Pro Dillinger & Sean Kelly Take Everything About “Forever Foul” to a New Level on “Reasonable Dirt” (Album Review)
This is the 6th full-length LP from Haverstraw, New York emcee Pro Dillinger. A member of the Umbrella collective as well as 1/2 of The Steiner Brothers, he has released a total of 5 mixtapes along with his last 5 albums & even 7 EPs. Favorites include the Finn-produced debut Pray for My Prey, the Machacha-produced Dirt Don’t Hurt, his 3rd EP MOSFoul, the Sting vs. Flair collab EP with Mickey Diamond & the Steiner Brothers’ eponymous debut. And with Dirty Work celebrating it’s 1-year anniversary this summer, the dirtiest of the Umbrella has brought Sean Kelly back to handle production for Reasonable Dirt much like Forever Foul.
“Bad Business” begins with a grand instrumental refusing to let anyone throw him off his focus whereas the funky “We Don’t Believe You” featuring Substance810 warns all these foul muthafuckas that there ain’t no more hiding & it’ll be lit when they catch ‘em. “So Guilty” goes into a jazzier direction with the beat talking about having murder on his mind, but then “Fall for Nothing” soulfully discusses wanting it all.
Blokkito joins Pro Dillinger for “Someday” jumping on top of this harmonious sample talking about being body snatchers & that they didn’t want them succeeding while “Home Team” delivers a smoother vibe overall to the beat telling everyone that they rockin’ with the best & he’s a part of bringing back the culture. Instrumentally, the song “Last Days” has this trippy mood to it so he can talk about becoming rich & going broke twice just before “The Change” incorporates another soul flip admitting that he’s caught up in the game.
“Selling Hope” featuring Big Trip weaves some pianos into the fold refusing to back down from any smoke that heads their way along with having the city on their backs & the squad chillin’ on a boat with everyone else bitterly watching from the background prior Reasonable Dirt’s title track finishing the album over synthesizers talking about rising from the soil, his amazing lineage & pouring beer on the flowers that’re growing from the sidewalk to make them stronger.
What we have on Reasonable Dirt is Pro Dillinger & Sean Kelly making a sequel album to Forever Foul that takes everything from the predecessor & turns it up to 11. Sean’s production still has the jazzy undertones from previously except you can hear that he’s grown as a producer over the course of these past couple years, Dirtius Jackson goes harder on the mic, there are a lesser amount of guests & Futurewave killed it with the mixing.
Score: 7/10
