Masta Ace & Marco Polo
Richmond Hill
Fat Beats
Listen Below
In his review of Duval “Masta Ace” Clear and Marco “Polo” Bruno’s A Breukelen Story (2018), my Albumism colleague Daryl McIntosh likened Ace’s performance to “hip-hop’s equivalent of a 45-point game in what some may have considered to be the twilight of a Hall of Fame NBA career.” I can only assume he was referring to a 39-year old Michael Jordan hanging 45 on the New Orleans Hornets back in 2003 during the final year of his two-year stint as a player on the Washington Wizards.
If that’s the case, what Ace does on their follow-up Richmond Hill is quite likely unparalleled. Comparing it to Jamal Crawford’s 51-point explosion against the Mavericks in 2019 doesn’t quite fit; no disrespect to Crawford, but he wasn’t Jordan and he’s not Hall of Fame bound. Furthermore, labeling Masta Ace the “Jamal Crawford of hip-hop” doesn’t feel right.
Besides, Crawford and Jordan were the same age when they put up their respective performances. Meanwhile, five years have passed since the release of Breukelen Story, without a lot of intervening hip-hop history. So what we’re looking at may be the antecedent of a 60-point performance by a 40-year-old Lebron James that’s yet to happen.
Richmond Hill features two of my favorite trends in hip-hop in the 2020s: One rapper/one producer collaborative albums and “mature” emcees releasing great music. With this project, Ace continues to find himself in the rarified air of artists like Nas and Black Thought, in that he’s creating some of his best work while he’s in his fifties.
With the Canadian producer Marco Polo, the Brooklyn-born Ace has seemingly found an ideal cohort to help guide him through his late career surge. The pair first worked together on a track featured on Ace’s A Long Hot Summer (2004) and later partnered on “Nostalgia” (which appeared on Polo’s 2007 LP Port Authority), one of the best songs that either has ever recorded. Polo’s no-nonsense, boom-bap approach to beats has served Ace well for close to two decades, and Richmond Hill is yet another great collaboration.
Masta Ace has been recording and releasing “concept” albums his entire career. He first began using them to tell linear stories with Sittin’ On Chrome (1995), but he has completely adopted the approach with all of his 21st century output, from his solo albums to group projects as a member of eMC, whose ranks include Stricklin and Wordsworth. Sometime in the early 2010s, Ace began using his projects to tell parts of his life story. But with each of his collaborations with Marco Polo, the focus shifts to the producer’s origins, with the beatmaker playing the role of the narrator instead of Ace.
Listen to the Album:
The backdrop to Breukelen Story was Marco’s decision to move to Brooklyn, and how that move launched his career as a producer. Richmond Hill covers his birth in the nominal city, located 40 miles outside of Toronto, moving through his childhood and teenage years. The project starts as a coming-of-age story, but things turn dark, as Marco details his initial dalliances with drugs as a high schooler, which quickly leads to a full-blown addiction.
Richmond Hill begins on a triumphant note with “Brooklyn Heights,” Ace’s dedication to traditional hip-hop in its unvarnished glory. Amidst soaring horns and crackling drums, Ace proclaims that he “won’t tell you what it is, but I’ll tell you what it ain’t,” and asserts, “This ain’t praying for some luck; this is skill, man / We ain’t hoping for success: this the real plan / And we came to leave our mark like a grill pan / Some have fallen, but we still stand.”
Ace navigates all types of subject matter with astounding skill throughout Richmond Hill. He preaches the virtues of a vegetarian diet with “Plant Based,” encouraging others to forgo soda and white foods in favor of leafy greens. On “Jordan Theory,” Ace explores the lack of the accumulation of wealth in the African-American community, while “P.P.E.” depicts the grim reality of neighborhoods wracked by poverty, criminal activity, and drug abuse.
Songs like “Connections” demonstrate Ace’s continued ability to engage in complex verbal exercises, as he frequently links the last word of one bar as the first word in the line the follows. Hence, he fills the track with lines like, “Dudes are different than the Average White Band / Pick up the pieces and hold them in your right hand- / -stand and try to balance like a yoga move- / -bitch and get out the way so I can show and prove.”
One of Ace’s greatest gifts, especially with his 21st century output, is his ability to build dope songs with talented emcees from both his era and newer generations. “Certified” is an energetic lyrical brawl with the Coast Contra crew, a collective of emcees all young enough to be Ace’s kids (two of them are actually the twin sons of Southern California emcee Ras Kass). Ace later teams with Wu-Tang Clan/Czarface powerhouse and hip-hop contemporary Inspectah Deck on “Hero.” A dedication to cartoons and super-heroes of their youth, the song features one of the better beats on the album. Marco Polo hooks up an organ-based track reminiscent of something that The Beatnuts would create, and just as funky.
Ace traverses more introspective material with some of these guests. He explores the fragility of health on “Life Music” with his eMC cohort Stricklin. “Below The Clouds” serves as the spiritual sequel to both Gang Starr’s “Above the Clouds” and Blu and Exile’s “Below The Heavens.” Which is fitting, as Blu joins Ace on the track, with both speaking on the importance of recalibrating dreams and expectations of success as one grows older. Marco Polo again establishes his chameleon-like production abilities, crafting a track that could have appeared on the aforementioned Below The Heavens (2007).
Ace later explores the continued obsession with material possessions on “Money Problems,” with Che Noir standing out on her guest verse, rapping from the perspective of money itself. Richmond Hill ends with “All I Want,” a friendly Christmas song featuring Wordsworth. Instead of traditional gifts, the two seek mental well-being, hope, and social justice as ends to set their souls at peace.
Five years after the release of A Breukelen Story, it’s apparent that adult contemporary hip-hop isn’t going away. Nor should it. Emcees like Masta Ace still have a lot to say and producers like Marco Polo have a lot of heat to offer. Hopefully this pair will continue on their path together, giving their audience thought-provoking material and insight into their lives through great music.
Notable Tracks: “Below The Clouds” | “Brooklyn Heights” | “Hero” | “P.P.E.”
LISTEN: