Infinity

the take

To be quite honest, I've never really bothered to check out Smif-N-Wessun's music outside of their debut album "Dah Shinin'" because... well, how can you top a classic album such as that? Plus, with "Dah Shinin'" being a defining rap album during my major exploration of 90's rap, I didn't want to have such high expectations in the duo's preceding work. Well, one day, I've saw a video on YouTube of the duo being interviewed by Sway Calloway promoting their newest album, "Infinity". I didn't finish the entire thing, but from what I've seen, Tek and Steele are still putting out music at their own pace. And with the portion of the interview I've seen being so good due to them dropping wisdom and gems on their time in the industry (so far), that made me check out their latest album. I knew from the jump I wasn't getting another "Bucktown" or "Wreckonize" or anything similar, but I was okay with that. If anything, "Infinity" coincides with Smif-N-Wessun's interview with Sway: they both showcase the growth and maturity of both Tek and Steele. Granted, their lyricism isn't exactly mindblowing, as it's your run-of-the-mill modern New York rap. Still, they manage to make an interesting album even with 30-plus years in the rap game, with some of that attributing to the beat selection not being dated. It also goes to show that they got plenty of features that were all good, from small up-and-coming artists (Sweata, Jalisa) to current hip-hop rapper Conway the Machine to older respected artists like Ralph Tresvant of New Edition fame and Buckshot Shorty of Black Moon. "Infinity" isn't one of those albums that'll get a lot of love in the mainstream, but if you love either New York rap or Smif-N-Wessun in general, this one is definitely worth checking out.