Fade
The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
At first I was hesitant to check out this EP since over the past few years I haven't been a big fan of anything Mobb Deep. I know, it sounds crazy but it's just to me, Mobb Deep is the Infamous, period!
So here we have Prodigy's new EP, The Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson, with Prodigy himself posing on the cover with his arms crossed and showing off his forearm tats, looking like he wants to do something to you.
The EP starts off with "The One And Only", produced by the one and only Alchemist, and not surprisingly the track has a slow, gangsta feel to it with a handclap snare and a creepy bassline, along with some vocal snippets floating around in the background. If anything, this track is more of a West Coast style.
"Go Off" is similar to the previous track but it seems to "pop" more, more in-your-face, and it's produced by Sid Roams. He does a great job on this track with its soulful vocal samples and keys. Great track.
We then go into "Black Devil", which again has a creepy, sickening bassline but it's perfect for this style. The drum pattern is great, with some rolling drums thrown in randomly and a soulful sample looped throughout, topped with strings.
On "Twilight", Prodigy carries the same vibe that he has going on so far on this EP, but this time he brings in long time partner in crime, Havoc to team up on the mic. Sid Roams once again provides the music and uses a slow string/organ sound which fits perfectly.
"For One Night Only", the Alchemist keeps it simple on this one with a somewhat boring drum pattern and a lazy looped keyboard pattern. Nothing special on this one, I'm sure they could have left it out.
King Benny provides the music on "Stronger", a slow, yet smooth beat which is great for Prodigy's flow. A laid-back drum pattern with a nice echo on the snare and a dope piano loop in the background. Some old vocal samples thrown in for good measure, this track is a winner.
The last track on this EP, "Told Y'all", produced by Sid Roams is listed as a bonus track. It's not too bad, it actually resembles the Alchemist track "For One Night Only", where Sid Roams gets a little lazy on this one. The whole track is a bit repetitive, it could have been better, especially a track that's closing out very good effort in this EP.
Conclusion
One thing to remember with this EP is that since it's called "The Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson EP", there's movie samples at the beginning of each song, all of them from the 1997 flick starring Laurence Fishburne, "Hoodlum". At first it was a bit annoying to hear over a minute of movie samples at the start of each song, but I understand that Prodigy was just keeping with the flow of the EP.
Score: 4/5
Download the EP for FREE! Complex.com
