Apollo Brown and Ras Kass are about two months out from their collaborative album, Blasphemy, and to make sure everyone knows what's coming, the two have decided to release a new track today, "H2O", that features the raps of Pharoahe Monch, and Dilated People's Rakaa Irsciencea on the chorus. The Mellow Music Group artists (to which Apollo and Ras belong), are highly esteemed with their crafts, and they certainly put their best foots forward on the track here. Apollo cooks up a soulful, dusty, sample-based instrumental, and Ras kicks rough philosophical lyricism bar after bar. His content is personally nostalgic in its subject matter, as he reminisces on his career, life on the streets, and influences in his life. Monch, too, steps up, complementing Ras' verse with his own lines on childhood memories and current paranoia. Overall, "H2O" harks back to a time when lyrical content was key and the instrumental behind it, organic, and all the individuals involved on the effort here make sure that's brought back to style, at least, for the duration of the track. Regardless the feelings elicited, though, it's an objectively quality effort, and its successful stirring up of anticipation for the aforementioned Blasphemy has us looking eagerly towards the project, available October 28th through MMG.
Apollo Brown & Ras Kass