Columbia, Maryland emcee/producer K.A.A.N. staying consistent by releasing his 25th album. Over the past decade or so Knowledge Above All Nonsense has been delivering numerous standouts in his ever-growing discography like Black Blood, the Ski Beatz-produced Requiem for a Dream Deferred, the Big Ghost Ltd.-produced All Praise is Due, Mission Hillz, The Death of a Rapper & The Nightly News both produced by former Strange Music in-house producer MIKE SUMMERS a.k.a. Seven or even Peace of Minds from just a few months ago. Looking to continue to apply pressure though, Los Angeles producer/deejay DJ Hoppa is being brought in to produce Delusions of Grandeur.

The morbid boom bap opener “Can’t Help It” confesses to kidnapping other rappers only for the fun of it whereas “Insane” works in a flute with kicks & snares admitting he has conversations with the voices in his head quite a bit. “Nightmare” takes a darker route instrumentally taking a different path & being built to last, but then “What Can I Say?” dustily breaks down his process breaking down the beat & digesting since everyone else ran out of time.

“The Crown” keeps things in the boom bap wheelhouse cautioning not to look down if you’re afraid of heights while the orchestrally dusty “Dark Night” finds him losing his own cool playing by his rules & being anti-social. “The Plot Thickens” kinda has some jazzy undertones to the instrumental talking about the bullshit not concerning him & moving with a sense of urgency like it’s an emergency, but then “Got One” shifts into trap territory to run it up.

Starting the album’s final leg, “Countdown” returns to the boom bap dancing with his demons at high noon while the song “Destiny” flips a vintage sample on top of kicks & snares to talk about being at war. The title track advises that what doesn’t break you makes you stronger & using his own experience of dark days to get his point across that is until “Kiss the Ring” finishes the album explaining this that shit that make ‘em go up.

K.A.A.N. has absolutely been on a ROLL with the output we’ve been receiving from him throughout the duration of these past 6 months & Delusions of Grandeur very much continues that momentum. DJ Hoppa’s production is primarily grounded in the traditional boom bap sound as opposed to Peace of Mind back in February balancing that with trap & the Maryland emcee bringing more of a hardcore tone lyrically.

Score: 9/10