Chrisean Rock is looking to move in the grace of God, sharing a video of her baptism on Instagram. The baptism took place in the Transformation Church in Oklahoma.
In the supporting caption, Chrisean thanked God for “cleansing my heart and welcoming me into Your family.”
Gracious God, today I rejoice in the promise of new life that baptism symbolizes. Thank You for cleansing my heart and welcoming me into Your family. As I rise from these waters, may I walk in the light of Your Spirit and grow in the love of Christ each day. Guide my steps, uphold me in faith, and help me to live out Your truth in all I do. Amen.
Brooklyn, New York emcees Rock & Ruste Juxx teaming up for a brand new collaborative LP. One of whom is a member of the Boot Camp Clik as well as the now defunct subgroups Heltah Skeltah & The Fab 5 alongside the late Sean Price while the other was a protege of Ruck making his debut on Heltah Skeltah’s sophomore effort Magnum Force. They’ve crossed paths with one another countless times in the span of 26 years & to commemorate almost a decade of Sean’s passing, they’re getting together to take us through Crownsville.
The title track is a morbid boom bap opener representing Brownsville & Crown Heights respectively whereas “Black Out” has a soulful flare to the beat proudly wearing the borough that made them on their sleeves. “Vehicular Manslaughter” produced by D-Block Records in-house producer Vinny Idol works in more kicks & snares laying out some of their hardest verses on the album prior to “Crash Ya Whip” aggressively making y’all choose one of the 6,000,000 ways to die.
After the Bernadette Price Speaks skit, “Sean Lives On” serves as a sincere tribute to P with a ghostly boom bap instrumental while “B-83” sorta dabbles with trap feeling like an open hand palm slap so they can flex their status as nuclear bomb threats. “Ruck Down” brings a rap rock vibe to the table thanks to Bumpy Knuckles representing Sean’s independently owned Duck Down Music Inc. subsidiary Ruck Down Records, but then “Change Nothing” featuring Frankie Storm finds the trio linking up advising the listener to not switch-up.
“Dust Pan” has a fun back-&-forth chemistry from Rock & Ruste cautioning that your whole team will get swept fucking with them for roughly 135 seconds while “Kings County” pulls inspiration from rock music again instrumentally shouting out the titular Brooklyn county. “Wotcha Call Strength” by the Boot Camp Clik finishes Crownsville by having the collective reuniting for the first time since 2007 for a high-energy 6 minute closer that The Arcitype laced.
Knowing both artists’ individual history with Sean Price, it’s only right that they joined forces for the duration of an entire album & one that would make Sean proud if he was still with us today. Rock & Ruste elevate their chemistry over the course of 33 minutes other than a couple guests backed by the sounds of boom bap, a hint of trap & of course samples of rock & soul music.
Rock is a 46 year old MC from Brooklyn, New York notable for being a member of the Boot Camp Clik collective & 1/2 of the duo Heltah Skeltah alongside the late Sean Price. He & Ruck were also 2/5 of The Fab 5 with O.G.C. despite the fact that they never put out a full-length debut as a quintet. The Rockness Monsta has also given us a couple mixtapes as well as a full-length debut & an EP, the latter of which just came out this past spring. But for his sophomore effort right here, he’s enlisting Manhattan producer Ron Browz behind the boards for the entire thing.
“Lettuce & Cabbage” is a rugged boom bap opener with Rock attacking anyone who dares to step up to him whereas “Pay Me” works in a more symphonic trap instrumental talking about being the best. “Flamboyant” returns to the boom bap to declare his gun game as such leading into Method Man tagging along for the cacophonous trap banger “Beastie Boyz” talking about being beasts in their own rights.
Meanwhile on “Billy Joel”, we have Rock on top of another orchestral trap beat much like “Pay Me” brushing off the negative shit that they try to throw his way just before Bo Blackk & Milly D.O.D. come into the picture for “Feast” which I like the suspenseful production & the subject matter about being different, but the features just don’t do it for me personally with all respect. “Got It Movin’” blends some dramatic strings with hi-hats & snares acknowledging that he makes it look easy, but then “Faith” with The Last American B-Boy & Ron dives into jazzy yet soulful boom bap turf talking about not wanting smoke with them.
“Shark Tank” with Ruste Juxx & Steele returns to a more symphonic trap sound yet again flexing their lyricism while the song “Hood Up” brings it back to soulful territory talking about how you should always rep where you came from no matter where you shine. The penultimate track “Squad” with The Last American B-Boy embraces a dustier vibe to rep their crew & “The Answer” sends the album off with a cheerful trap hit with the lyrics coming from a more introspective place.
Of the 2 solo albums that Rock has given us in the last 5 years, Ether Rocks just might be my new favorite of the pair thus far. He sounds passionate & proves that he can still very much hold it down on his own this deep in his career, but a lot of the trap stuff that Ron Browz whips up sounds samey to me. That being said, the boom bap beats that he delivers suit the Rockness Monsta’s much better.
