Born Hated "Double Distilled: Happy Hour" Review
After a 7 year hiatus, the two brothers and emcees, Skydro and M.I.S.T.A LEGACY, make a comeback in major OG fashion. With 15 tracks nearly reaching an hour in playtime, the Born Hated’s Double Distilled: Happy Hour is anything but brief. With 5 different producers over the 15 tracks, Skydro and M.I.S.T.A LEGACY keep a consistent sound in the instrumentation throughout whilst sharing mic time with balance. 4 of the 5 producers on this album hail from Born Hated’s label of B&E Music. Ramon Medina Sr, I/O the ProcessR, Jake PM, Pappa Squat, Nacho Suave (who has made his production debut with an impressive 9 of the 15 tracks) all contribute to the overall classic, vintage sound Skydro and LEGACY navigate with smooth gangsta charm.
With Zaximus Giga Prime, Walrus the Human, Nacho Suave, I/O the ProcessR all making vocal appearances on the project, this is basically a whole B&E Music group effort. Additional features from Capaciti and NL make for a well-rounded number of guest appearances to give the duo variety in vocal sound over the hour of run time.
Now, if I went through this project track by track, you would be reading for awhile if you even had the attention span to even finish reading. Instead, I'm going to cover some of the most important and hardest hitting tracks on the album, which is still a healthy chunk of the project. Let’s take a closer look at what Skydro and LEGACY have on their Happy Hour menu:
Born Hated Performing with other B&E Music members: Nacho Suave, Poppa Squat, and I/O the ProccessR during the last Octobers “Victory Lap” Show with Chicago’s Ever Evolved.
Born Hated hits the hammer hard with their arrival. Skydro and LEGACY come out spittin’ in “How I Roll.” They command the mic over the heavy, RTJ-esque instrumental trading verses like punches. After nearly 3 minutes, ”Do it Again” delivers breaking news: the reporter shares his sighting of the infamous duo as the graveyard dark thump of an instrumental comes in. M.I.S.T.A LEGACY and Skydro bookend the track, but the meat of the song hosts a sharp, yet passionate verse from NL. With blunt honesty, NL speaks his piece that gives me shades of Eyedea by the picture he paints in his verse.
“Keep Vibing” offers a different lane in the overall direction of the album. With a slower soft instrumental, LEGECY offers an abundance of wisdom after the atmospheric, circling intro with lines such as:
“What’s the conclusion/
Is the solution/
Be who the fuck you are
Without allusion.”
Zaximus Giga Prime appears in the midst of track and continues his exceptional record of killing features this year. Every time I’ve heard Zaxi featuring on a bill, I know the 16 isn’t going to be wasted.
If this project were taking a metaphorical lane, the next stop would be the dirty south with “Haters.” With nostalgic, quick-hitting synths and a dirty rumble, LEGACY and Skrydro craft an ode to all their haters. LEGACY takes command of the hook and the first verse in real OG fashion. Skyrdo and Walrus the Human pick up the energy with unapologetic lines from Skydro such as:
“Now we runnin’ it,
There’s nothing you can do for me.
You I’m gonna quit?
Suck a dick,
And do it fluently.”
And from Walrus:
“They hear accomplishment and just put it in doubt/
Hating on the work, cause they don’t put it in an ounce.
They ain’t even really there/
They just look from the couch.”
Born Hated continues with one of my favorite tracks, “Addicted to Spittin.” Skydro and LEGACY deliver an ode to Hip-Hop over a classic boom bap that resembles Lucy Ford-era Ant production. “Return of the Obeast!” is quite a heavy song with every pun intended. With Walrus acting as a Steve Irwin stand-in reporting on the Obeast and Drobeast feasting on wack rappers. The track shows the wild nature of these beasts eating over some more fast and dirty boom bap.
“Butterflies” is a dirty ode to the ladies with one of the most catchy hooks on the project. M.I.S.T.A LEGACY paints a gratuitous picture of a sexual encounter as Skydro describes his sexual partner and the work he puts in to please her. Nacho Suave appears on the low key bop of “We Want You Want.” and, if I should guess, produced this track as well. With producing 9 of the 15 tracks, it’s a pretty safe bet.
“They ain't ready” is a track that would pump up anyone for a competition. With another classic hook, Skydro and LEGACY continue their momentum. “Twin Cities (where you At!)” is a shout out to the titular area. Over another dirty, bass-heavy track, LEGACY and Skydro shout out all of their local stomping grounds.
Following another ode to the genre in ”I Love Hip Hop,” Born Hated cruises to one of the singles preceding the Album in “Lyrical Hitmen.” The instrumental deeply resembles the title as it sounds just like some criminal underground-hitman feel. Capaciti was an impeccable choice for this feature as his high, villainous vocals complement the instrumental.
On the original single of the project, “Keep Fighting!” houses the most important hook on the album with wise but hyped up words from Skydro:
“Keep fighting/
Do more than just survive/
Try to be the best version of yourself while you’re alive”
B&E’s Swiss army knife and engineer to this project I/O the ProccessR makes a complementary feature alongside the Born Hated duo. “Stomp the Ground” lands as the final track. This track seems to be the most polished of the Born Hated formula of classic hooks and heavy bars on the project. This track comes in at one of my favorites with the message Born Hated shares. Skydro and LEGACY call out the evils of America and call for us to work together over another classic instrumental.
With these classic hooks on just about every track and the seamless chemistry between Skydro and M.I.S.T.A LEGACY, “Double Distilled: Happy Hour” harbors a genuine collection of songs that offers longevity in any Hip Hop heads’ rotation.
“Double Distilled: Happy Hour” is available streaming everywhere, including Youtube:
Hard Copies are available at:
https://music.amazon.com/albums/B08NY5KN1N...
Merch also available for a limited time:
https://www.facebook.com/BornHatedOfficial
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Review by: Paul Thorson, Hip-Hop Writer @PaulyT03
Edited by: Eric Martin, Writer @eamartin95
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