Benny the Butcher – “Tana Talk 3” (Album Review)
Benny is an MC from Buffalo, New York known as the leader of the Black Soprano Family. He then signed to his cousins Westside Gunn & Conway‘s label Griselda Records last year, with the Butcher on Steroids mixtape dropping on his birthday. But almost a year later, he’s ready to make his full-length debut on the label serving as the follow up to his 2005 mixtape Tana Talk 2.
The album starts off with “Babs”, where Benny & Keisha Plum talk about their hometown over an boom bap beat from Griselda’s in-house producer Daringer with some horns & a flute. The next song “Goodnight” gets murderous over an somber beat while the track “Scarface vs. Sosa 2” serves as a grimy sequel to the joint from the Tommy DeVito’s Breakfast EP that Benny dropped last year. The song “Rubber Bands & Weight” talks about the coke game over an Alchemist instrumental with some sinister guitar licking while the track “Fast Eddie” talks about how he’s the last person you wanna see over an alluring beat. The song “Broken Bottles” once again details the drug dealing life over a dark boom bap beat while the track “Echo Long” with Meyhem Lauren talks about loyalty in the streets over a sinister beat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78hfbuQrV0o
The song “‘97 Hov” is pretty much Benny charismatically comparing himself to the legendary JAY-Z back in his mafioso days over a boom bap beat with some gloomy piano chords with a nice switch-up during the second leg while the track “Joe Pesci 38” sees Benny spitting battle bars over a boom bap beat with some strings. The song “Who Are You?” with Royce da 5’9” sees the 2 getting introspective over a bass guitar & background vocals while the track “51” with Westside see the 2 talk about life in the hood over a haunting beat. The song “Rick” talks wanting what’s his over a somber boom bap beat while the penultimate track “Langfield” is a dedication to his brother Machine Gun Black over an ominous beat. The album then finishes “All 70” with Conway, where the 2 talk about their grind over a killer guitar riff with some keyboards in the background.
As expected, this is Benny’s best work yet. His lyricism is grittier than ever with the production that both Daringer & The Alchemist bringing to the table suiting it near perfectly. If you wanna hear one of the rawest MCs from one of the illest camps out right now getting the shine that he finally deserves, then give this a listen.
Score: 9/10
