The criticisms leveled at Pro Era over the past two or so years can be reduced to a general lack of differentiation. The collective excels as Golden Age purists, yet often struggles to draw the line between revivalism and emulation; each emcee holds his own from a technical standpoint, but doesn’t aesthetically or tonally separate much from either crew chief Joey Bada$$ or the late Capital STEEZ. As a result, Pro Era’s three group releases—2012’s PEEP: The Aprocalypse and the two-part Secc$ T.ape series—can be commended for consistency or knocked for monotony, depending on where in New York you stay and your level of appreciation for Lord Finesse beats.
Pro Era promptly switches up the formula on the aptly titled The Shift, a five-track EP released through a partnership with Scion AV. The DOOM apery is shed in favor of beats that sound nothing like the other, from the frantic twanging of “Come Come” to the loose reverbs of “On My Life.” And though verses tend to blend after a few rotations, the EP finds some of Pro Era’s lower ranks experimenting with more distinguishable flows, be it Kirk Knight’s choppy cadences or the double-times of Dirty Sanchez. The Shift is the result of Brooklyn crate diggers turning on Hot 97, and the triumphs aren’t without a few growing pains.
The Shift opens with “Extortion,” which features two-fisted raps from Knight and Dyemond Lewis. Despite its blunt hook (“Who want war? They don’t want that war!”), both 16s lack a discernible direction, with Knight making references to apostles and surrealism and Lewis rapping about “vodka blocking my chakras” before the second verse closes with a pithy, “Don’t get murked / Step through the door, you know feelings get hurt.” Similarly, Sanchez spits a dizzying verse on the bouncy “Come Come,” but combines the collective’s “fuck the government” dictum before finishing with, “We’re running the game and this shit is exhausting / But I don’t give a fuck, ‘cause this shit is awesome.”
It is significant to note the hyper-locality of The Shift despite its blatant effort to expand stylistically. A La $ole says that listening to Long Beach Rap is treason on “Hail Razor,” a minute before Dessy Hinds name-drops RZA, GZA and Jigga while syllable-cramming; the song ends with cyphered shouts about “reppin’ New York like my name was Walt Frazier.” Like the stars two decades before them, Pro Era doesn’t invest much in hooks.
The Pro Era collective consists of more than a dozen rappers, and touts 47 total members, yet its most celebrated representative only appears on two tracks. After spending a year using a coarser flow, “On My Life” finds Joey Bada$$ reverting to the mellowness of 1999, though the woozy beat unfittingly switches to skittering uptempo as his verse starts. It’s still some of the project’s best bars, and though his audience widens, Joey swears that his “soul ain’t got a price.”
Despite the inconsistencies of its first four tracks, The Shift is redeemed by the finale “Butterflies,” a lengthy posse cut similar to Aprocalypse’s “Last Cypher” and Joey’s “Suspect.” Produced by Powers Pleasant, the song’s wallowing backdrop inspires some of the crew’s most earnest raps to date. “The sky ain’t the same no more / Clouds are identical, the poison chemicals trails / Keep your eyes open, kid eat your vegetables,” an urgent Sanchez starts. “Butterflies” is 11 minutes of sharp, youthful introspection, rounded out with Bada$$’s tribute to STEEZ.
Ultimately, The Shift is exactly what a free EP should be: calculated risks and experiments meant to gauge a new direction. “Stay progressive is the ancient proverb,” Joey raps on the tape’s final verse. It seems Pro Era is finally willing to listen to that, and though any shift brings unsettled change, what comes next could be considerably better.
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great mixtape, both Seccs tape records were dope too, stay with the newer
sounding production, beats are better!
I agree that butterflies is one if the better songs on the ep.
That’s about the only thing I agree with
The person that wrote this review is not a pro fan
And that’s who they make there music for… The fans
Any artist would do better if they followed the hearts of there fans
There aren’t actually 47 members in the group
A fan would know that
Thank you to the pros for filling are thirst for good good meaningful fun music
Sincerely a true fan
Yes we celebrate joey, doesn’t mean he has to be on every song
I’d be happy to see other member grow like he has. And with every release they get better
What’s better then a group of all sick producers and mc’s!
Not to mention the SELF PROducuction!
“Gotta give credit where it’s dew!”
These guys are just coming out of being teenagers
And there MESSAGE is stronger then half the game!!!
“Cargo far like longevity”
If any pros read this thanks for helping to open my third eye
It is a shift! And that’s proof enough that it’s all workkking
The mainstream is controlled
Let them come to you!
And with scion paying the pros for these songs
It’s already working
Thank you pros! #itsashift #47shit #longlivesteelo
The album is bumping.
every song on the EP goes hard a’f and has mad bars! #47
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This ep is great!on my life is the shit!
This album was awesome, your hipster dofu ass cant see substance if you were a crackhead laying on a streetcorner
I disagree with this review. This was written by some trash rap fan. I would give this a 5/5 or at least a 4/5, but definitely not 3/5. The beats are great on all the songs, and the rapping is just amazing. This doesn not “struggles to draw the line between revivalism and emulation”, and who cares that Joey isn’t on all of the songs; there are other members that are as good or even better than him, who cares that they aren’t as famous. I guess the Secc$ T.ape series and PEEP were a bit better than The Shift, but its not bad and not a 3/5.
On My Life is a classic
Good
Pure greatness.
The SHIFT is unexplainable…Can’t wait to hear more music from the Pro’s! 5/5 #47shift #longliveSTEELO
niasdfnhoidsagasdgf
dope
So dope pro era at its finest hope more will come
“The Shift.” Is Pro Era having fun with music In my opinion. And It sounds great. To be honest the only thing I can find wrong with It Is the annoying censorship which throws you off at some points. But overall an Incredible experimental project. 5/5 for me.
dope
Kirk a beast with the beats
Weak I expected more from this crew, beats were bad, get back to being a dope NY crew instead of those wack programmed beats…
Joey wasting his time and money with this shit.
when yall gonna do a kai$oundz review
Who tf is kai$oundz?
Sick Ep, worth a good listen
meh
It grew on me, but that butterflies track is the best pro era track, IMO
In honor of the PRO STEEZ, we proceed…