Buffalo, NY emcee Benny the Butcher drops his 7th EP full of summer anthems. Being in the game for 2 decades already, as of 2016, alongside his Westside cousins Gunn & Conway the Machine would take the culture away from projects like Tana Talk 3 & The plugs I met. Harry Freud was brought in for a sequel to the latter after the mature Burden of Evidence & finally, Tana Talk 4 took it back to the basement two years ago. I come in having Hit-Boy produce half of it and leaving the other half to The Alchemist to produce his Def Jam Recordings debut and my album of the year so far Not everyone can gonow we are treated Summer Butch.
“1 Verse Butch” kicks us off with the butcher over a piano/boom bam hybrid belting out that slick, street, soulful drug shit, while the psychedelic dusty “The Most” talks about making it out of the hood alive and to get him a lot. for that to happen too. After the interlude of 'Sundress & Sandle Season', 'Knightfall' keeps the kicks and snares in tact, advising you don't let any static stop your business, and lead single 'Summer '24' delivers a symphonic blast of boom-bam that organically wants to close blocks it.
My favorite track here “Kitchen Table” jumps over a smooth Harry Fraud beat continuing to discuss the doping game and after the interlude of “Peachtree”, “The Blue Building” brings the psych vibes back to the fold coupled with hi-hats from STREETRUNNER more than just a distributor role. “The Warehouse 3” featuring Elcamino, Fuego Base and Rick Hyde is this guitar-driven successor to both “Warehouse” tracks from Fuego's debut Biggest from Camby & “Higher” sumptuously ends the EP taking you all to a higher level.
Not everyone can go remains the album of the year so far 8 months later and yet, Summer Butch still stands on its own, having a completely different vibe than Def Jam's early 2024 debut, telling us Benny's biggest lesson. The balance between boom bap and trap remains dominant, simply giving us 24 minutes and 8 songs to enjoy with little time left before summer itself.
Rating: 7/10
