Ransom’s History of Violence mixtape makes us realize that violence is the answer for creating this type of unapologetic, graphically morbid content from the Brotha Lynch Hung school of thought. Ransom asserts himself as a street mercenary who is like a ronin turned underworld figure wishing for a better upbringing he wasn’t afforded. The depictions and baritone vocal style of Ransom sounds like a menacing goon in an action film that is trigger happy everyday for the love of money.
Up first on the 11-track tape “Dying Breed” is a posse cut featuring femme fatale 3D Na’tee and Fred The Godson. It’s a mellow introduction with Ransom feasting on the lyrical bouillabaisse first with his stellar initial verse. Then self-proclaimed queen steps in second to show her impressive wordplay that makes you anticipate if the next in line will get bodied on the track or not. Fred The Godson comes in and throws his barbs in and takes the relay with his guttural, high register delivery that fittingly engulfs the tracks chipmunk sped-up female voice sample and East Coast-style duple meter time signature snares.
The albums wavers off drastically from its initial feel-good marching pace with “Movies for the Blind” and “The Theme,” which should have been placed later in the mixtape. But Ransom is the type of emcee that undermines song production and wants you to focus on his agile, aggro– rhyme scheme. The title track with Wink Loc picks up where the first song left, and Ransom sounds mundane at times with the two-bit mafioso goon and braggadocio mixed together (“Got your brain minerals while I’m holding my genitals.”)
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The trap sound is a prerequisite for the majority of rap albums today, which immediately feels like it panders to the lowest common denominator for what’s en vogue for the genre. Ransom takes on this type of production on “What You Know,” but surprisingly it doesn’t sound contrived as he spits a solid sixteen. “Royalty” is the most intense cut on the tracklist with its sauntering howl in the background and catchy hook, “Son of a god, flesh of a beast/sprinkle diamonds on my grave while I’m resting in peace.”
Ransom steers a soft segue to the last quarter of History of Violence on “It’s Been Real,” a two-part ballad about breaking up with a lover and/or longstanding hookups situations that go untitled. The first beat of the track is a three-minute slow ride with a 90s Atlanta-based R&B feel, where he plays down his street thug image to charm a lady he wants. In the final minute of the track, a timely Aaliyah sample from “One in a Million” and hits a crescendo that matches with Ransom’s balladeering. And he doesn’t deny being product of his environment with survival skills that doesn’t shy away from detailing how he could just kill a man. Ransom authenticates himself and doesn’t have a force sensual drawl that is genetically linked in the DNA for shitty rap love songs. “Sublime Intervention” has the same pulsating effect with its Smokey Robinson sample of “Why You Love Me Tomorrow?” that was used in Kanye West’s “Devil in a Blue Dress.” His glib disregard for life is reflected in statements like “autistic with the hammer, retarded in fact.” The second to last track “Hate Crimes” evokes the eerie feel of the film Dead Presidents, and hits you with a palette of cunning metaphors like Della Reese, Art of War author Sun Tzu, and iPhones in the chorus (“Hammers off the hip, keep them burners on the waistline, talking to his bitch, he get murdered on his FaceTime”) like his killer instinct in his street cinema.
Ransom is a nihilist who denounces his prey with hollow bullets, but some of them missed marks on some tracks here. He’s a proven emcee from the Garden State with a shovel ready to body an emcee with a survival of the fittest mind state. Some would consider this mixtape as offensive, some others would cite is a bonafide noir. But reflects the fact that black men will always be on the endangered species list in a country that was founded on violence.
