Dru Kelly & Stix - Beer Belly (Album)

It’s been quite the emotional musical journey for Sir Dru Kelly aka, Mr. I dropped 6 albums in one year (you seen that right?) I mean the promptitude of his prolific output…I can’t think of anybody else releasing quality projects at the rate he’s been these last few years. It’s so much material that even I’m over here playing catch up. The last time we ventured off on a voyage with Meriwether Lewis & William Clark, was late last year with the poignant & personal “Aileen”, which if you still haven’t heard yet, don’t make me beg you to. It’s quite the impactful listen & the two are still relatively fresh off of it but no one over here is complaining over them doubling down on their chemistry to show off their newfound “Beer Belly” & that title alone, as well as the cover art, should let you know we’re in for something both gritty & witty with this collection. For fuck sake, after that first hit of this homemade crack with that intro, we’re already kicking it with one & boy is he straight ackin’ a donkey on em with his damn near inebriated flow & absurdly entertaining lyrics. It just sounds like if Jim Lahey or fucking Frank Gallagher made a rap with how shamelessly he staggers all throughout this intoxicating beat without spilling an ounce of his drink. It’s quite the dizzying display of just how ridiculously intricate he is when whizzing through production like it’s nothing, yellow stains all over the fucking place. Dare I say this track is so disgusting, it’ll surely get a whole lot of piss streams.

All that being said, it’s no surprise we find him jazzed up in the “Jazz Club”, tooting his own horn & continuously running off at the mouth about the most random shit, like how he ironically uses a Stanley Steemer to clean up his act but unlike the bugs he squashes for a living, the remarks he makes in his rhymes here aren’t banal, trite or stale. I love how the trumpets bleed over into the rave-esque “Ray Liotta” as our plastered phenom continues to move about in delirium, sweating like the paranoid wreck Henry Hill is near the end of “Goodfellas”. 704 Prod manages to keep up with Kelly as well, delivering a verse that only further adds to the wacked out nature of this album thus far. By some miracle, Kelly makes it home alive on “Designated Drunk Driver”, not a scratch on him or the car, if you know you know cause he definitely continues to crash out lyrically like who let this man behind the wheel?

Kiran the Nomad returns on not one but two features, though I personally prefer “Minecraft”, as the beat itself is subtle in its daunting bass & the two attack the concept rather mischievously. The fact alone that Kelly even thought to refer to the way he treats a woman’s vagina or ‘box’ in this instance to the video game is genius. Have I mentioned how banging these beats are? Stix’ work here has provided Kelly with the perfect soundscapes for him to run wild with. “Brace” has to be my favorite from this set, the instrumental itself just feels like an afterglow as Kelly & Reed Starks reflect on a time they have since passed & outgrown & that introspection continues on “Nine Years”. Like his memories, this track has that bittersweet feel to it as well but despite the adversities & realizations he had to come to terms with concerning the people he loved at such an early age, it’s clear from his sentiments that he hasn’t allowed any of it to stop him from overcoming. It’s only right that he go right back to flexing on “I Own”, probably my favorite performance on this set, it’s just wittiness overload the way he’s dancing all over this track, the production alone is insane & the references are just so off the chain. Any reference to the show & movie “Fargo” is an automatic win in my book. The remaining three tracks keep that same energy to close out & all in all, you can always count on Dru Kelly to craft a solid album, one that’ll keep the listener engaged from start to finish as this man never takes his foot off this gas, the rhymes are just non stop.