Bodega Bamz – Sidewalk Exec

Bodega Bamz – Sidewalk Exec

For the masses that need that refreshing hip hop album for the summer, go cop that recent release by Bodega Bamz, “Sidewalk Exec”. Hip hop heads will recognize Bamz from his featured work with the hip hop collective Flatbush Zombies and Joey Badass. The half Puerto Rican and Dominican rapper who hails from Spanish Harlem on 119th St. between 2nd and 3rd Ave has extensive catalog on sound cloud and the 2013 mix tape release of “Strictly 4 My Papiz”.

For those that know me, now I big fan of battle rap, to the early days of Supernatural vs. Juice, scribble jam freestyle competition, and reigning champ right now of Loaded Lux in his days from Lion Denz and smack DVD. Bamz in his Complex interview said, ”After getting introduced to rap when I was in about seventh grade, I went to high school. I saw that battling was popular. This was when battle rapping was big. It wasn’t posterized yet; it was still in the streets so the essence was still there. I saw that it was just a popular thing to do.It just started off as a hobby, just to get my name and face out there. Especially in high school, I’d seen how the girls was drawn to it. I’d seen how people react if it was good. So I was like, ‘Let me take a shot at this.’ That was the birth of me starting rapping; I started off battling. I had written poetry when I was younger but I started writing music from that day”.

Bodega Bamz – El-Rey (Official Music Video)

Always a fan of rappers that mastered there craft through battling; to me it helps builds lyricism, and confidence, which I clearly hear through Bodega Bamz tracks. I still remember days of hearing BIG L battle and it’s been long minute since we had MC from New York like that. The latest album Sidewalk Exec,has hard hitting lyricism and perfect accompanying beats lined with eerie piano keys and foreboding drums. On Bodega Bamz – Bring Em Out Ft. Flatbush Zombies is battle track, with all MC killing the mic, especially Meechy. One of favorite lines from Bamz on this track was, “There’s one Allah, there’s one Jah Bless”, shows how clever and open minded the thinking process is.

Bodega Bamz – Billy Bats (Explicit)

Straight from the in intro,”Down these Mean Streets”, we get felling of New York boldness,and phonetic entity found among the five borough’s everyday spoken vernacular; that’s been missing in the dominant hip hop we hear in air ways in years past. The third track, “Woopty Woop Blahzay Blah”, a blend of English lyrics and Spanish laced hooks, is track that I can bump too. It’s fly track, that captures the latino vibe, through the hip hop medium, without coming off as cliche. The track four, “God Honest”, is appropriately title track, emotion seeps raw in lyrics such as,

“Drink that Henny slow ‘cause every sip I gotta savor it
Flyin’ South for the winter, Atlanta, Decatur
Fuck True Religion I’m the savior, curly hair with the razor
In the morning say a prayer “God forgive”
But I’m not him, and I got bills, and I got kids to look after
This ain’t no reggae [?] I’m a Latin rapper”.

The tracks of Cocaine Dreaming, El Rey, Invoice, Raw Deal, Killa, Billy Bats, and Everybody Eats, fill the rest of album. These track don’t disappoint. They complement the album and overall gritty feeling of it. The album caps off with, “I’m Ready”, which is one of my favorite tracks,not sure of its the production or voice-mail left behind by the late ASAP Yams. Its song, reminisce of Marshall Mather’s, “The Way I am”, leaves you rattled with emotion. Overall, this album that deserves respect from hip hop heads.

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