Southside Hoodlum - Lord Knows (Album)
It's been a long time coming, but it's finally here, the major-label debut by the artist who has brought the most eyes onto our beautiful city of San Antonio & that person is none other than Southside Hoodlum. Nineteen songs with a 33-minute runtime, a brilliant move on his part, the same thing he did on the last tape. It'll intrigue listeners cause, usually, when people see 19 tracks, they start throwing around that whole quality over quantity conversation into play, but this is Hoodlum we're talking about; his songs may be the most concise we've heard from an artist. Still, it's consistently become his signature; at least with him, you know you're getting quality coupled with quantity.
I love when artists play phone messages, so to hear him open up "Lord Knows" with a message from one of his fallen comrades on "RIP X" is a beautiful way to open the album. After hearing the first single, you already know it will be a "Gospel" with how the record starts; he has managed to bring it right back to where he began. He's never forgotten his roots, his feet still deeply planted on these streets he resides on, standing on ten toes with such a menace to him that you won't be able to "Breathe" once his presence is felt; the flow may be mumbly. Still, he's feverishly murdering while laying out his truth & this game plan of collecting a "Million" is for sure his come up. The way he carries himself on every track and in life lets the listeners know that this is someone who has all his "Chakras" aligned & isn't about to let anybody knock a single one out of its place & advises you to do the same. The game ain't all it's cracked up to be, take it from someone who's been through all that.
These tales he crafts are so intriguing; there's no sense of doubt in your mind as he's speaking his truth; he's got the "Double RR's" pointed straight at your cranial if you ever wanna test his gangsta "Lil Hoe." He'll make the cylinder on that revolver "Spin" if need be. Still, he'd much rather celebrate life on "Crossroads" fore he feels blessed to have even made it to 25; you're lucky if you do in this crazy-ass world & especially if you come from the mud like he has, now he's on his seventh "Heaven" "4ever", his slurring may be syrupy as molasses. Still, he never stumbles on his words, managing not to spill a single drop of that "Dirty Soda" into either his mouth or a gravesite of a fallen loved one, seeing "No Ceilings" in the more promising future he's headed towards now.
I love when he also gives us the long record; he did it on the last album with the posse cut "50 Rounds," but this one is more soulful, thus more in line with the God theme that's the basis of this record as a whole, it's beautiful to hear the pain of each MC, their hears smack dab on their sleeves for all to see on "Bubbly," these gentlemen are just "Made Different" & if you actually been paying attention, notice how everything that's ever been considered special or game-changing in the culture has never sounded like anything that's surrounding it, that's where Hoodlum lies, we haven't quite seen an artist who has as unique a take on this trap sound that has flooded the industry these past few years.
He's a "Thug" in every sense of the acronymic word & even though he'd much rather relax; he can "Slide" through any time & make shit pop off if you choose to stay "Yawning" on him all your life like he hasn't been carving out a legacy while simultaneously ripping shit on a tear for the last few years, he does this shit "To Live & Die." Still, until he does die, he's going to live his life to the fullest. Forever embracing exactly who he is & it's that authenticity that has gained him damn near a cult following. "Lord Knows" is a flawless magnum opus, full of everything that has made Hoodlum the man, the myth, the legend that he is today & forever.