- R.O.A.M. 3 – You may have accidentally heard the brilliance of Nino Bless on “Slaughterhouse” by — you guessed it! — Slaughterhouse. But as ill of a verse Nino spit on the Halfway House debut of the now Shady Records quartet, it’s nearly a.. well.. blessing that Nino continued his career dolo. Say what! Sure, he’s nowhere near the household names as some of Slim’s buds, yet that in no way means the end is nigh for this BK emcee. Ironically, the electric guitar synths of the first track, “Brooklyn to Hell & Back,” reflect the energy of early Joe Budden production. And that’s where any and all comparisons end for R.O.A.M. 3. “Now I pack the firepower / like I’mma bite the flower / then fight with Bowser / Yoshi…Mitsui /How I slit through / my comp, like issue / I got bigger fish to / watch sizzle.” Yup. As you can imagine, there isn’t a dry bar with Nino. Though known for his acrobatic mic cadence and witty rhymes worthy of Asgardian war, messages pour through tracks like bubbly at Diddy crib: “I’m trying to have a conversation with God / to ask him why in the hell he gave Satan a job? / Lord, tell me why an innocent child can die sick / when the most corrupt fuckers grow old and die rich?”
- (Cont…) The stampeding GOT-hype synths of “Hunger Games” the only exception, RIII’s production on the mixtape album is simple, yet stirring. Your head will nod; your mind will meld with rhymes. “Unsafe Haven” flips the script to a sound doubly suited for Seal. The heavenly, uber-spiritual backdrop rises Nino above the clouds, spotlighting what’s wrong with society and simply…what is: “I know a lotta things don’t change / love/pain both work the same / that’s worth to explain / when you gain and merge with a scene / only rehearsed in dreams, I have reached a Nirvana / while these haters take it in vain like Kurt Cobain.” Even R&B-crooned hooks and double-time flows (ala Bone Thugz) don’t disrupt the powerful messages NB employs, such as the ongoing battle of female esteem on “Girl Vs. World” and the robotic prophecy of “Rise & Fall”. And just as Nino flexes his best TDEsque zaniness on #AudioTrip, the Planet native exchanges some juicy BK politic with Sha Stimuli on “Pov,” a track full of atmospheric synths and hi-hats that’d surely make Dilla proud. Finally, Nino and crew announce their arrival on “Gratified Portrait”, though I would have prefered a tad lighter production to accompany the stirring strings from REM’s “Losing My Religion.” Above all else, Nino Bless’ stamps his place into the #NerdSwag Hall of Fame with a poignant geek/hood battle with the almighty G.O.D., spitting rhymes that practically scream…G-H-G: “God couldn’t even fathom this wrath within a similar to that / of what he had Sodom with.. / something like a nonreligious prophet / that can probably politic peace with the opposites on the Gaza strip.” Congregation, time to genuflect. 4.5/5.
(Bonus reviews on next page!)