Napoleon da Legend & D-Styles are Firing “Invincibl Rap Mislz” (Album Review)

Napoleon da Legend is a 43 year old MC born in Paris, France & based in Brooklyn, New York who a lot of underground heads should be familiar with at this point considering the lengthy discography that he’s built up for himself for nearly the past decade ranging from Coup D’État & it’s sequel to Street Universe & Dragon Ball G. But coming fresh off Le Dernier Glacier last month which was disappointing considering the Sicknature-produced Colossus of GOATS & the Giallo Point-produced Buckets were his strongest bodies of work in a while, his 22nd album here fully produced by DJ D-Styles of the Beat Junkies was more than enough for me to hope Napoleon would redeem himself. 

After the intro, “Blaktual News” featuring Innocent? & Josiah the Gift kicks off the album with the trio talking about standing by their word protecting it like their kids over a boom bap instrumental whereas “Food” works in some piano chords cautioning that your biggest mistake is not knowing when to shut up. “Rubiks Cube” featuring Amerigo Gazaway finds the pair surviving dark times to face the light over some more kicks & snares, but then “Supreme Haiku” takes a drumless acoustic route talking about not being the one to lie to. 

Moving on from there, “Alligator Tears” featuring Aïda returns to the boom bap as the 2 MCs telling y’all to sit back as you watch them do their thing just before “Gods vs. Titans” has a more symphonic groove to it calling out those operating from a distance like a narc. “Games We Play” has a glistening boom bap beat asking if anyone wants to play a game leading into “Snake Oil” lacing some guitar passages discussing the promise of a better life. 

“Distortion” starts the final leg of Invincibl Rap Mislz by expressing his desire to have the music bring it out of them instead of just bringing it to the music over a synth-heavy instrumental while the song “Table Manners” featuring Nejma Nefertiti reminds how much of a good combo they are over a dusty beat. The title track has a more nocturnal aesthetic to it sonically dissing those with arms too short to box the God on the mic & “Wu-Masters” is a cool Wu-Tang homage to end the album from the lyrics to even the RZA-inspired instrumental. 

If anyone else walked away from Le Dernier Glacier disappointed like I did, then PLEASE check out this new body of work right here because it’s on par with both The Colossus of GOATS & Buckets as far as I’m concerned. DJ D-Styles’ production is more consistent than what we got from Napoleon a month ago, the features list is brief yet tighter & the French-American wordsmith delivers harder performances.

Score: 8/10