Los Angeles duo Chase Infinite and DJ Khalil have been staples of the left coast underground for some time now, despite not having an LP since 2001’s acclaimed The Self Science. In the meantime, they’ve both kept busy with mixtapes (such as this year’s dope God’s & Gangsters), and respective guest work. Finally, the emcee/producer combo has returned, and it looks like they are hoping to invoke some Change.
They may not have the audience size to spark a revolution, but Chase’s thoughtful, socially-charged rhymes are certainly enough to get you thinking. The album’s lead-in cut and title track gives you just that as Chase blazes his opening verse over an ill high-powered Khalil beat. The dopeness continues with “Balance“ and gets taken up a notch for the Bun B assisted banger “King Kong.”
In a true testament to the talents of Khalil, he follows up his street anthem with a soul-dripping song (“Tears“), without missing a beat. Once again, Chase is up to the task of matching the tracks emotion and vibe. The true pinnacle comes with the lead-single though as “Live N Breathe“ is not only the best song on this album but one of the illest songs of the year. Chase gets his story tell on over Khalil’s layered strings and ridiculous, chopped vocal sample.
Other moments of head-nodding satisfaction include the jumpin’ “What You Need,” “Free Will“ and the unnamed bonus track. In fact, the only questionable song is their club anthem “2 Step.” I wouldn’t call it a bad song, but they clearly sound out of their comfort zone.
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Like so many other dope albums that come out below the surface, the SoCal duo will likely be slept on. Even more unfortunate is that the change they are pleading for will not be coming anytime soon. At least you can make a difference and cop this.
