The Warlock's Thoughts & Reviews!: AMB - The Garcia Brothers *Album Review*

My 1st review is from them Murder Boyz's brand new LP they just dropped today! If you dont know who they are they're a super fresh 2-man rap group from the wicked westside of Denver, CO. Having played music in their family band as kids when AMB became teenagers they decided to give rapping a try & quickly garnered a passion for it. Highly influenced by Bone Thugs & ICP in '99 AMB released their 1st project within their 1st year or so of rappin' & quickly started releasing local independent projects rapidly until they were eventually given the opportunity of a lifetime.. Shortly after AMB released their 1st official studio album in late '04 entitled "The Unforgiven Forest", Psychopathic Records created their own American Idol-like contest creatively titled: "Underground Psychos Contest" which AMB were selected for & eventually won which helped them hit the billboard charts on both of their following LP's! Now, Ten years after that first studio album and AMB are back with what might be one of their best & most consistent records to date. Props to both of 'em for finally gettin' it out this shit is super long overdue but yo.... Lets get it started..

1. Intro - The album opens with a burning house or building & a fire truck soon pulling up.. A dark beat kicks in & towards the end some guy is speaking in Spanish.. It could be better but could be worse.. For a intro I'd say 3.5/5

2. Us Against The World - Like most of the album the beat on this track is on that dark/underground tip. The track opens with Otis SPITTIN about himself & his career with AMB. Otis does the chorus which is on some "we're just some loners who's gonna keep it wicked" type shit.. & to me seems like their own li'l 2pac inspired "me against the world". regardless of the name similarity. Bonez is on the g tip with his lyrics. Dope intro type song. 5/5

3. M.O.E. - Simple song about murder but the beat & Otis's flow get super funky & fresh once the beat drops.. Song suffers cuz imo Bonez is out-rapped in most aspects i.e. flow, delivery, energy, lyricism etc.. However I think it sets the bar low for him which makes following songs not suffer as much.. with me at least.. chorus is on point though & done by OT. 4/5

4. I Get Even - This beat is some classic AMB shit.. sounds "Unforgiven Forest" era-ish.. The song's about revenge & both come correct although once again Otis is the favorable one here yet again to me.. Another fresh Otis chorus.. 5/5

5. Smoke Kush - Somewhat unique production for a weed track but then again most of AMB's are.. Otis shows on this track that he can kill with lyrical content & not have to rely on chopping. One of his standout verses of the album, lyrically imo.. & yet another Otis chorus.. Bonez comes correct. 4.5/5

6. Might Go Mad ft. ICP - Crazy dark beat & flow from Otis kicks off this track which is on some murderer/killa shit. Def a stand out. Bonez is on some insane/mad shit & stays on point. J & Shaggs trade every 4 or 8 bars.. They mostly stay with the multis (which is unique for them not Otis which is why I never mentioned it til now) both kill it but Shaggs really shines & IMO has some of his best lyricism as far as structure & consistency-wise. I honestly cant remember the last time ICP came with this fresh of a feature.. 5/5

7. Roaches - Fresh beat, Otis is on some random shit I guess all pertaining to the chorus of being roaches which is obviously metaphorical for surviving through crazy circumstances.. Doesn't really get "deep" though & following the previous song makes it a li'l harder to fully retain.. Otis's 6th chorus in a row.. 4/5

8. Shine - Not a stand out like "Still Alive" was but a good track nonetheless with a similar concept.. both rap about shining & random generic concepts of theirs.. I'm not a pro on good & opoint singing but the chorus sounds off to me which hurts it significantly 3.5/5

9. Bleed ft. ABK - dope deep beat, lyrics, and chorus from Otis. Bonez is on the g tip once again while ABK comes with a correct feature as well.. 5/5

10. No Trust - Is about shady bitches. A cheater & a snitch from Otis & Bonez respectively. Everything is generally super on point. Bonez kills the chorus tho. Which is a pleasant change but it's unfortunate that it's so close to the end.. This should've been the 2nd Bonez chorus track by now.. 4.5/5

11. I Keeps It Movin - This track has a super crazy weird but fresh beat. Seems like just a chopping track considering the random subjects. I think it could've been the song they were talking about wanting to get Snow & Rittz on at the gathering considering that Otis shouts them out in it.. Bonez kills his verse lyrically but finally bringin that potential out so late in the album made it slip right by me at first.. 4.5/5

12 Listen ft. Big Hoodoo - Yet another dark beat this time with a saddening mexican guitar though. Otis starts with a verse about his dysfunctional family. Bonez is on that baby mama drama shit & Hoodoo is on some random wicked shit with a notable Esham reference to top it off. 4/5

13. Runaway - Otis opens singing for a nice portion of the track which makes it give off an R&B vibe.. Parts of the chorus & Bonez bring the rappin back tho. However it closes with OT singing. track is fresh nonetheless if you feel that vibe.. It's about killin a bitch for trying to leave you 4.5/5

14. Nobody Get Hurt - This track reminds me of some 311/Sublime type shit.. Pretty much a scrub-love robin hood type theme with generic AMB themes being rapped about as well.. Although I appreciate the uniqueness of this song, a classic PSY closer would've been more preferable.. With me at least.. 4/5

All in all I feel that AMB delivered with what should easily be considered one of their top 3 best albums to date. It's better in comparison to previous efforts in some aspects, most actually but not all.. personally the biggest con of the album to me is Bonez Dubb's lack of lyricism.. I don't know if Otis helped him write his stuff in the past but dude was really basic on some of these tracks.. Otis's flow & overall skill as well as the track with ICP are by far 2 of the biggest highlights of the record.. Anyone who knows "Bars" & "Chopping" will most likely be impressed with this project regardless of the juggalo affiliation some closed-minded people might try to hold against it.. Well now, hopefully it doesn't take another 6 years for the next LP from The Garcia Brothers haha lame jokes aside this was definitely a solid project that I hope does well for them. I ain't gonna do the math and all that but i'll just assume & say, overall album score: 4/5..

Top 3 tracks (in order of album appearance):

Us Against The World