Anthony Easton: Not afraid to ask the hard questions!
[Video][Website]
[4.29]
Anthony Easton: Y’all want to tell me that Lorde misunderstood what was happening in hiphop?
[1]
Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: God Bless NORE – I laughed at the jokey scatology and dick-wiggling present in his verse here. He may have just written this verse in the space between 1997-2001, back when he was rhyming “let us be” with “hospital”. (For the record, he pronounced it “hospitee”.) There’s minor figures who become loveable off their reliability, and that’s exactly what NORE is to us. Termanology is a syllable-slinger but he’s not a presence. It can be hard to find him under a Latin Quarter breakbeat and a fit of gun-clack percussion.
[6]
Alfred Soto: I don’t know what part of Miami this dude in where models and Cubans mingle. And good luck finding a neighborhood with all the money; we have bigger problems with local mediocre rap heroes.
[3]
Brad Shoup: Term’s got the kind of voice I don’t hear much on the radio. He’s from New England, but that’s a big an indictment of New York hip-hop as I can think of. So it’s more a pleasure listening to his flow than breaking it down into punchlines and references, you know? I thought I’d feel the same way about Noreaga; he’s never had the strongest grip on the beat, but he’s showing Cappadonna levels of slippage here. Normally I’d probably dock the track for waiting 30 seconds to get to it, but a half-minute of Big Pun cracking goofy works for me. The sample floats like it’s rolling through a block over.
[6]
Rebecca A. Gowns: Yecch, what a gross verse from NORE. I wasn’t expecting that. The backing track is thin; if we’re talking Goya, it’s more water than bean. Termanology has a good flow, and I like that he hits the ground running on this. It’s such a promising start! Shame that he seems to give up on it halfway through; the song winds down almost embarrassed of itself.
[4]
Patrick St. Michel: Clever hook and Termanaology sounds good, but man that N.O.R.E. verse is clunky as heck.
[5]
Crystal Leww: The track doesn’t pop, probably because the hook is weak, but Termanology is a good rapper. It’s a mixtape track, a good one, but still a mixtape track.
[5]