This is the 4th EP from New Orleans, Louisiana emcee REi the Imperial. Known for his lively storytelling and witty lyrics, he emerged in 2009 from his debut mixtape Spaceships & Satellites followed by another tape Worst rapper alive & the full debut Rise of the Rejects about 8 years later. He has since followed it up with sophomore effort Origins, his 3rd album Respect How I come & his first 3 EPs 1-833-DOWNBAD as well as Worst Rapper Alive 1.5 & Worst rapper alive 2. It's only been 16 months since the latter and conductor Williams came to production Function: Flamethrower in great anticipation.
After the introduction of “Mission Briefing”, the first song “Spirit of Excellence” is a psychedelic drum opener that reflects on the success that goes from the corner to its pores, while “Title Shot” speaks soulfully about how to keep going since you'll look up and get up one day. The “Panduricane” cloud suggests that Pootie Tang is CNN's correspondent in the pandemic/hurricane mash-up that leads to “Imperial vs. Bowser” dusting the fuckers in the booth.
“Thelma Evans” shreds the soul samples again by paying homage to his romantic interest, while “Baby Charmander” goes the weird boom-bap route by likening itself to a younger version of the Pokémon title. “Jessica Rabbit” jazzily tells her that she doesn't want to play her, as family comes first, while “Sunzilla” ties in a grouchy rock flip that turns into hardcore lyricism. “Auntie Rita” featuring LG and Old Orleans rounds out the EP with the trio on a strong beat again.
I vividly remember this guy contacting me several years ago on Instagram and fast forward to today, he just dropped the best EP of his entire career. Maestro Williams' production is incredibly consistent from top to bottom and noticeably stronger than the instrumentation of REi's previous work, paving the way for the Rejection Society frontman to take his storytelling and witty lines to newer levels.
Rating: 9/10
