This album was released on April 12th this year. This is the debut self titled album from a newly formed duo consisting of Tragedy Khadafi & Vinnie Paz. I’ve heard pretty much every album Vinnie Paz has ever been involved in, and I’ll be posting my rating of his discography tomorrow. I haven’t heard as much of Tragedy Khadafi’s work. I haven’t heard any of those Thug Matrix projects he dropped. I’ve just heard his first four albums, along with The Death of Tragedy. I’ve enjoyed all the shit I’ve heard from him to some extent, aside from Against All Odds. That album is not good. It pretty much sounds like a Nastradamus-era Nas album. The production is really fucking bad. My favorite project that I’ve heard from him is definitely the second album he did as Intelligent Hoodlum, Tragedy: Saga of a Hoodlum. I think he’s a good rapper, but the one consistent issue I’ve had with his albums is the production. It’s all really dated. Especially on that Against All Odds record. He actually sounds a lot like Nas to me. You might think it might have something to do with him being from Queensbridge, but I’m not just talking about the way he speaks and raps. Even his voice sounds really similar to Nas in my opinion. That’s not really a problem for me though. It’s just something I noticed. Anyway, I think I’m gonna really like this project. I’m more excited for Vinnie Paz’s contributions to this project. I probably wouldn’t be checking this out if it was just a solo Tragedy Khadafi project, even though I think he’s a good rapper. They’ve worked together multiple times in the past, and I’ve always enjoyed what they did together, so I think this shit is gonna be dope. I have the production credits for ALMOST every track. For some reason I couldn’t find out who produced tracks 4 & 9, which is annoying. I guess it’s not that big of a deal though.

1. Bloody Jungle produced by Stu Bangas

This beat is pretty hard. It’s kind of melodic, yet gritty at the same time. Vinnie’s on the first verse. It’s typical Vinnie Paz. You should know what to expect from him if you’ve heard his music before. He’s just rapping about hard, gangsta shit. One thing I’ve noticed is that for the past few years he’s been ending a lot of his verses by saying “stupid.” I’m not sure exactly when he started doing that, but now whenever he does it I think of 6ix9ine saying “STOO-PED.” Anyway, his verse was pretty dope. That line about shooting a guy in the 6-pack with a bullet the size of a tic-tac was kinda cool. The hook from Tragedy is kinda cool. I got some slightly homophobic vibes from it, but it’s not too bad I guess.

Ya whole wardrobe comin’ out ya girl’s closet
You need to get back inside the closet

It’s weird that he’s telling people to get back in the closet. I guess that’s a typical homophobic request though. “I’m fine with you being gay. Just don’t be gay around me.” Maybe I’m overthinking it. Anyway, Tragedy actually doesn’t really sound like Nas at all here. I guess it shouldn’t be surprising to me. I mean, the last album I actually listened to from him was from 2007, so it makes sense that he would sound different these days. His verse was pretty good. I liked Vinnie’s more, but he wasn’t bad at all. I wasn’t crazy about the way it ended, but it started off really good. This is a pretty dope track. I fuck with it.

2. Canaan’s Bracelet featuring Iron Sheikh & Agallah produced by C-Lance

The beat on this track is really dope. I’m not familiar with this Iron Sheikh person. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard a verse or two from Agallah in the past, but I don’t really remember his voice, so I won’t be able to say which verse is his or Iron Sheikh’s. Vinnie Paz sounds great over this beat. I feel like his voice somehow gets better on every album. It’s really aging like a fine wine. Goddamn. Tragedy Khadafi sounds EXACTLY like Nas on this second verse. I don’t know why he sounded different on the previous track. I like the verse though. Okay, that’s Iron Sheikh on the third verse. His verse was fine. I can’t say I’m really impressed, but it wasn’t bad. Agallah’s verse was better. It still wasn’t amazing or anything though. Overall, this is a pretty solid track. I think I like it slightly more than the previous one. I like the way this song is structured. It’s just four verses, one after another. The features didn’t really impress me that much, but I didn’t mind them at all. This is pretty dope. I fuck with it.

3. A Warrior’s Fate produced by Giallo Point

Giallo Point is someone whose name I’ve seen a lot on Twitter, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard any of his work. Anyway, this beat is REALLY fuckin’ hard. I’d love to hear Conway over a beat like this. Tragedy doesn’t sound like Nas that much on this first verse. It’s kinda weird that he only sounds like Nas sometimes. His verse was pretty solid. None of the lines really stood out to me, but he sounded good rapping. The hook is nothing special, but it works. Vinnie Paz’s verse was fine. Huh. You know, I definitely enjoyed this song to some extent, but nothing about it really stands out to me that much. The beat is probably my favorite aspect of the song, and even that got kinda old after a while. I still think this is a good track though. It’s definitely not one of my favorites so far, but I enjoyed it to some extent.

4. Cinematic Echo

Damn. This beat is really dope. Fuck, man. I wish I knew who produced it. Tragedy sounds a lot like Nas again. This is probably my favorite verse from him on the whole album so far.

Camouflage Regime
Outstanding with gleam
Conviction when I spit what I mean
Khadaf’ spit dark like track marks on the arm of a fiend

He killed that shit honestly. The hook is nothing special, but it gets the job done. It sounds a lot like a Nas song. The second verse from Vinnie Paz was solid, but Tragedy came right back in after Vinnie and stole the show all over again. He definitely had the better performance on this track. It’s not like Vinnie was bad on this song; he just didn’t really stand out that much to me. Tragedy is what makes this song so good. This is definitely my favorite track on the album so far. I love the beat, and Tragedy rapped really well over it. It’s dope af.

5. Jummah Rituals produced by C-Lance

This beat is pretty average. The first verse from Vinnie is alright, but he’s using a lot of words I don’t know, like “inshallah,” “janazah,” “kafir,” “Ka’bah,” “Sunnah,” and “kiswah.” I think it’s religious shit. I don’t know. His verse was fine I guess. The hook from Tragedy is nothing special. Tragedy definitely had a better verse than Vinnie in my opinion. I enjoyed this song, but it’s definitely one of the weaker tracks so far. I wasn’t really that impressed by the production. In fact, the only thing that really stood out to me about this song was Tragedy’s verse, and even that wasn’t amazing or anything. I did enjoy this song to some extent overall though. I like it.

6. Fibre Optic Weapons featuring Heavy Metal Kings produced by Giallo Point

Oh fucking shit. This beat is dope af. This is definitely the best beat on the album so far. I love how dark it sounds. The first verse from Tragedy is pretty dope. The scratching on the hook is great. Ill Bill killed that second verse. I don’t know why the hell he’s been sounding like Sean Price so much lately though. Not that I have a huge problem with it. It’s just kinda weird to me. Vinnie Paz did his thing on the last verse. Ill Bill definitely had my favorite verse on this song though. Anyway, overall I think this song is really great. It’s certainly one of my favorite tracks on the album so far. However, I have to admit that the main reason I love it so much is because of the production. None of the verses were bad at all though. This is a great track. I think it’s dope af.

7. Nocturnal Militia produced by C-Lance

The piano-driven beat on this track is cool. It’s not amazing or anything, but I like it. Once again, Tragedy Khadafi sounds just like Nas on this first verse. Seriously, if somebody told me this was a new Nas verse I would believe them. It’s uncanny. Anyway, the verse itself was actually pretty goddamn good. The hook is nothing special, but it works. Vinnie Paz’s verse was fine. He hasn’t really been impressing me as much as he usually does on this record to be honest. I mean, he’s been pretty good. He’s typically better than “pretty good” though. I wasn’t expecting to be more impressed by Tragedy Khadafi on this album, but for a lot of songs so far—including this one—that’s been the case. Anyway, I think this is a pretty good song. The hook is nothing special, but I like the beat, and Tragedy did a great job with the first verse. Vinnie did his thing too. This is dope.

8. The Most Gracious produced by Stu Bangas

The beat on this track is really dope. It’s a lot more melodic than most of the other beats so far, and it has this rising sound that sounds like wind blowing. The first verse from Tragedy Khadafi was nice. I think he MIGHT have been referencing the Call of Duty games at the end, but I’m not completely sure. He just said “black ops, I’m a ghost.” I’m not sure if that reference was intentional. It’s not really that clever. I like how he comes right back in for a second verse. It wasn’t amazing or anything, but he sounded pretty good. Ha. Vinnie Paz called Lonzo Ball ugly. He’s right. Lonzo Ball looks like an inbred version of Drake. Sorry. That was mean. Anyway, I like this song, but it’s far from one of my favorites on the album. The beat got old pretty quickly, and none of the verses really impressed me that much. Tragedy Khadafi definitely had the better performance in my opinion. It’s a cool song. Nothing amazing or anything, but I enjoyed it to some extent. It’s good.

9. Thought Machine

The beat on this track is nothing special. It’s fine though. The first verse from Tragedy Khadafi was really good. That line about lobotomizing weak rappers was kind of awesome. The hook’s nothing special. Vinnie Paz had a really nice verse. He actually probably had the better verse to be honest. This shit is hard. It’s not amazing or anything, but I like it. The production and hook kinda left something to be desired, but overall I enjoyed this track. This is dope to me.

10. Persian Legacy produced by C-Lance

This beat is pretty cool. It’s not amazing or anything, but I like it. The first verse from Vinnie was pretty great. He had one really oddly misogynistic line in there though.

A man do the heavy lifting, bitches do the dishes

I’m not sure where that came from. The hook isn’t that great, but it’s still more interesting than the majority of the other hooks on this project. Tragedy still sounds like Nas on this track. His verse was good. The closing lines sound exactly like something Nas would say.

For those locked in The Beacon, and trapped on Rykers Island
Hold your crown in that cell, and seek for more enlightenment
Let my lines be the strength and power you need to fight with
All relies on your energy, go hard and ignite it

Anyway, this is another really dope song. I can’t say anything about it really blew me away, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. I don’t have any major complaints. This is dope to me.

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This is a really good album. The production is pretty solid throughout the whole project. It’s not gonna really blow anyone away though. I was surprisingly more impressed with Tragedy’s performance on this project. Vinnie wasn’t bad, but it just didn’t really seem like he was operating at his best here. I wasn’t blown away by any of his verses like I usually am. It’s like he wasn’t putting as much effort into this project as he does with his solo & JMT records. He said this is the most fun he’s had in a long time making music, which is honestly kinda hard to believe. I wouldn’t say he sounds uninspired, but it certainly doesn’t sound like he has more passion or excitement to be rapping than he normally does. I don’t wanna come off too critical of this album because I did enjoy it. I just feel like it could’ve been better. The hooks are probably this album’s biggest weakness. They aren’t terrible or anything. They’re just not that good. They feel like a waste of time. Any time they were on I was impatiently waiting for them to start rapping again. The hooks add pretty much nothing to the songs in my opinion. But yeah overall I enjoyed this record. If we get more Camouflage Regime records in the future, I hope this ends up being their worst album because I only want them to go up from here. It’s dope though. I fuck with it.

Favorite Song: Cinematic Echo
Least Favorite Song: Jummah Rituals

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