Working with Harry Fraud can be a scary proposition for any rapper. The Brooklyn-based producer always brings the heat, creating bodies of work that blend inventiveness, cohesion and agile sampling. With that said, it’s probably fair to say that if the collab isn’t up to scratch it’s probably due to a weak MC. Luckily for all parties involved, Jersey City rapper Ransom is more than up to the task on Lavish Misery, an eight-track dart that keeps the stakes low and thrives on being perfectly executed East Coast rap music.
Ransom has proved time and time again that he has a soft spot for single producer projects, including collaborations with Nicholas Craven, Big Ghost Ltd, Rome Streetz, and Statik Selektah. Perhaps it’s his penchant for mining related territory across multiple songs, or maybe a certain aesthetic helps him get into a flow, but regardless, it’s hard to argue with the results.
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Ransom has been coasting along as one of your favorite MC’s favorite MCs, and the songs on Lavish Misery are filled with quotable bars and bullshitting rhymes that are a reminder of how fun he can sound when he’s engaged and coming after necks.
On opener “Immaculate Conception,” which features weeping synths and dub-leaning chopped drums beneath an infectious guitar line, Ransom immediately sets the tone. The former A-Team MC knows how good he is, and throughout the project, he’s never afraid to say exactly that. His braggadocious rhymes are infectious, and it’s hard to argue with him when you hear how clever some of these rhymes are.
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The album intro should be the stuff of legend, an all-timer and immediate qualifier into the pantheon of celebrated opening tracks. He begins: “Yeah, I was born in a manger/ With stray and hay all around me/ Little Black, balled up baby Jesus/ Baby Jesus Ransom.” That would make the rest of “Immaculate Conception” the story of how Ransom became a God amongst men, right?
While his bars don’t quite inspire Godliness, they’re often quite stellar. On that opening track he wonders why he would sacrifice anything for today’s toxic culture — and he’s got a point. “They don’t wanna see Ran win, why go out like a marty/ When haters’ll see you walking on water and say you can’t swim/ Y’all ain’t gon do a damn thing, ain’t no flaws in my virtue,” he spits.
Elsewhere, on closer “AND 1,” Fraud cooks up another excellent beat with bouncing drums and funhouse mirror vocal samples — he goes eight-for-eight on the project. Ransom reflects on his journey from jail regular to Def Jam afterthought to where he’s at now: one of independent rap’s sturdiest voices. On the track, he raps: “It’s coming from a dude that’s seen it all and then some/ ‘Cause you gotta see the flaws to end one.”
More impressive than Ransom still standing is his top-tier lyricism and prudent storytelling, which sees him at his best on Lavish Misery.
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RELEASE DATE: March 8, 2024
RECORD LABEL: Momentum Entertainment/SRFSCHL
Listen to Lavish Misery below:
