Ellenville, New York duo The Hoodies consisting of siblings E-Class & Young Poppa are back for their 3rd EP. These guys have been taking over the local underground scene for the past 6 years off the strength of their debut mixtape Blood Thicker followed by their first couples EPs both Where Should We Land & What Pressure Makes. However, their full-length debut studio album Hidden Gems entirely produced by Kid Capri last fall wound up becoming their most acclaimed body of work yet from both critics & fans for it’s take on the past & present New York hip hop sounds. And with its anniversary coming in a few weeks, they’re reminding everyone that Nobody Bigger Than We.
“Closer” is this sample drill opener with a chipmunk soul flare talking about being underrated, but still scoring just like the Cleveland Cavaliers whereas “Love Birds” continues with the soulful flips instrumentally flexing that they really Soulja Boy since they’ll pop out with the Draco in reference to the Big Draco nickname from the first rapper to do everything. “Despise Me” featuring Ms. Tiff has a solemner approach atmospherically bouncing off one another on the mic collecting that money & “Not the Same” ends the EP sampling “All the Man That I Need” by Whitney Houston trying to teach the lessons of their predecessors.
I’m usually very selective when it comes to artists in the Brooklyn drill scene, but there’s no question that E-Class & Young Poppa are both skilled enough lyrically to do that style justice & that’s exactly what they do over the course of Nobody Bigger Than We. Granted that we already heard them dabble with this sound (case in point: “Top of N.Y.”), they embrace it a lot more here to the point where they’re also fusing it with elements of sample drill & chipmunk soul in a captivating fashion reaffirming their status as the biggest in Ellenville.
Score: 7/10