Brooklyn, New York emcee NEMS celebrating Valentine’s Day by putting together his 5th studio LP. Coming up in the battle rap circuit, he would go on to have a brief stint with Psycho+Logical-Records in the late 2000’s before dropping the debut Prezident’s Day under Creative Juices Music back in 2010. This was followed up almost 9 years later when he & JAZZSOON teamed up for the damn near flawless Gorilla Monsoon, but the follow-up Congo received more mixed results despite it’s highlights like “Wow” & “Cousins”. Paul Rosenberg signed the Mayor of Coney Island to Goliath Records & Virgin Music in the summer of 2023 for his Scram Jones-produced Goliath debut Rise of the Silverback which I liked more than Congo, building further anticipation ahead of America’s Sweetheart.

Following the “America’s Intro”, the first song “Go Fat Boy” produced by Cartune Beatz was a fun hardcore hip hop & boom bap lead single warning that your face will get cut quickly if you talk shit to him whereas “CTE” keeps it in the basement courtesy of Vinny Idol to get on his battle rap shit lyrically. “My Side” featuring Millyz finds the 2 dabbling with trap a bit stealing your bitch while “2 Live & Die in NY” featuring Leeky Bandz maintains a trap vibe thanks to Statik Selektah talking about his home state.

“Gunther” returns to the boom bap airs out his grievances towards a woman who holds genuine hatred towards him just before the 2-parter “Coney Island” represents the part of Brooklyn that made him who he is today. “Light the Room” hooks up some organs maintaining a dusty edge once again belittling everyone who wants to step up to him, but then “God’s Hands” shows an inspirational side to the Fuck Ya Lyfe general talking about everything being God’s plans & not yours.

Tony Touch joins NEMS on the horn-infused “Afuera” aggressively making it clear that absolutely no one wants smoke with either of them while “Amouna” talks about trying to get right & everything in him died. “Big Shot” brings a trap flare back to the table flexing his newfound popularity in recent years & “Viral” featuring Dios Moreno ends America’s Sweetheart promising to keep winning whether others like it or not.

A year & a half after signing to a major label, the Mayor of Coney Island reinforces his status by cooking up an album that showcases his gritty lyricism & charismatic storytelling paired with his signature humor & wit even if I think the production on the predecessor was more consistent. The same can be said about the guests even though I can appreciate him bringing on a lesser amount than he did last time.

Score: 7/10