Album Review: Boycott Blues – Irony (2009)

Album Review: Boycott Blues – Irony (2009)

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Potholes

While Boston may not be known as one of the major cities with a booming hip-hop scene, that certainly doesn’t mean there is a complete absence of quality hip-hop coming out of Boston’s underground. Ever since the late ’90s, Boston’s underground hip-hop scene began gaining some attention, riding the success of artists such as Insight, Mr. Lif, Akrobatik, Moe Pope, and all their various collectives and groups. Well newcomer Boycott Blues is set to take the reigns and lead a new wave of emcees coming out of Boston.

His debut album Irony opens with a bang, literally, with the track “Chkabloaww”, which mocks hip-hop’s supreme macho mentality and glorification of violence. From the jump it is evident that Boycott Blues has a positive, conscious outlook that would make many label him as an alternative rapper, yet he keeps his ear to the streets and spits with a gritty drawl that suggests otherwise. Throughout Irony he straddles a fine line between keeping a hard b-boy posture, and pushing intelligence and social change to the forefront of his rhymes. On “I Like That” Boycott Blues admits that while money is on his mind, money is not everything.

At times the delivery of the rhymes leaves a little something to be desired (the flow could be crisper, and more charismatic), but what he lacks as a technical emcee, Boycott Blues easily makes up for with his keen attention to life in the inner-city. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than on the album’s remarkable standout track, “Back Stroke”, which serves as a prime example of his depiction of the injustices that exist for many people in the city. His ability to deliver such stories and examinations of life in the ghetto is not unlike that of a young Nas. This track is followed by a heart-wrenching spoken word bit about a young girl trying to make something positive out of her life, despite grim circumstances.

Irony is executive produced by the aforementioned, and like-minded artist, Insight. The production on the album starts off fantastic, but loses focus throughout the latter half of the album. Many of the beats simply do not seem to match the overall feel of the album, detracting from its progression. Insight also appears alongside Consequence and Boycott Blues towards the end on “Da Math”, which tackles the problem of inner-city deaths and violence. The album closes on a less serious, somewhat hilarious note, with “Got Beef? (Food Coma)” taking aim at the fast food/junk food industries for making our nation so unhealthy (Think of it as a rap version of Super Size Me).

Despite some minor bumps along the way, and a few questionable beat choices, Boycott Blues, along with Insight, has put together an impressive debut in Irony, one that should definitely help make some noise for the new generation of emcees coming out of Boston.