This album was released on August 30th this year. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Shredders, they’re a group consisting of Doomtree artists P.O.S, Sims, Lazerbeak & Paper Tiger. I first became familiar with Doomtree after listening to P.O.S. The first album I ever heard from him was Audition, which was amazing to me. In fact, I think every album he released in the 2000s is amazing. My favorite project from him is still Never Better, and I doubt that’ll ever change. I’m always interested in whatever he’s doing though. He’s easily my favorite member of the Doomtree, but I think all of them are very talented. Dessa is the other standout member in my opinion. I haven’t been a fan of every project Sims has done in the past, but I do think he’s pretty good. I think my favorite album from him is Lights Out, but More Than Ever was a pretty great album too. I hadn’t heard all of his solo work until recently, which is why I’m just now getting to this album. I wanted to get more familiar with his work before checking this out. I haven’t heard every project from Lazerbeak or Paper Tiger though. However, I did check out that latest EP that Lazerbeak dropped in February. I didn’t care for it personally, but I guess I’m just not really into that style of Downtempo Ambient music. With that said, I think this has a pretty strong chance of being one of my favorite albums from 2019 because I loved the three singles that I heard. However, since this project is only 7 tracks, there’s not a lot of room for failure. I have faith that they’ll knock this outta the park though.

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So, this project didn’t quite end up being as amazing as I was expecting, but I still think it’s pretty great. There aren’t any tracks that I dislike, so I’ll talk about all of them in their proper order. The project begins with Suburban Base, which is one of the highlights for me.

I believe this was the second single released from the album if I’m not mistaken. The first verse from P.O.S didn’t really impress me that much to be honest, but it was cool. His hook is actually fire though. That’s really the aspect of the song that makes the song so good for me. The production is fantastic as well. Sims really killed the second verse.

My vision blown in the wind of if it will or if it won’t
Then again no one is comin’ to get ya
Better listen for the engine when it’s lit up
And the piston, “vren’a vren’a”
Piss and vinegar, venom and cynical vigor don’t get you up in it
Stop bitchin’ just get in and whip it
I go with it, so vivid
So vicious, isn’t it
My heart‘s light, my soul’s different
I beat back my depression with both fists

He definitely stood out the most in terms of the actual rapping on this track. In fact, I actually think Sims was the star of the show on this album. He really contributed the best verses on the project in my opinion, which was kind of a surprise for me. Kudos to him for that. With that said, his final verse on this track wasn’t quite as great, but it was still cool. The song is fire to me overall. I don’t think it’s perfect, but the hook and second verse are too good for me to not love it. It’s dope af. The following track is called Vanilla ISIS, and it was the final single from the album.

I think this track is fucking awesome. It’s definitely my favorite song on the album. The bouncy, almost Bay Area sounding production is surprisingly dope, and P.O.S killed the first verse. His flow was great. The hook is catchy as fuck too. Sims killed the second verse as well.

Whoa, it’s a whole fuckin’ thing
Type of fear the alt-right finds comforting
Yeah, it’s a whole ducking thing
“Libtard cuck!” yells the proud boy puppeting

I also thought the final verse from P.O.S was great. I honestly think the song is flawless. There’s nothing about this track that I don’t love. It’s probably my favorite song that Shredders have ever made. It’s dope af. It’s followed by the first single from the album, Ayeyayaya.

The beat seems to sample that weird metallic noise that appeared in Jay-Z’s Where I’m From, and was later sampled in Kanye West’s Saint Pablo. I think the first verse from Sims is pretty cool. The hook isn’t bad, but it’s not as entertaining as the previous couple in my opinion. The second verse from P.O.S is great, and the final verse from Sims is pretty nice too. This is definitely my least favorite single from the album, but it’s still very enjoyable for me. It’s dope. The following track is called Shadap You Face, Pt. II, and it’s apparently a successor to a song by an artist named Joe Dulce, which was originally released in 1980.

I uh… I haven’t heard the original song. Anyway, this is definitely a highlight on the album for me. I really just love the content of the song. I like the production, but it’s not amazing or anything; the lyricism is what makes the song stand out to me. The second verse in particular really resonated with me.

It’s a few degrees better than somethin’ worth leavin’
Though hardly a reason for me to believe in
Nation State, gender bait, race bait, self hate, speed date
Capitalism in its late stage

P.O.S’ lyrics kinda paint the picture of a black guy working in an office setting surrounded by white people who have never interacted with a person of color before.

It’s so easy to amaze
When they don’t expect standards or think you can behave
It’s pretty easy to impress when something tells them
You’re not worth the 40 hours or the check

If I had to choose one over the other, I’d say that I have a slight preference of P.O.S’ rapping on this track, but they’re pretty much neck & neck in my opinion. The song is dope af. The next track is called Young Bros, and it’s honestly kind of a low point on the album for me.

I definitely still like the song though. I love how P.O.S started the song with an interpolation of Chuck D’s first verse from Bring the Noise. He had a pretty good performance on this track. The hook is underwhelming in my opinion, but not bad. The production is cool, and Sims’ verse is solid. Again, it’s definitely one of the weakest tracks on the album, but I still like it. It’s just that nothing about it really wows me or blows me away. It’s still pretty good though; I fuck with it. The following track is called Chips, and it’s even more underwhelming in my opinion, but I do like it. I think the political content is cool, but there aren’t really any other aspects of the song that stand out. The production isn’t really that impressive to me; not that it’s bad, but it just isn’t super memorable in my opinion. The whole track is just two verses one after another, and they’re good, but overall the song just feels relatively flat. I did enjoy it to some extent though. It’s pretty good. The closing song is a solo track from Sims called It Was Written…Again, and I honestly think that it’s actually the best rap performance on the whole album.

Eenie-meenie, pick a flow
Me and P.O on that misanthrope pick and roll
Stick and poke, tell you what the litmus show
Ain’t a difference from the blue blood and indigo

I really like the production too. I will admit that I kinda think it’s odd that P.O.S is completely absent from the closing track. I mean, it kinda sounds like he helps with the chanted outro, but you can’t really tell. With that said, this is probably my second favorite track on the album. Sims killed this shit. It’s dope af.

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This album is great. Again, it’s not quite as amazing as I was expecting it to be, but it’s definitely an improvement over the first Shredders album. I really appreciate them trimming the fat and putting out this quick album. It almost feels like more of an EP than a full album though because it’s less than half an hour long. When you have a short 7-track album like this, every single song has to hit, and they thankfully succeeded on that front. I was hoping that every single track would be as amazing as the second and third singles, which sadly didn’t end up being the case, but I really can’t call this a disappointing album. My expectations were honestly probably unrealistic. As I stated earlier, I really think Sims was the star of the show on this album. He contributed most of the best verses in my opinion. The production ranges from slightly above average to really awesome. P.O.S definitely had some dope moments on this project, but he didn’t steal the show on every single track like I’m used to. Anyway, I’m definitely satisfied with this release, and hopefully they’re able to surpass this album in the future. Check it out. This shit is dope.

Favorite Song: Vanilla ISIS
Least Favorite Song: Chips

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Watch the video below for more thoughts on this album.