Posted on September 6, 2010 – 23:37 in Music | Nick
Music | Eternia & Moss “At Last”
Eternia rocks with a confident cadence, her verses a veritable love letter to proper unrelenting hip-hop. Never apologizing for gender or ethnicity, she keeps pace and owns the record. No easy feat when the album’s first buzz track, “It’s Funny”, has her trading bars with the superbly witty Joell Ortiz. The track is followed by the lead single, “BBQ” with Rah Digga & Rage. It’s almost a “Ladies First” for real live female spittas, a “hip-hop purists” track. Consider these women the opposite of sexed up lead commercial MCs – Eternia a 180 turn from the talented but surely overly-groomed Nikki Minaj.
These two tracks are indicative of the power of Eternia’s voice. She’s every bit the equal of her guests, who seem chosen simply to celebrate hip-hop and for contrast. She could, and can, carry a full album solo – make no mistake about it. Having guests simply hammers that point.
Moss – whose stature has skyrocketed with work for Ortiz, Obie Trice, Ghostface, and Kool G Rap – keeps a consistent pace throughout At Last. His sonic stamp a perfect backdrop for Eternia. Both are cut from a classic cloth. As stated, their creation hits on traditional boom bap. The bass-lines stay funky – especially true on “A Day in the Life” – and head nodding proves the desired outcome throughout (no need at all for dance floor fillers here).
As most of us who claim “hip-hop is dead” are the types that miss the hay day of proper underground head nodding – of the 1990s variety – that Eternia and Moss have gone so unrecognized by the majority of bloggers (including me, feeling guilty for the lateness of this review) is sinful. It’s the rap we know and love. It’s also the rap that needs our continued and full support.
(For those interested, my buddies at The Smoking Section recently interviewed the duo. Check it out here).
