My Review of Night Shield's Latest Album "Loved & Hated," It's High Quality Work
Been soaking this album for a few days now, and I think this might be the best release from Night Shield yet. He's always reliable for something quality, but I think his latest outdoes the others w/ it's superior depth and the fact that more of the non-D-Sane produced beats are quality. That's the biggest difference to me, I used to buy his albums mainly b/c I knew D-Sane was on a few of the tracks, this time I really enjoyed beats from the likes of Big Ice, Jay Nez & Mobius Suntzu. D-Sane is still on 6 of the 15 tracks, and he's still the same old consistent, reliable D-Sane. Here are the best tracks on the album, tracks I gave either a 4 or 5 star rating in my iTunes.
Loved & Hated
The intro track produced by D-Sane aka "King of the Intro" has a sinister beat with a low bassline. Night Shield seems to ride along with it and time his rhymes and voice to go along with the beat nicely.
The Kingz
Remake of the song "Grind With Me" by Pretty Ricky, fellow South Dakotan Maniac is on this track. The rapping by both men is excellent, and the chorus is nice. This beat really is a good beat that sounds a lot better with some quality rappin than it does with a little boy band singing.
Lil Shorty
Jay Nez beat sounds very bluesy, rhymes me a lot of a track by the 4 Corner Hustluz out of Corpus Christi TX by the name of "I Swag Candy." Jay Nez does a nice job singing in the chorus and throughout the song, Night Shield is solid.
South Dak
Every state needs its anthem, Night Shield has done a few of them before but this is the best one. The beat is a little faster than a lot of the other tracks, the bassline is deep, and Night Shield is nice.
The 605 (Cruelty III)
This track is 8 minutes and 47 seconds long and features Night Shield and 10 of his friends. It is nice that it has so many features b/c one or two guys for 8:47, even talented guys, would get a little boring, but with all the features, it never gets boring and never loses its energy.
Rollin'
People say D-Sane doesn't sample, I have a feeling he did on this track but I'm not sure what the original is. This is a smooth, relaxing type beat that Night Shield, Maniac and F.Dux do a nice job with.
Broken Dreams
D-Sane beat is not his best on the album but solid, Night Shield's voice seems to have a little extra edge on it in this track. The chorus is sung by a woman by the name of Jackie Byrd who does what sounds very atypical of what a normal chorus is. It almost sounds like some sort of traditional Native American vocals thrown into this rap song, kind of like the Blue Scholars do fairly often w/ putting traditional Filipino music into their rap songs. I'm not positive on that one, but that's what this song made me think of at any rate. You know you're not in New York or Atlanta or LA w/ this track, let me put it that way.
The Bitch In You
Big Ice beat rides along nicely, sounds like his other beats but there's nothing wrong with having a sound as a producer. The guy who takes over at 1:40 is either F.Dux or V The Noble 1, but whoever that guy is, he does a great job and his voice is a nice distinctive changeup from the rest of the album.
Overall, I gave 8 of the 15 tracks a 4 or 5 star rating, and that's not easy to do w/ me. Buy this album.
Been soaking this album for a few days now, and I think this might be the best release from Night Shield yet. He's always reliable for something quality, but I think his latest outdoes the others w/ it's superior depth and the fact that more of the non-D-Sane produced beats are quality. That's the biggest difference to me, I used to buy his albums mainly b/c I knew D-Sane was on a few of the tracks, this time I really enjoyed beats from the likes of Big Ice, Jay Nez & Mobius Suntzu. D-Sane is still on 6 of the 15 tracks, and he's still the same old consistent, reliable D-Sane. Here are the best tracks on the album, tracks I gave either a 4 or 5 star rating in my iTunes.
Loved & Hated
The intro track produced by D-Sane aka "King of the Intro" has a sinister beat with a low bassline. Night Shield seems to ride along with it and time his rhymes and voice to go along with the beat nicely.
The Kingz
Remake of the song "Grind With Me" by Pretty Ricky, fellow South Dakotan Maniac is on this track. The rapping by both men is excellent, and the chorus is nice. This beat really is a good beat that sounds a lot better with some quality rappin than it does with a little boy band singing.
Lil Shorty
Jay Nez beat sounds very bluesy, rhymes me a lot of a track by the 4 Corner Hustluz out of Corpus Christi TX by the name of "I Swag Candy." Jay Nez does a nice job singing in the chorus and throughout the song, Night Shield is solid.
South Dak
Every state needs its anthem, Night Shield has done a few of them before but this is the best one. The beat is a little faster than a lot of the other tracks, the bassline is deep, and Night Shield is nice.
The 605 (Cruelty III)
This track is 8 minutes and 47 seconds long and features Night Shield and 10 of his friends. It is nice that it has so many features b/c one or two guys for 8:47, even talented guys, would get a little boring, but with all the features, it never gets boring and never loses its energy.
Rollin'
People say D-Sane doesn't sample, I have a feeling he did on this track but I'm not sure what the original is. This is a smooth, relaxing type beat that Night Shield, Maniac and F.Dux do a nice job with.
Broken Dreams
D-Sane beat is not his best on the album but solid, Night Shield's voice seems to have a little extra edge on it in this track. The chorus is sung by a woman by the name of Jackie Byrd who does what sounds very atypical of what a normal chorus is. It almost sounds like some sort of traditional Native American vocals thrown into this rap song, kind of like the Blue Scholars do fairly often w/ putting traditional Filipino music into their rap songs. I'm not positive on that one, but that's what this song made me think of at any rate. You know you're not in New York or Atlanta or LA w/ this track, let me put it that way.
The Bitch In You
Big Ice beat rides along nicely, sounds like his other beats but there's nothing wrong with having a sound as a producer. The guy who takes over at 1:40 is either F.Dux or V The Noble 1, but whoever that guy is, he does a great job and his voice is a nice distinctive changeup from the rest of the album.
Overall, I gave 8 of the 15 tracks a 4 or 5 star rating, and that's not easy to do w/ me. Buy this album.
