Confucius MC’s 3rd Album “Stop Signs” Produced by Pitch 92 Could Be His Greatest (Album Review)
London, England, United Kingdom wordsmith Confucius MC teaming up with Dublin, Ireland producer Pitch 92 for his 3rd studio LP. Known for being 1/2 of the Old Paradice and CoN & KwAkE, he introduced himself in 2014 off his full-length debut The Highest Form followed by The Artform a few years later & the sophomore effort Somewhere another few years after that. Familiarizing myself with him through his features throughout several High Focus Records projects over the years, it only makes sense to have one of the label’s in-house producers coming in the picture for Stop Signs.
After the “Leisure Time” intro, “Maintenance” begins with a funky beat advising to slow down whereas “Paper Champs” takes the boom bap route instrumentally seeking truth in an ocean of lies. “Missing Persons” brings the funk back with a slicker twist to it talking about someone disappearing every 2 minutes leading into “Raised by Wolves” featuring Renelle 893 links up so both of them can discuss their own upbringings.
“Loneliness in the City” has a somberness to the beat describing this epidemic around his parts & after an intermission, “Cognitive Behavior” featuring King Kashmere finds the 2 talking about being tired of the games. “Days Hours Minutes” featuring the latter’s Kingdom of Fear partner-in-rhyme Jehst speaks of time forever flying past us while “Burden” soulfully talks about not letting anything take a load on you.
Nearing the conclusion of Stop Signs, the song “Blue Skies” hops over a lo-fi boom bap l instrumental that sounds like it could’ve appeared during a bumper on the Discovery Global owned Cartoon Network late-night block [adult swim] asking for his spirits for them to tell him to read the signs & “Respite” concludes the EP with a 77 second outro structured similarly to “Leisure Time” the moment anyone giving this a spin would hear right when they press play.
The Highest Form still has it’s moments a decade later, but I truly think Stop Signs might’ve surpassed it although I’m not sure why Confucius MC didn’t have High Focus Records distribute it because it very much sounds like something that would’ve come out of the renown Hove, East Sussex imprint. Pitch 92’s jazzy production is a huge step above Somewhere carrying the torch of Jaylib’s spirit further & Confucius’ poetic lyricism is at it’s most conscious, joined by a couple of artists on the current High Focus roster & none other than the YNR Productions founder himself.
Score: 8/10
