French-American veteran Napoleon da Legend wasting no time on his 30th studio LP. Heads in the underground should already be familiar with him due to the lengthy discography that he’s built up for himself for nearly the past decade including Coup D’État, it’s sequel, Street Universe, Dragon Ball G, the Sicknature-produced Colossus of GOATs, Buckets or the DJ D-Styles-produced Invincibl Rap Mislz & the DJ Rhettmatic-produced Legmatic. He & JR Swiftz came together on the outstanding Great Minds last month, bringing Giallo Point in the fold again on F.L.A.W. (Following Lies Always Wounds).
“Chasing Shadows” ominously kicks off Napoleon’s 2nd body of work this year by talking about being on the verge of doing something drastic whereas “Life or Death” featuring Jay Royale finds the pair talking about this being survival of the fittest. “That Ain’t It” keeps it in the basement to break down the concept of hustling on the daily prior to “Welcome 2 the Theater” featuring Ghost Machine working on some strings calling out all these sassy rappers.
Invisible Handz joins Napoleon for the drumless “Unforgiving” talking about the game never being fair from what they understand & their former opps ain’t breathing no more leading into “No Morals” returning to the boom bap suggesting that conscious hip hop & gangsta rap are the same other than being packaged differently. “Doing What I Gotta Do” speaks of one doing what has to be done in order to get by, but then “Nesquik” eerily talks about making everyone take Ls quickly.
“Solar Opposites” featuring Eloh Kush finds the 2 getting the point across of their knowledge being heavy & the truth being too uphill while “Motivation” hollowly talks about everyone having it if it was much easier. Sunez Allah teams up with Napoleon on the title track so they can explain one always being wounded by following lies while the piano-driven “Peace” talks sitting back & counting his stacks.
Nejma Nefertiti appears for “Presume the Unpredictable” to get the final moments of F.L.A.W. (Following Lies Always Wounds) calling themselves the deadliest you’ve ever seen on the mic from the womb to the tomb & the closing track “Marathon” completes the 2nd consecutive classic in Napoleon’s catalog within 2 months tackling the Japanese philosophy of having 3 faces.
Exactly 4 weeks after Great Minds marked the halfway point of the first month of this year, Napoleon gets back with another album maintaining the high quality underground hip hop that it’s predecessor & even Legmatic achieved. Giallo Point’s production is on par with JR Swiftz’ & although I will say I wasn’t as big on the features since I preferred the couplet of guests last time, I appreciate Napoleon warning everyone of the consequences that come with following lies.
Score: 9/10