by Charles Davis (@LosDoghouse)
“In this age of instant gratification, the only real commodity to have is patience.”
Before beginning to unwrap Mach-Hommy's latest effort, Pray For Haiti, one must first possess (at least) a passing knowledge of Haiti's history. As the only country in the Western Hemisphere born of an enslaved peoples' revolution, it is one of the most important nations in the world - and has been punished for being free for over 200 years: please, read further.
“Good is the enemy of great”
Who's on Mach-Hommy's level? Few; maybe none. Either you celebrate him as “the best,” or your ears have yet to be blessed by his music. Respective / relative to the listener, Mach is the MC of the era - and Pray For Haiti is amongst the highest audial art of the age.
A collaborative effort, of sorts; seasoned and spiced by executive producer/ frequent-guest MC Westside Gunn, and his relative Griselda spectrum, listeners are gifted the most captivating aesthetic in the world of hip hop today. The Gunn/Griselda factor is one which possesses the ability to ascend truly incredible art to new and radiant heights, far beyond the reach of existing, traditional frameworks, by which we otherwise define our realities. When combined with an already immaculate manifestation of divine consciousness, such as Mach-Hommy's MCing, the result is truly a blessing to the world; the result is Pray For Haiti.
Spanning an exceptionally vast expanse of knowledge, Mach's wordage ranges from pithy to circumlocutory, storytelling to avant-garde; onomatopoeias, diphthongs, metonymy, synecdoche - there is a multiverse of discourse and a macrocosm's worth of territory. The collective lexis, interplaying Kreyòl, French, English, serve the word salads of late 90's Ghostface Killah via the murky cadence of Blackstar era Mos Def, and with the swift precision of the (late) great MF DOOM (RIP). Multisyllabic eye rhymes effortlessly forge together in polyrhythmic/polymetric patterns, as the scansion creates an aura of both majesty and mystery. Flows run rivers, creeks, streams; oceans and seas. There is no telling what direction you'll turn next, or where you'll wind up - singing under a shady willow, or lost at sea in the dead of night. It may well yet be years from now before a double (or triple) entendre finally clicks for you.
Featuring guest MCs/vocal collaborators Tha God Fahim, Keisha Plum, Melanie Charles, and, of course, Westside Gunn and the production of Camoflauge Monk, Conductor Williams, Denny LaFlare, Cee Gee, Nicholas Craven, Messiah Musik, and DJ Green Lantern, it's clear the talent involved is bursting with creativity. The framework laid is prodigious in its own right, as is often the case with Griselda - the beat makers could've served this as an album of instrumentals, to much praise and plaudits. However, it is the pairing of these specific, ominous and lilting compositional works with the innovative and adventurous expertise of Mach-Hommy (and company) which genuinely elevates the music to the level of “masterpiece”.
This creation is beyond art for art's sake: 20% of album sales will go to the Pray For Haiti Trust Fund; a charitable effort toward improving schools in Port-Au-Prince, particularly in the direction of engineering and coding. What is perhaps this writer's album of the year, please purchase any way you see fit, and further the expansion of language, art, and education.