Album Review - “Hell’s Kitchen” by MADD KEYS, AFTdth, & SWAGERTY

The concept of a collaboration album without a defined leader could perhaps be one of the more difficult feats to achieve in hip-hop, as history has routinely sold the image of a clear-cut leader heading the pack. Whether it's Eminem with D12, 50 Cent with G-Unit, or Nelly with the St. Lunatics, a front-man is often a reliable way to gauge the musical power dynamics.

However, when there is no defined leader and everyone is on equal footing, that is nothing short of musical magic. This group synergy is much of the case with MADD KEYS, AFTdth, & SWAGERTY, whose latest project Hell’s Kitchen, features the three artists creating such magic, feeling less like three separate entities, but more in line with a collective marking a proper snapshot of the hip-hop world as it currently stands or perhaps where it should go next. 

Over the ten songs, perhaps the greatest flex between the three artist is their ability to craft a song without rapping for the sake of rapping, nor stepping on each other's toes trying to impose their individualism. In the best way, their art more aligns with Lox than Slaughterhouse. 

Highlighting their chemistry is their track "Universal Law,” a hustler's ambition theme song where the trio crafts inspiration through bars without sacrificing the quality of the unique magnetism. Between the effortless nature of AFTdth, the vivid picture painting of SWAGERTY or Madd Keys, who by nature is a world-class shit talker, their effort resembles more a passionate speech from a group of best friends rather than a three-minute track made for the sake of studio time. 

Through the nine-track project, the album blends life lessons through songs like (“We Can't Eat Together”), near-adorable tunes with repeatable hooks (“Bluff City Badu”), or summertime anthems (“Food For Thought”), crafting a project which fans should examine, not as a work of art but as the aforementioned snapshot of where the world of hip-hop should head.