Reek & Sage - R&S Side: 003
The Tree Team really been cooling like that of the palms, it’s been a minute since we got to feel the cool breezes of another R&S installment. Reek & Sage have really expound upon this sound of theirs, there’s no other way to describe it than their own. It’s what we always expect from them & then some cause the songs just keeping growing like flowers with the seasons, it’s like they can do nothing but continue blossoming with each structure. They stick to their roots, once they gather the stems of each record, then it leaves their possession & into ours to treat this music like the delicate little flowers they are, each petal crafted meticulously so as to bare it’s fruits & the best part is we can then replant the seeds, all that to say, timelessness. It’s timeless music yet again from these two, there’s no doubting that!
Opening with the spiritually soothing “Be Somebody”, Reek is determined not to burn out & if so, it’ll be a slow burn until that white light is evident as ever. It’s like the angels are carrying him, ensuring he doesn’t fall from their graces, he’s blessed & any demons of his past, the stairway to this pinnacle of his they swore he’d never reach is seeming more & more like a tedious task for them to try climbing up to his peak to bring him back down. Love the Outkast homage as well. We’re all inspired by somebody & it’s great that they pay forward those respects to those before them, carrying that torch cause even after all these years, the South still has something to say & we better be heeding every last word. It’s sad that not everybody is destined to move mountains with him or like him but that doesn’t mean he’s stopping them from reaching their own pinnacles, he’s not that petty, just letting them down gently. They unfortunately are not family, if they were, they’d be within the circumference. Sage was really rubbing the magic lamp with his work here, it’s like a peace pipe smoking ritual this record & the natural high this music emits is otherworldly.
“Don’t Trip” though if you’re not reaching these altitudes, your bud is probably just weak & only the privileged can get this Reek & Sage pack, it’s an acquired taste, especially with Malcolm Jakob & Eastside Fish on a track, their 1st all together again since “Budget” I believe, love mentioning that song but they’ve blessed us with another expansion on that, they each have this nonchalance about them that just adds an extra layer of chill to the meditative production. Fish comes back out the water to bless us with his iconic voice, reflecting a bit on this retrospective number, it’s almost introspective as East maneuvers through the madness of life, luckily he has Sage’s advice to heed so he’s not tripping, rather embracing this emotional musical journey of theirs, he’d never fold on his brothers, that’s just not an option. Malcolm keeps his nose to the grindstone as well, offering a few gems of his own experiences in this game of life.