This album was released on July 20th this year. Well… I’m actually not so sure about that. The official planned release date was July 20th, but I couldn’t find it anywhere until the 23rd, so that was kinda weird. Anyway, Doap Nixon is a member of one of my favorite Hip Hop collectives of all time, Army of the Pharaohs. However, I hadn’t checked out any of his solo work until recently. I think his first couple albums, Sour Diesel & Gray Poupon, are pretty good, but I was unfortunately unable to find his third album, Doap Traffiking. It’s apparently not available on Apple Music in the U.S., so that was annoying. Anyway, I saw one person referring to the first Sour Diesel album as an “underground classic,” which seems like a major stretch to me. I mean, it’s definitely a good album, but… I mean, that’s pretty much all it is. It’s just a good album. I have no idea why he labeled it as a classic. He’s the only person I’ve ever seen refer to it as a classic though, so I probably shouldn’t take that comment too seriously. Anyway, I don’t really have any expectations going into this album. I mean, I know it won’t be trash. I guess I’m expecting it to be decent at worst and great at best. Hopefully he’s able to surpass the first Sour Diesel project. Unfortunately I don’t have the production credits for this album; if anyone reading this does, please put them in the comments below or message me on Twitter. Anyway, I ended up not really thinking this album is very good unfortunately. It’s certainly not trash though. There are a handful of songs that I like, so I’ll talk about those real quick before getting into my criticisms. The intro is called 90’s, and I think it’s dope. The production has a more traditional boom bap style than I was expecting. It doesn’t sound like one of those loud, overly aggressive battle-oriented tracks that you’d hear on an AOTP project. It’s a pretty solid beat. I think the rapping from Doap Nixon is pretty good here too. The autobiographical content is actually pretty dope. The way he paints the picture of the older days when he was starting to get into rapping is pretty interesting. The song ends with audio of several of the pharaohs conversing about their younger days. I can’t recognize all of their voices; Vinnie Paz stood out for obvious reasons though lol. He actually spits the first verse on the second track, Murder Fantasia, and he did a great job. He sounds perfect over the super dark, grimy, evil sounding production, which is dope as hell by the way. It’s easily the best beat on the album. It sounds like something Conway the Machine should be spitting over. The one thing that kinda mars the song for me is the sung hook from Nita Ni. I don’t think it’s terrible; it certainly doesn’t completely ruin the track. However, I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t like this much more without her. I just don’t feel like anyone should be singing over this kind of production. It just doesn’t fit in my opinion. The second verse from Doap Nixon is pretty cool, but the production is my favorite aspect of the song. I’d like it more without the hook, but the track is still dope. The next song that I like was a single called Philly Streets.

The production is solid, and I think the first verse is pretty cool. It’s not amazing rapping or anything, but he did his thing. The scratches on the hook are a real nice touch too. I think the second verse is a little weak, but it’s not too bad. The third one’s a little better, but the first verse is definitely the best one. I think the song’s good, but it’s far from my favorite. I like it though. Body Count is my favorite track, and it’s really just because of the features. It’s the only song on the album that I really love. The production’s actually pretty dope. The first verse from Doap Nixon is okay, but Esoteric killed that second verse. Vinnie Paz’s verse was great too. However, I think Reef the Lost Cauze had the best verse. The way he came in at the end was dope as hell. Doap Nixon unfortunately had the weakest verse, but the song is still awesome. I love it. It’s dope af. The next song I like is called Drive By, which features Good Money. The beat is actually pretty solid, and I think Doap Nixon & Good Money have very good chemistry on this track together. I think I like this track even more than the previous collaborations they’ve done. The way they’re trading bars on this track is dope. None of the actual lines really stood out to me that much, but I still enjoyed the song. Even the hook is pretty good. The song is dope. The final song that I like from this album is actually the outro. I think it has one of the best beats on the album. It actually sounds pretty different from most of the other instrumentals. Maybe the rest of the album would’ve been better if more of the beats were jazzier, 90s-era sounding instrumentals like this. Doap Nixon’s verse on this track is relatively short, but the song is still pretty dope. The last minute or so of the track is just him thanking those who helped with the album. He mentions the producers, which included The White Shadow & C-Lance. I think it’s a dope outro. It’s actually one of the best songs on the album in my opinion. Unfortunately there are more songs that I disliked on this album than songs that I enjoyed. The first track that I really didn’t care for was Life You Gave Us. I think my biggest issue with this song is just the sung hook. It’s really bad. The beat is actually kinda dope. The way Doap Nixon was rapping on this song was surprisingly lame to me. His flow was generic as hell. It sounds like what you get when an old washed up rapper tries making a Trap song. It sounds like he’s trying really hard to sound cool. The content was pretty uninteresting too. This was way worse than I was expecting anything on the album to be. The production is really the only aspect that I like. The song is wack. Unfortunately the following track is pretty bad too. It has a generic Trap beat, and the sung hook from Lawrence Arnell is fucking terrible. One thing that kinda stood out to me about this album is Doap Nixon’s voice. I never had this issue with him in the past, but for some reason he sounds like Spawn from Atmosphere on this project. That’s not a good thing. I like Spawn a lot, but his super nerdy, white guy voice works with the way he raps. Doap Nixon’s content just makes it sound awkward as hell.

I gotta fetish for foreign whips & fur coats
Time to pull a Frank Lucas, get more dope

He just sounds lame unfortunately. V-Zilla actually killed the second verse. He sounded great. He’s definitely the one saving grace of the song. Unfortunately, it’s not nearly enough to save the track. I think this shit is terrible honestly. It’s probably the worst track on the album. The only other song that I thought was legitimately bad was Live My Life. I think the beat is actually pretty cool, and I guess the first verse from Doap Nixon is decent. However, once again, the hook from Lawrence Arnell is really fucking bad. I think it’s better than the one from We Are Not the Same, but that’s not saying much. The second verse from Doap Nixon sucks in my opinion. The way he started the verse was so fucking lame.

You ever heard about the holocaust?
That’s what we bring when we let them hollows off

That line… Man… I don’t even know how to articulate why I think that first line is so fucking dumb. Surely there was a better way to rhyme “holocaust” and “hollows off” than asking people if they are aware of one of the most infamous atrocities in history. It’s not the worst song on the album, but that’s probably not a good thing. It’s wack. I didn’t like the other tracks that I haven’t mentioned yet, but I don’t think they’re actually bad. They’re just mediocre to me. Still Brothers is an okay song, but I’m never gonna listen to it again. I think the first verse from Doap Nixon is solid. The instrumental is just a typical, traditional Hip Hop beat. It’s fine. The guest verse from Planetary didn’t really hold my attention on my first listen, oddly enough. However, I ended up thinking he had the better performance on the song after listening a few more times. The hook isn’t bad, but it doesn’t really add much to the song. Nothing about the song really stands out in a bad way. It’s a decent track, but it just doesn’t have any replay value for me. Same goes for the following track, Stop the Hating. I think the production on this one is actually pretty cool. I’m just not really crazy about Doap Nixon’s performance over it. He only spits one verse, and his flow just sounds really awkward and frankly amateurish. I think the vocal sample that comes in for the outro is pretty cool. Nothing about the song really stands out as being terrible. The song just feels unseasoned. It’s mediocre to me. Track 10 is a skit called Willy Wignut. It’s basically just a track where a bunch of old ass motherfuckers make fun of younger rappers for having dyed hair and being snitches. On paper it kinda just sounds like a boomer circle-jerk, but in actuality the track didn’t bother me that much. I never thought about how hilarious it is that dudes are putting beads in their braids like girls in the second grade. It’s still kind of a lame track, but it’s not too bad. It’s followed by a sequel to Just Venting, which was one of the best tracks from the first Sour Diesel album. I personally don’t think the production on Just Venting 2 is anything special, but it’s not bad. Unfortunately Doap Nixon’s rapping on this track isn’t very good. This nigga really had the nerve to say “I’m the shit like an enema” in 2019. Not only is it a terrible line, but it’s also just generic as fuck. It sounds like something Lil Yachty himself would say, which is especially ironic considering the skit that this song directly follows. By the end of the track, it pretty much just turns into a subliminal 6ix9ine diss, which is cool I guess. The verse isn’t terrible overall despite the enema line. It’s certainly not good though. I guess the song’s okay, but I’d never listen to it ever again. The penultimate track, The One, easily ended up being the most disappointing song on the album. I think the production from PokerBeats is pretty good, and Sean Price‘s verse is fucking awesome. However, it feels completely out of place. Doap Nixon spends the first verse practically eulogizing Sean Price, which is nice of him, but it doesn’t match the content of the second verse from Sean at all. Sean did what he was best at, which was being a grimy, hardcore mean MC. Doap Nixon obviously recorded his own verse after Sean’s death. The content doesn’t match at all. The sung hook is performed by an uncredited female vocalist, and it’s really fucking bad. It’s a really frustrating song because I like the beat, and I love Sean’s verse. The first verse and hook ruin it though. It’s mediocre to me overall.

This album is okay I guess. I think it’s easily the worst solo album I’ve heard from Doap Nixon, but it’s not bad. There’s some pretty bad material on it, but there’s also a decent amount of good stuff here. Pretty much all of the best moments come from the features, which is a little sad. After hearing this, I’m really not so sure that I even want to continue checking for Doap Nixon’s stuff in the future. He doesn’t sound like someone who needs to be rapping. His flow and delivery leave a lot to be desired, and his writing isn’t really very impressive at all. He’s actually the worst aspect of a lot of these songs, unless there’s a featured singer performing a hook. I guess that’s another thing I should mention; a lot of these hooks are really rough. I think the only reason anyone would need to check this out would be if they’re a big fan of AOTP. I mean, that’s the only reason I checked it out. It’s okay, but I’m probably not gonna remember that it even exists in a few weeks.

Favorite Song: Body Count
Least Favorite Song: We Are Not the Same

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