Hard to tell if SLIME LUCIANO is Curren$y‘s evil twin or if he’s Prodigy‘s younger brother, or both. Either way, he and his new project The Black Caesar:Prequel are a gem in 2022’s Hip-Hop‘s landscape.

TBCP starts with with an Intro and Outro about the drug trade way back. What’s in the middle is a lot more intricate, and layered.

SLIME LUCIANO’s superpower as an emcee is focused rhymes. Too often, wordsmiths let their pen drift into great penmanship, while leaving their objectives at the door. The Homage produced “Written In Stone” is the first actual song on TBCP: a cautionary tale about street figures letting women and shady types too close. “You knew the b*tch was type foul, should of left it alone” SLIME spits as he details the how of the happenings.

There is a gravely warmness to LUCIANO’s voice that makes his listenability slider go up to max. His vocals aren’t anything to write home about, but there’s simple nothing to not like about it.

He and an uncredited vocalist go Nas and AZ over MZ production on “Neva Did A Thing“, followed by “Can’t Help It“. The latter possibly being the most purely grimey track on TBCP. A rundown of the code given by teh streets of Dorchester, MA.

Things take a turn for the Blacker on “Black Prosperity” featuring Pac Money and it’s accompanying interlude. It’s here, SL unleashes a flash of just how dynamic he may be, over a sample from Lamont Dozier‘s “Let Me Make Love To You“; previously used on Remy Ma and Big Pun‘s “Thug Love”.

“We exercise our rights, they call terrorists/And got the nerve to wanna go and call me American/But I’m labeled a threat because my melanin”

It’s reminiscent of what Prodigy did on Hegelelian Dialectic, while also resembling 2Pac‘s “White Man’s World“.

The only drawback may be some confusion in the messenger, by fans. Hard to tell if SLIME LUCIANO is an everyday guy, messiah, drug-dealer or conscious poetic type. Let me help you: like the 2 aforementioned emcees, it’s all.

Overall, The Black Caesar:Prequel is a pleasant surprise and treat to the already flourishing underground Hip-Hop scene. One of the tightest, production-wise, we’ve seen all year. Otherwise, for that matter. With 10 tracks, 7 songs, it’s perfect in length, cohesive and still shows enough spectrum to keep you locked in at the same intensity throughout.

There is no reason, with consistency and positioning, that SLIME LUCIANO doesn’t become as common a name as the ones we already hail as “holding it down for real Hip-Hop”. No reason.

G-HOLY.COM, 2022.