Mozzy vs. Philthy Rich: Checking out their new albums

One could argue that while it is not getting as much exposure as it used to in the mid- to late 90s (except for a brief return with the Hyphy movement circa 2005-2007), the Northern California rap scene is amongst the most prolific there are. It’s yielded a bunch of great talent like Too Short, E-40, Mac Dre, C-Bo, Yukmouth, San Quinn and many more. It's also built a solid reputation for the independent grind of its artists, most of them controlling their own labels and with movements of their own. The Northern California scene is also known for the many beefs between acts.

Sacramento’s Mozzy and Oakland’s Philthy Rich are great examples of that. Both have released well over 20 projects each in the 10+ years they’ve been rapping, showing their dedication and hard work. They also recently engaged into a full fledged war of words with each other, exchanging a slew of diss tracks in the last couple of months. These two were frequent collaborators and there’s no denying Philthy Rich helped Mozzy grow his listeners base, featuring him on many of his projects post-2014. They even put out a joint album with “Political Ties” in 2016, and are part of the One Mob group together with Lil Blood, Joe Blow and Lil AJ.

I’m not going to go over what started this beef as it’s well documented already online, but you can check out Philthy’s recent interview with Adam22 on the No Jumper podcast to find out more.

Not that I am a fan of rap beef, but one positive thing that can come out of it is new music. And this is exactly what this has lead to, with both Philthy and Mozzy releasing just last week new projects, “East Oakland Legend” and “Internal Affairs” respectively. Great timing for them and their label (they both have a deal with Empire) as streaming and sales will surely benefit from the buzz around their rivalry. Can’t say I’m a huge fan of either one of them but I like listening to their music from time to time and both have released notable albums before. So I figured I’d take time to listen to both projects and share my thoughts on here. Are both albums holding up to the hype?

Philthy Rich - East Oakland Legend

Rumored to be his last album before retirement, Philthy’s “East Oakland Legend” is rather short. Boasting a 14-song tracklist (12 for the physical version), 3 of which are skits, the album did not look promising to me before its release. Not that length matters so much, but last time he released a short solo project with “Sem God”, quality was not there either. But after a few listens, I have to say that I underestimated this one.

First of all, I liked the overall concept for the album which is all about stating Philthy’s hard-earned status as a legend in East Oakland. From the intro and interludes provided by now reformed drug kingpin Lil’ D, to the features from Oakland rap veterans (Too Short, Richie Rich, Dru Down, Keak Da Sneak and Yukmouth all make appearances), to the production revisiting classic songs from the Luniz and Dru Down, the album does an impeccable job in executing the rapper’s vision.

The beats, for the most part provided by The Mekanix, are top quality, and while Philthy’s lyrics aren’t incredible and are very repetitive (talking about his money, his cars mainly), he makes a pretty compelling case as to why he should be regarded as a legend. Some highlights are the Kamaiyah-featured “Break the Bank” and the posse cut “Get Some”. The song “Passing the Torch serves as a statement from Philthy on why he feels he can retire, i.e. having accomplished all that he wanted in the rap game and moving on to other hustles. If the album is probably one of his most well-put together projects in his last 5 years, I wished it was longer and he had gotten more introspective on it.

Mozzy - Internal Affairs

One thing for sure is that Mozzy’s popularity has grown increasingly over the last couple of years, from being featured on the “Black Panther” movie soundtrack to getting a shoutout by Kendrick Lamar at the Grammys. Each new project of his garners a lot of attention and is hugely anticipated. “Internal Affairs” is no different. Much like Philthy’s, this album is fairly short, lasting just less than 40 minutes, with several cuts being more rapped interludes than full songs. Fact remains that this album is put together just as well as Philthy’s and the quality is here. The contents here are in line with what we’ve heard from Mozzy before with a mix of introspective lyrics and street stories over dark upbeat production from his usual collaborators such as June Onna Beat.

The guest features complement Mozzy's raw delivery very well and each song flows smoothly into the next, so much so that by the end of the album, you feel you've just listened to a very cohesive ensemble of songs. The diss tracks to Philthy are here of course but come secondary to the rest of the album. My personal favorites are "Just My Luck", "Shine'n For Diamond" for which he shot the video embedded above, "More Than Rappin" (probably my number one song on here) and "Firearm On Me". But really, there's not one song I'd skip on "Internal Affairs". The only complaint I will make is that I really wished this was a longer album. It feels more like an EP than album actually due to the relatively short playing time.

 

Verdict

Both albums are definitely worth checking out and I'm sure will satisfy fans of both rappers. They are worth picking up also if only because Philthy's is supposedly his last and the two projects feature the most notable diss tracks from their beef (so serve as pieces of the history between the two). These albums are well executed and I'd recommend copping both. But if you had to choose one, I'd go for Mozzy's "Internal Affairs" for its lyrical contents and the replay value.