Review – Griffin ‘Samson’

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Griffin, if you didn’t know is a Tunnel Rat, Scribbling Idiot affiliate and one half of the duo EDM (Mouf Warren of SI being the other half). Griffin is one of my favorite emcees and this was before his solo debut album ‘Samson’ was released. A lot of fans of The Tunnel Rats have been waiting for a Griffin solo effort since the 2005 self-titled TR release. Here we are five years later and End of Earth Records releases Griffin’s ‘Samson’.

The intro to the album has Griffin’s brother Mouf Warren introducing the Tunnel Rat emcee. Griffin makes a point in this intro that the title ‘Samson’ is influenced by him rhyming about his strength and weakness in his walk with Christ. Griffin believes that some Christian Hip Hop artists aren’t true and realistic with the sin that exists in their lives. And on that note, Griffin’s album ‘Samson’ begins.

After multiple listens to the album I believe that the album is split into three parts production-wise. Vintage (who produced Theory Hazit’s ‘Lord Fire’ and Sean Little and Wonder Brown’s ‘A Love aPhiliated’), B. Hard (a newcomer in my book, who I’ll get to later) and Peace 586 (who produced LPG’s ‘Earthworm’ the first Tunnel Rat release ‘Experience’ and many more) handle the beats on this album and while they each bring a different sound to the project, it still sounds good together.

‘Attention Emcees’ features Future Shock emcee Sojourn and it’s all about real emceeing, not that fake stuff that’s on the radio these days. Right after that ‘Family Comes First’ is a track all about the family. The Scribbling Idiots and TR affiliate Triune makes an appearance and all talk about their unique families. Vintage destroys the beat with a nice guitar riff and a unique beat that doesn’t sound like most.

We are then graced by a hilarious interlude called “Rev. Do Good” and then B.Hard takes over the production for the next four tracks. I tried to do some research on B. Hard but came up with nothing. Honestly though, B.Hard steals the show production wise on this album. ‘Heaven Knows’ is my favorite track of the album. This track has a nice bass line to it and Griffin just drops all walls and throws out what has hurt him in the past. From his past sin, to the death of a friend, he shows the listener the pain that he’s been through and this track was on repeat for a real long time when I went through it. This part of the chorus hit me like a brick from a building:

I’ve had my heart broken in two
I’ve lost a few special people have you?
Ain’t nothing wrong with confession at all
I’m just trying to make some sense of it all

The very next song ‘Every Day’ was definitely the most surprising song on the album. Once again B. Hard handles the beat, but the beat has more of a sound you’d expect on a k-Drama album or something. It surprisingly works really well, the track features Antonious and is all about going through life and battling everything that comes our way while walking with Christ.

Two tracks later Tunnel Rat producer Peace 586 finishes out the last three tracks on the album with his signature boom bap sound. ‘The Darkness’ is a track that showcases Griffin’s story telling and just shows the sin that is all over the world and sometimes is found in our lives. ‘New Threat’ is a track that has Griffin with the style he had on his ‘My Name Is Griffin’ track from the latest Tunnel Rat album.

Griffin did pretty well for his debut album, with the direction of the intro I did believe that the album would have a more serious tone to it. There were tracks that the listener will relate to, but I do believe a lot of the album is saying “Hey, I’m Griffin and I’m a pretty good rapper”. Some of the tracks have the serious tone, but the former is more present than the latter. With that said, Griffin comes out strong on his debut and is just getting started and has a lot of plans for the future and I’m excited about it. This is the album fans of The Tunnel Rats and Griffin have been waiting for!

Purchase on AmazonMP3 or iTunes

Label: End of Earth Records

Tracklisting:
01. Intro (w/ Mouf Warren)
02. The Pillage – beat by Vintage
03. Do It Right – beat by Vintage
04. Attention Emcees feat. Sojourn – cuts by Sean P – beat by Vintage
05. Family Come First feat. JustMe, Cas Metah & Triune (hook by Ruffian & Field Specialists) – beat by Vintage
06. Be – beat by B Hard
07. Rev. Do Good (interlude)
08. Two Piece And A Biscuit feat. Kaz – beat by 2020
09. Heaven Knows – beat by B Hard
10. Every Day feat. Antonious – beat by B Hard
11. Sun Light feat. Sev Statik & Mouf Warren – beat by B Hard
12. The Darkness – beat by Peace586
13. New Threat – beat by Peace586
14. How Do They Do That? – beat by Peace586

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