The Blessings, Vol. 1

"Oh, Canada" Didn't let us down! "Seems so golden age!" says Big Bob's - American counterpart the Grand Surgeon on "The Blessings" track. It's a legends' tale, engineered by L.D. on the Cuts, that reimagines a 1980s reggae/Hip Hop style Rap radio hit complete with a driving break beat sample that suggests a park jam full of B-Boys and B- girls boppin' their heads to the Boom Bap. Sure, Hip Hop may be a mess. But as the production, skills and feel of Big Bob and DJ Fastcut and the Grand Surgeon also known as Will P. prove on this underground tinged 2015 smash album, it's True — and reasserts on this all-star catalogue of Legends and come-ups a promised- Rap Classic to remain a solid hip hop investment. Big Bob is one of Canada's most promising producers and he clearly aspires to the craft of the "greats". On this compilation the most successful tracks are the ones that feel most original. Their are pure grinding trap music cuts with polyester funk sounds and blues-turned-rapper type joints. "Somewhere in The Blessings" is "something for everyone" it's a multi cultural mirror sound. With guests like KRS One, Tragedy Khadafi, Havoc, Cutty Ranks just to name a few. BIG BOB is repping for New York, California, Carribean and Canadian streets like a dual-citizenship ambassador. Yet ultimately it's those moving beats that come off the best. His relatively unprocessed feel never sounded more refreshing. These bangers should seriously be considered industry worthy. The team that he constructed and his co-conspirators speak in a voice that is digitally & organically rippled like the sound of heat waves on asphalt. The rhyme patterns are flowing over cutting edge and undeniable beats. It's hardly mainstream but it should spur much water-cooler talk in major label circles and the likes. This is one for the age. The Blessings produced by Big Bob Pattison for Elite Sound International was worth the wait.