Killah Priest – The Exorcist (5-19-2009)

Posted on May 20 in Reviewsby adminPrint

Killah Priest once served as an intrical factor in the entire Killa Bees movement but time and mentalities has all but torn the Wu Tang Clan and its affiliates apart. Followers of mid to late 90’s rap music should need no introduction to Killah Priest or his noteworthy accomplishments over the years. His dark outlook on life and death can be dissected deeply on anyone of his seven solo albums released since 1998 or the two joints he dropped with the now defunct Sunz Of Man. His latest effort The Exorcist serves as his first in three years.

Killah Priest comes out firing Chinese SKS rounds on the stellar album intro that just happens to play more like a standout track. “Silent Assassin” features sounds that are sure to take any essence loving hip-hop lovers back to the mid 90’s as Killah spits a vivid murder tale. Honestly I’m not absolutely sure what Killah is going on about on “Gateway” but I have great reason to believe that it’s something about death and religion; whatever it is, it sounds pretty decent. Killah Priest delivers some of the collection’s best work over sinister backdrops on tracks such as “Warfare” and “Nothing Like It.”

Killah makes his first slip up as he starts out on some 2Pac shit on the misdirected “Pride.” On top of that the second half of the album starts to get very bland as tracks like “Haunted” and “Fame” just don’t quite live up to the previously set standards of the album. On “None Of That” Killah proves to be one of the only rappers to ever not be all about girls, cars, and cash which makes today a historical moment in hip-hop history. On the closing “Science Projects” Killa Priest paints the fucked up reality of life in the hood.

Though Killah Priest’s wisdom and outlook on life will be ultimately lost by the ears of modern hip-hop listeners, his core group of followers should definitely respect where he’s coming from. With The Exorcist Killah Priest does perfectly what most aging artist need to do better and that’s just being himself. The Exorcist also serves as a mile marker proving that Killah Priest still has at least a few more quality joints up his sleeve. Real hip-hop listeners might really want to take the time to get into this hidden treasure!

VERDICT – 14 / 20
LYRICS: 3
PRODUCTION: 4
DELIVERY: 4
CONSISTENCY: 3