By: James W.
Atlanta based rap group, The Gxng, released their debut album “Welcome to the Gxng” back in November 2014. The 15-track album tells the story of group members Jay-El, Felix St. Cool, and Treez waking up from the American Dream and their pursuit to live a life of luxury.The album was completely recorded, produced and mixed by the group.
“Glxry” is the first song on the album following a brief intro where each member gets to showcase their bars over a mellow beat. From the get go The Gxng delivers a classic hip hop feel that has been missing from rap mainstream rap music. The next track is “American Pie” featuring Hunter West. Here The Gxng taps into their listener’s consciousness, rapping about how America is feeding it’s citizens lies and how they are on the come up reaching for their own slice of the pie.
The album starts to pick up the tempo with the upbeat sounds of “Revolution” and the easy going feel good jam “Beautiful Dreamer” featuring Jasmine Lauren. You get the feeling that the The Gxng is speaking straight from the heart in “Beautiful Dreamer” encouraging listeners to listen to their dreams and keep moving even through tough times. The song flows into the next track on the album, “Perfect 9,” a me and my girl against the world type song for the ladies.
Its almost impossible to stop your head from bobbing as the album speeds into it’s climax. The middle of the album is arguably the group’s best efforts with “Sorry (Unapologetic),” Wolf,” and “D.W.T.D (Dance With The Devil)” Here is where the group really turns up the heat with banging beats and viciously crafty lyrics.
“Cali” featuring Lontastic, keeps the energy up and while it’s not their best lyrical effort the wonderfully crafted beat more than makes up for any shortcomings. The album begins to unwind with “Easy.” The Gxng slows the music down to attack their listener’s consciousness again. “Signs” brings the album back to its American dreaming theme with targeted raps discussing many issues that young people are facing in America today.
“Stizzlewicks (What’s Up)” didn’t really fit the mold of the album and the song felt like the group was out of their element. The songs “Down” and “Welcome to the Gxng” wraps up the project on a good note. Overall “Welcome to the Gxng” is a solid debut album for the independent rap crew. For fans of classic hip hop this album is a refresher from mainstream swag/pop rap. The production and mixing of the songs were done well and you can expect for the group’s lyrics to become even more dynamic as they develop their craft. Here at the BZB we give “Welcome to the Gxng” a solid 8 out of 10 and we recommend that you check it out and be the judge of the up and coming groups debut project.
The album is available for listening or purchase on iTunes, Tidal, or Spotify. You can also purchase the album here for $7.