Review by Jake Sabers
I started making music years ago on an old orange iMac and a sampler. I remember nights of putting the equipment together and smoking tree with some of my best friends. Freestyle ciphers in the lab were definitely a vibe. Rome Streetz’ Noise Kandy 4 teleported me back to those basement hangouts of real, authentic hip hop producing. The sample-driven beats go incredibly hard and come off way more aggressive than a lot of “golden era” rap out there today.
On Noise Kandy 4, every verse is on point. I honestly can’t find a weak track on this whole project. The lyricism displayed is next-level and there were no broken bars at all. Rap lately has been a bit lackluster, and everything sample-heavy that’s coming out is compared to Griselda now. This project reminds me of a Big L record, who always came packing with visceral, imaginative storytelling and machine-gunned lyrical delivery.
The mood starts off with the track “Relapse” which gives you a real late-night, street-lights vibe. This mood is carried through to the next track “Prophet & A Pusher, ” and in “Slower Soul,” samples and a heavy bass line roll through “Higher Self.” The lyrics come out as a challenge to anyone who would dare to him. The second verse served by Estee Nack is delivered with the same tenacity as Rome’s verse. I love the use of break drums on this whole record. “Mommy’s Seed,” the fifth track on the record, has a definitive head-nod effect you can only get from sampled drums.
On the second half of Noise Kandy 4 we start to get some different vibes. The sixth track is a dreamy-sampled track with two MCs musing over women on social media. I think we’ve all been there at one point or another. Shit, I can relate. “My Reality” and “Toxic” have a real spurned-by-love feel that wraps up everything Rome wanted to get out in a “fuck you” kind of way.
The whole album is dope in all honesty, from start to finish. It gives me a lot of hope and excitement for hip hop music in the future. If you’re into the late 90s, early 2000s era of rap, this project may make you fall in love with it all over again.