Starting out with a reflection track with a guitar melody, mellow drums, and a crazy vocal melody is enticing. Showing off his ability to create a catchy hook and have a rapping flow with actual content, Russ starts his album off strong. Only to continue the trend on “Guess What” featuring Rick Ross. Russ sets the bar and Ross follows suite, both do exactly what you would expect(I could have done without the Maybach drop every four bars in Ross’s verse.) Through the first third of “Shake the Snow Globe” Russ is showing off in every sense of the phrase. Using lyrics to boast his accolades does comes off a little arrogant, but then again that is what every other rapper does too, and most cannot do it this well. Russ creates melodies with funky eclectic instrumentals, making it almost impossible to not bob your head. It is only fitting he completes the first half of the album with a song, “Asshole” telling everyone just how much of an asshole Russ actually is, and how much he doesn’t care if you like him or not. If I didn’t know any better, I would say this is Russ taking Eminem’s “I am” and “Just don’t give a F***,” and making it in his own melodic way, which is perfect because doing this in an Eminem way in today’s culture and society wouldn’t be received the same way it was 20 years ago when he did it. Couple that with a spacey interlude that is just as catchy as any other song on the album is a nod to Russ’s skill and ear.
“All to you” is a shining example of the talent displayed on this album. An acoustic guitar and Kiana Lede may seem like a daunting task for a rapper, but Russ fits in seamlessly. Continuing the incredible sonic quality of the album, on “Patience” Russ channels his inner Talib Kweli. The story he tells of a broken woman trying to be strong accompanied by a sampled hook, reminds me of Kweli in his prime and Russ does it flawlessly. Immediately following a Talib-esqu song with a strong, hard drum rap love song featuring Benny the Butcher, Russ is proving he can shine lyrically, melodically with any feature. As he shows the ability to story tell with Rick Ross, create a melody with Kiana, and rappidy-rap with Benny.
Broken into two parts, songs one through five are more of Russ show boating and showing off his accolades and accomplishments. The interlude changes the album to a more R&B feel. Even though each section of this album is only six songs, Russ gets his point across perfectly. This begs the question, as to why create a 12 song album of two concepts and not two mixtapes of six songs for each concept, or a double album in the likes of Nelly’s “Sweat-Suite.” “Shake the Snow Globe” is a great body of work. All the songs fit together sonically, all with strong lyrics, melodies and content. Russ starts strong and finishes even stronger. I will be honest, to date I have not been up on all the albums, projects and singles Russ has released. For years people have been telling me to listen to Russ and I can see why. If the rest of his work sounds like this I completely understand how he is able to continuously sell out shows and festivals.
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