Moon Crickets – The Calm Before the Storm Mixtape Review
With it being clear that hip hop is in a state of emergency and originality measuring at an all time low, I think it’s safe to say that we are lacking guidance along with the hunger for knowledge and understanding. At the risk of creating more exhaustive talk about tight jeans, redundant lyrics and the same recycled trap beats to make you nauseous….
Let’s talk about a group that is staying connected to the quality formula that carried us through the years with the boom bap king’s and the essence of educational rap, let’s talk about the MOON CRICKETS!
With locks like Samson and a voice that will reach generations to come and beyond, Lord Fury teamed up with Killah Priest (of Sunz Of Man & Wu Tang affiliate) and DJ Mercilless to form the front line of the MOON CRICKETS. To head up the next wave of the alliance is ROL STREAM, Rock Reign, G Knight and Kid Kold. Each member with one exception is from Canada which made the group originally founded in Scarborough, in the east side of Toronto. The only emcee not from the area is Killah Priest who was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.
The mixtape “The Calm Before The Storm” was released on December 25th, 2015 as an 18 track free digital download. It was also pressed for physical copies to be purchased which includes 4 bonus tracks not available on the digital version. A video was recently released for 2 of the bonus songs “Tomb Vision Wisdom” by Killah Priest and “Heaven” by Lord Fury both produced by DJ Mercilless and made into 1 “split” video. The mixtape itself is a Prequel to the official MOON CRICKET album scheduled for release in June/2016 sometime titled “Death In The Arena”.
The features on “The Calm Before The Storm” are nothing short of heavy hitters. All of them having great lyrical ability themselves and their styles mesh gracefully for the content of each song, its really just icing on the cake for the project. Some of those names include Tradgedy Khadafi, Timbo King, Hell Razah, Shabazz The Disciple, Junior Reid and Rain The Quiet Storm to name a few. The majority of the tracks were produced by DJ Mercilless himself with exception of a few. Both “Street Proverbs” w/ROL,GKnight,Lord Fury,Killah Priest & Rock Reign and also “Heavens Fury” w/ Indikah, Hell Razah & Lord Fury were produced by Sneak Vandel and both featured on Sneak’s “Museum Of Hip Hop part.2”. Also, DR.G produced “7th Level” w/ Hell Razah, Lord Fury, Rock Reign & ROL, and that appeared on Dr. G’s group “7 Spherez” album. The rest of the production is taken care of by LAYZEE on “Perception” and GKnight on “Free Dr.York.”.
I was recently asked to name some of my favorite tracks off this Mixtape so I named a couple, and then a couple more, and then “wait a second can’t forget….” so I name some more…. I think when I was done there was 2 songs left and I had to add those because they were my absolute favorite in the first place! It’s just not possible to pick a couple “good songs” off this tape because THEY ARE ALL GOOD!
I hear all the time the question come up of “Where did all the good hip hop go?” Well……When you take lyrical ability with purpose, and educate people with knowledge and understanding of the past and how to make a better future you get what you will hear on this mixtape. If you really love hip hop and it moves you like it does me, then do yourself a favor and grab this mixtape and follow the movement because it is our responsibility to preserve this culture and keep it going so the next generation can enjoy it. Peace.
The Moon Crickets are a human improvement that embodies the essence of all races in their honest form. There are black, brown, red, yellow and white crickets on earth that live in unity for one common cause, we should think likewise.
A long time ago during a slave revolt Nat Turner came to a slave masters house during the full moon. When He opened the door all he could hear were crickets and see the full moon. When Nat Turner stabbed him, his last words were, GOD DAMNED MOON CRICKETS!! -PEACE LORD FURY….
Review written by Nicholas Misha Dabich aka MISH
(Heaven & Tomb Vision Wisdom) are 2 bonus tracks off of the Moon Crickets – The Calm Before The Storm mixtape (CD version)
Email: mooncricketsinc@gmail.com to get your hands on the physical copy which includes 4 bonus tracks in total
(Heaven, Tomb Vision Wisdom, Crazy I’m Going, I Pray Thee)
Mixtape cover artwork by JASON WARNER