CD Reviews

King Syze

Jedi Mind Tricks Presents: Labor Union | Babygrande

By CHRIS FARAONE | August 26, 2008

3.0 Stars

With his consistent, reclined flow, King Syze doesn’t always stand out alongside his Army of the Pharaohs brethren, particularly the leather-throated Jedi Mind Tricks frontman Vinnie Paz and the cauldron-tempered Celph Titled. But on his own, especially this time around, the Philly rhyme giant proves his worth with calculated lyrics that simultaneously touch topics and talk trash. From the horn-and-hormone-pumped intro to the Skammadix-produced string fling “The Best,” Syze shows that with proper backdrops he can dent heads on solo missions. Beat genius Stoupe might produce exclusively for Vinnie Paz, but there are leagues of qualified understudies, such as Waxwork of the Snowgoons, who are familiar enough with Jedi Mind’s orchestral æsthetic to make spinoff projects like The Labor Union fit within the extended family’s catalogue. The ruthless bangers here are the Big Pun-ly “That’s How You Rap” and “Play Ya Part” with Ill Bill and Doap Nixon. On the latter, the three hardly venture beyond “I’m rougher than you” claims, but Bill’s gruesome piano loop and thrice-kamikaze verses make for a sublime subterranean symphony. King Syze was overdue to shine; still, with a crew who never step down, he had to rise to skill levels that Dipset and G-Unit members could hardly comprehend.

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