becoming a ‘must cop’ whenever he drops. His features are always fire, he drops tough joints like his Noise Kandy series (peep our review of ‘Noise Kandy 4’ which dropped back in June 2020) and Kontraband is yet another banging underground album you need in your collection.
The album itself is 12 tracks and a shade over 30 minutes, so in line with the modern day album. Rome spits BARS and you have to really tune in because his flow is intricate, he never wastes a line and he rides the production seamlessly. Farmabeats provides a dark, eerie almost ‘gloomy’ or haunting soundscape as a backdrop for Rome’s streetscapades and they work incredibly well in creating a sinister and compelling album.
‘Flow with a vengeance, my spit should go in syringes‘ is a standout line from the opening track ‘Track Markz‘. It’s not just a hot line, but it aptly represents what hip hop heads feel when they spin a Rome Streetz record. Dopeness. There are far too many quotables to start dissecting each track, but just know that this is one of MANY lines that will just have you nodding in total agreement.
One thing Rome does exceptionally well, is create vivid pictures through his flows. He paints pictures that you conjure up in your mind when you listen to his tracks which has you completely immersed in the album. For me, that’s something that not every dope album has, but it’s an element that sets Kontraband apart from some of the other grimey, coke, street rap offerings out there.
Bangers: Track Markz, Eyes On Fire, Ballad of the Lone Wolf, Bucketz.
Score: 9.5 / 10. As the review states, this is the complete package. The production is on point and never misses, mixing up those horns with strings, beats with samples and overall just delivering a dark, engrossing sound. Rome is one of the illest spitters in the game right now and this just adds to his already stellar catalogue.
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