Skribbal – “Black Eyed Children” (Album Review)
This is the 3rd album from Los Angeles emcee Skribbal. Coming up in 2016 off the strength of his full-length debut Drug Spun Funk, the man would catch the attention of the rising Wisconsin underground label Force 5 Records & put out his sophomore effort Skinwalker a couple years later. But once Skribbal dropped his debut EP Quarantine Sessions last 4/20, he would leave the label to form his own Sony Music imprint Hell Patrol Records & the newfound independence by coming together with the highly anticipated Black Eyed Children.
After the “Retribution” intro performed by death metal icon Chris Barnes, the first actual song on the album “Born All Over” is a Napalm Drop cut where Skribbal & Big Left get together to talk about how hip hop gets them through the day on top of a sample of the O.V. Wright joint of the same name whereas “Find My Way” is a somber boom bap cut about being afraid of change.
For “Bring the Pain”, we have Skribbal on top of a quasi-funky instrumental to declare music as his therapy before declaring that he’ll never sell his soul on the dysphoric “Vampire Tactics”. We have RedCloud accompanying the mic for the heinous “Dreams in the Witch House” & the Iyze Lowe takes his spot to rap about how “can’t nobody do it like we do” on “Keep It Movin’”.
Meanwhile on “The Man Who Fell from the Sky”, Skribbal vividly details a story about a man trying to escape the US while he & Emycst declare themselves stronger than ever on the enchantingly-produced “Stronger Than Ever”. The song “We Are Not Alone” with Aether Haze is a cool dedication to all the struggling foster kids in the world on top of a beat with some grimly bells, but Celph Titled & Damian Krypt come together to get on the horrorcore tip for “Halloween Apples”.
Even though “Beyond the Black Rainbow” has a dark sound to it, I do enjoy the motivational lyrics about finding the light. The penultimate track “Wreck the System” with The R.O.C. is a dusty battle rap cut & to finish it all off, Dopehead Dan & the DG@F general himself Chucky Chuck hop on for the weed-themed “Pass the Green”.
The first of 4 bonus songs “Man with the Screaming Brain” goes into a more trap direction as Skribbal challenges all competition to bring the smoke before returning to a more boom bap sound to detail everything he’s learned on “Child of the State”. Dude brings in an organ & vocal harmonizing for the self-deprecating “Slave to the Pain & then we get some ominous keyboards as he details a regular day in the ghetto on “No Good: A Hood Story”.
In comparison to Skribbal’s last 2 albums, Black Eyed Children is a completely different vibe but in a good way. He focuses a lot less on the horrorcore aspect of things lyrically to focus on displaying his overall skills a lot more & is prominently boom bappy than before.
Score: 7/10
