Detroit, Michigan underground veteran Vstylez returning after 6 & a half years for his 3rd full-length LP. Being introduced to him through his feature on “Clash of the Titans” off of eLZhi’s 3rd mixtape The Leftovers, he eventually put out a debut album of his own At Oddz ‘Til I’m Even in late 2014 & the sophomore effort Thornton Melon about 4 years later. The acclaim of the latter resulted in V temporarily signing to Middle Finger Music, whom he started working on Buddy Revell for in 2021. Years of delays later, he’s finally putting it out solely through RSM Recordings much like the last couple.
The title track gets the ball rollin’ with an eerie boom bap instrumental comparing himself to the titular antagonist from the movie 3:00 High whereas “Hustle Hard” featuring RJ Payne keeps the kicks & snares in tact to talk about both of them grinding their fuckin’ asses off. “L.L. vs. Tarantino” has one of my favorite beats on the album from DJ Rhettmatic sampling rock music ripping it hardcore lyrically paying homage to LL Cool J just before “The Wake Up” featuring Bumpy Knuckles returns to the boom bap thanks to the latter wakin’ up everyone who been sleeping on them.
“Me” hooks up chimes, kicks & snares to talk about how harder it is to do him than one might think leading into “Edgewater Park” featuring Ro Spit & the Twin Towers produced by Nottz ruggedly dedicating this one to all their homies in the streets. “Listen” has the soulful vibes Apollo Brown became known for assuring you’ll learn from experience in due time, but then grimy “Biscuit” featuring Jimmy the Icon talks about having the heaters on them.
Boog Brown, Guilty Simpson, Phat Kat & Ty Farris all join V for a remix to the Thornton Melon highlight “Detropolis” keeping the same Pete Rock instrumental for a Motown posse cut while the piano/boom bap hybrid “Stroke of a Pen” discusses confessing his thoughts through writing songs. “Wrath of the Titans” featuring Guilty Simpson, Lil’ Fame, Shabaam Sahdeeq & Skyzoo lastly ends Buddy Revell aggressively referring themselves as the titular titans.
It’s certainly been quite some time since we’ve last heard from V & he’s coming back with only a month & a half or so left of summer to make the long-awaited album he’s been working on for a few years already a step above the previous one. He himself has grown a lot since Thornton Melon both artistically & personally, the production’s raw & the guests are all well picked out. Apparently he’s got another project coming next month called Walter Sobchak, which has me anticipating it as much as this considering that it’s named after John Goodman’s character in The Big Lebowski.
Score: 8/10
