The consistency behind the work of producer Marco Polo in the last few years has been an impressive feat to say the least. With two collaborative albums (2009’s Double Barreland this year’s The eXXecution) and one solo project released since 2007, the Toronto-native has garnered the praise of his Hip Hop peers as well as adolescent influences, DJ Premier in particular. Tying up loose ends, he now offers his latest installment with The Stupendous Adventures of Marco Polo, a collection of unreleased and rare material from his extensive catalog.
True to form, Marco makes his presence felt throughout the compilation without spitting a single bar. Dripping with confidence, rapper Shylow gets down on “Whylin’ Out,” an automatic head-bobbing track. Complementing Polo’s boom bap production with battle-infused rhymes, Shylow’s spitfire approach resembles a record straight out of the 1990s. Then on “Combat Drills,” Polo hooks up with Double Barrel brethren Torae as the two conjure up a hard hitting, high energy track that will have listeners pleading for a sequel to their 2009 disc. Of course, Marco Polo can’t forget about his roots in T-Dot as he enlists native emcee/DXnext alum Promise to kick rhymes with hometown flavor on “The Bridge.” Giving the typical response from doubters, Promise raps, “They say, ‘He can’t rap if he don’t curse / What he gonna do, drop a hot emo verse?’ / Please, the streets don’t need another common album / We don’t see nothing common about him” as Polo lays out a backdrop of infectiously sampled horns and bass line.
Showing off his creativity, Polo takes on a handful of remixes for The Stupendous Adventures that turn out as good, if not better than the original records. Take for instance his performance on “The Radar (Remix)” in which he transforms the Port Authority-edition into a version heavily reminiscent of a Premo cut. DMV’s own Diamond District are given the same remix treatment for “Who I Be (Remix)” 
. While this standout track from In The Ruff previously induced a rugged and raw vibe channeled by Oddisee’s production, Polo flips it into a cleaner piece of work with an east coast bounce. Then, with a murderer’s row of emcees in Royce Da 5’9’’, Elzhi and Supastition, Marco Polo acts accordingly by allowing their voices to reign supreme over his minimally-layered beat. While listeners won’t find new lyrics on any of the aforementioned tracks, they could simply change their focus on the art of Polo’s craft which is clearly highlighted in each of these cases.
The Stupendous Adventures of Marco Polo does warrant a handful of less-than stellar records, however, this is rarely the direct fault of Marco Polo and rather his decision to include underground rappers that have yet to polish their abilities over the microphone. While only 90 seconds long, “Official” could have easily been left off the album as Red Clay’s limited content sticks out like a sore thumb. Arcee doesn’t fare any better on “Ambition,” when his laid back rhyme style only exposes his inept lyricism. Giving Duck Down Records partner Ruste Juxx a chance to shine on “Bomb Shit,” the record ends up turning into a series of empty death threats from the Crown Heights rapper. Still, despite the overtly violent imagery behind Juxx’s lyrics, it’s surprising that this track didn’t make the final cut of The eXXecution for its production alone.
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As highlights that were never properly released, The Stupendous Adventures of Marco Polo should act as a collector’s item to fans that follow the producer closely and likely have picked these songs up on various Hip Hop blogs. With plans to release his second studio album Port Authority 2 later this year, Marco Polo has once again reinforced the notion that quality will always outweigh quantity. Though in his case, the two seemed to be perfectly intertwined.
