Steve 'Flash' Juon“Yo what’s your legacy like?”
If you’re Hus Kingpin it’s alright. He’s not been regarded as one of the all-time greats, yet how many run-of-the-mill rap acts can say they’ve recorded with Rakim? I’ll tell you — VERY few. The Hempstead by way of Brooklyn rapper lives up to the “hus” in his name with a husky voice that sounds like he smoked a lot of blunts and drank a lot of whiskey. Combine that with a slew of Christmas samples and you get the charming release “Holiday Hus 2: Cocaine Christmas.” It’s what would happen if you told Your Old Droog to make a seasonal album, only Hus has the chutzpah to actually do it.
“The QB of the underground”
That’s probably overstating it, but there’s a smoothness to the Macapella produced “Fireplace” that’s hard to deny. “Picture worth a thousand words, life’s a billion breaths.” Even when the Kingpin is covering familiar ground, he does it in unfamiliar ways, using unique combinations of words to paint pictures in your mind. I wouldn’t say Hus Kingpin is an overrated rapper, but at this exact moment I feel like he might be a little underrated. It’s amusing to hear his version of holiday cheer on “All I Want” is (and I quote) “all I want for Christmas is more kilos.” He wants to let it snow right up your nose.
There aren’t many downsides to tracks like the Relense produced “Snow White” save for one — the length. Hus worked with a fine set of composers who laid down a fine set of wintertime beats, but the gifts he gave us were big empty boxes with tiny gifts inside and foam peanuts to hide it so you couldn’t tell how small the contents were. He’s asking for $12 for this CD. That’s fine, I respect the hustle, but you can listen to the entire thing in EIGHT MINUTES. That’s stiffer than my holiday eggnog. My advice for you is to hang the stockings with care, throw this into your streaming playlist, and pay him for something more substantial instead.