Those who don’t know Wrekonize from the group, ¡Mayday!, may remember him from the MTV battle he won, which was supposed to land him a deal with Roc-A-Fella (spoiler alert: that didn’t actually work out). Whether you remember his origins or not, whether you were looking for it, or stumbled upon it, his solo debut, The War Within, provides high-quality music for those looking for dope beats and dope rhymes.
Hardcore Hip Hop fans have a lot to love about The War Within. Wrekonize starts the album with “We Got Soul,” which features an array of complimentary syths laid over pulsating baseline. Wrek brings bars that are both though-provoking and entertaining from the outset, touching on the stigma of white rappers, biracial heritage, his mother’s stint as an exotic dancer and the ever-present Illuminati talk.
“Adrenaline” is the equivalent of “A Millie” meets Tech N9ne with a Crooked I feature. Wrek attacks the track with a flow very similar to his label boss, and Crooked I has no problem keeping up with the aggressive, rapid-fire delivery. Meanwhile, “Freak” actually features Wrek and Tech N9ne both using the up-tempo flow to speak on the wilder faction of the fairer sex.
“Can’t Be Alone” steps away from the hard beats and rhymes and has the Miami representative singing on a track that sounds a lot more like early ‘90s Alternative music of Southern California than what people might normally expect from Wrekonize. While different doesn’t necessarily always equal better, in this case, it works out well.
Wrekonize’s !Mayday! partner in rhyme, Bernz, appears twice on The War Within, including “Paper Trails,” which questions how social, social networks really are. Wrekonize raps, “They call ‘em your friends, I call ‘em connections / ‘Cause once the cables cut, they’re no longer there for protection / At times the Web can counter you conception / Break your spirit down and have you losing your direction / Wander through the wire, flying high over the cuckoo’s nest / And try to dodge the squatters who be comment bombing you to death / Does that seem like what friends would really do / Back stab and slash a massive bashing on your breathing tube…”
The War Within isn’t without its flaws. “Floating Away” is the cliché hallucinogen track that could have been done without. And while “Neon Skies” showcases the type of double-time rhyme cadence Wreck can pretty much do in his sleep, it is a bit redundant on this collection. Throughout The War Within, the positives outweigh the negatives. For every “Floating Away” there is a track like “Rise,” which finds Wrekonize being far more introspective, which is often when he’s at his best.
Throughout, The War Within, Wrekonize provides dope rhymes, substance, and even successfully strays away from the standard Hip Hop formula with offerings such as “All Alone.” The features are varied, appropriate when used (including solid performances by Posdnuos and Bun B on “Church Road” and “Easy Money” respectively), and Wreck never appears overmatched. At a time when many artists are flocking toward the same dozen beatsmits, Wreck chose production that is both different while still complimenting his flows and subject matter. A couple of great songs would have made this a near-classic album, but in the current climate of subpar rhymes, excessive useless features, and musical experiments gone wrong, an overall superior effort filled for the most part with good music is to be appreciated nonetheless.
dx is just handing out 4s and 4 and a halfs like chik-fil-a samples in a food court again.
DOPE!
Amazing album and artist, but will get overlooked by many, especially because of all the other hiphop albums released this month.
and they’re all better than this garbage
Instant classic from yours truly, Strange Music Inc.
no one who listens to actual hip hop considers this a classic.
it is what we like to call, dumb shit.
GREAT review, DX! And for everyone else, go BUY this album! Album of the year so far – in my opinion!
complimentary = complementary
syths = synths
baseline = basslines (you didn’t pluralize it either?)
though-provoking = thought-provoking
Wreck = Wrek
LOLOL
Hahaha Typos galore! #fail
You called a song “Can’t Be Alone” (its correct title) in one paragraph and then “All Alone” in the last paragraph. God I fucking hate you.
“A Millie” = “A Milli”
Congratulations you somehow misspelled one of the biggest fucking singles of the past 5 years.
Just curious, what do you hope to accomplish by pointing out spelling errors??
Incredible Album
3 stars tops. Wrek has a boring flow, sorry if that offends anyone, but just my opinion. Oh and the beats are average too
It was well worth the wait, I think its actually great and haven’t stopped listening to it since I got it.
Amazing
dope
This album is amazing I got it a day early from the Strange Music preorder and have been listening to it since I got the album
Album is Dope. He did this dope shit, and in the same time He was doing Believers! This is awesome.
Best release of the Year
how can you say that when it’s only half way through the year?
and also, there have been much better albums released this year. this is somewhere near the bottom
You think this is the best…. wait till techs album comes out. I’m psyched to hear the doors on it
This album is great I hope alot of people check this out and support Wrek I bought a pre-order from the strange site an the deluxe off itunes
I only hope the Mayday album will be this dope!
perfect
the best tracks for me are Freak, anxiety attacks, we got soul and rise…but the whole album is great!
dx loves Strange way too much this year.
lucky that no fans of real music do.
they are a stain on the face of hip hop
real music? Please tell me all about the 1990’s you hip hop hipster
great album
Exceptional. Really met my expectations. Congrats Wrekonize.
Strange Music does it again another classic album!!!
*another wack album
5
another wack garbage album from strange music.
when will these fools give up?
oh ya? and what u into that new j cole with his boring ass voice and flow?
they’ll give up when you finally achieve something in your life. so i’ll guess they will never give up.
Entire album is amazing!!!
Dope Album Hip Hop at its best ^S^
This fucking wack ass clown shouldn’t be using a legendary Smif-N-Wessun song as his name. Fuck that shit, faggot. Change your name, you fucking chavala!!
Wrek is an incredibly gifted artist. Strong debut album from him.
Also, LOL at the one hater commenting on here and replying to every comment praising the album with negativity. Strange Music is a great label with dope artists on it.
I honestly never heard of this dude but im definitely getting this album just based off how dope that “we got soul” track was.
im just glad he lost that english accent THANK GOD
He’s soundin too much like Chino XL. But Chinos dramatically better. And I cant help but think of that MTV shit lmao
first this and then mayday’s album next month. too much greatness for one summer
Swaan won that battle. However, this CD is dope. The spelling errors in the review make me think it might’ve been rushed.
I call b.s…. Swan lost that shit, check your facts.
Ok before I read that this album is the best thing since sliced bread, let me be honest and say this…. for those of you wanting a proper review (obviously just my opinion not some dumb 10 year old kid says wack or flop etc bullshit)
This album is decent and above average, but no more. THIS IS NOT A CLASSIC ALBUM BY ANY STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION.
7/10 FOR ME. Too many average boring tracks, but there are some dope ass tracks aswel but few and far between.
Honest assessment of this album, just thought it would of been better because of people talking him up etc
Seriously, every album on this site gets a 4/5 these days.
At least they got the rating right. I don’t know how you’re gonna hate on a hallucinogen track and that neon skies song is bad ass. he’s got a fanbase that is mostly about the double time flow so obviously he’s gonna have some of that filling out the album. he didn’t make this for hip hop dx. it’s for the fans.
true but album 7/10 and it aint no classic
Good ass shit!!
Dope album, but for all you Wrek newbies, this is his second solo album (see: Soiree for Skeptics). I love seeing these haters, just fans in denial. When you have peeps hating, you know youre doing something right..,congrats Wrek!
Did you just quote SwizZz with that “haters, just fans in denial” -line?
This album sounds great; Wrekonize – Adrenaline Ft. Crooked I [The War Within]
I Say Not A Bad Album A Few Average Tracks Take away from the album but a solid album
Different in an uncontrived way…Although I do wish instead of continuously repeating they aren’t “the normal” hip-hop they would just NOT BE the normal hip-hop–would make the subject matter more interesting and personable. But I love the guitars and shit.
If yall feel this, P.O.S. is a similar but much better artist to check out–this is a very poor-man’s P.O.S. (I say that as a biased fan, but there’s no doubt P.O.S.’s lyrics and overall-craft are superior in nearly every way)
WRONG ALBUM—this was intended for the white mandingos…..
P.O.S is a talented dude too. Def worth checking out.
As far as the Wrek album goes, it’s damn near perfect for a solo debut. dude can spit. wish the production hit just a little harder. some of it was a little too happy for me. but thats just me. overall its an easy 4/5
Personally my favorite album to drop from Strange Music this year. Mayday, Rittz and Ces are the future of Strange and all of them have delivered so far this year.
Love it
Amazing and to think he was also wrking on the mayday album aswell STRANGE IS THE BEST
Honestly, after the first listen, I agreed with most of the Wrek haters on here. Dont get me wrong I love mayday, but this just wasnt doing it for me at first.
That being said a couple more listens to it, and it is a really good album (The dylon/wyclef reference had me dying). Deserves the 4.
Haters need to get gone, just because everyone else sounds like an 18-20 year old rappin on a new wayne beat doesnt mean it deserves a 4; this does.
i liked it, sounds diffent
LOVE this album! ^S^
Great album, lots of bangers.
New Jay Z Magna Carta Holy Grail go get it www. hiphopgood .com
FOH with that trash.
fucking dope
Super-dope album from Wrek. Expected nothing else.
Dope as f
DOCAINE!
good, j.cole’s is better (yes I’m a dickrider) 😛
4/5
So much to say, such a small audience so ill wait. But amazing album
Strange never disappoints. 5/5.
As a fan of both Mayday! and Wrekonize, it’s nice to hear Wrek do his own stuff. Some of the songs are just “filler” while other songs are absolutely wrecked by Wrek. This album took me a 2nd listening to to get a better feel for it. I loved the album, at least most of the songs, but I’m expecting Wrek to really bring it for his next album, which I know won’t be for a while. It’s not perfect but compared to a lot of other rappers’ albums recently released, Wrek is way smarter and it shows.
Awesome! 5/5
5 Stars
this is dope as FUCK
^S^ never disapoints me. Best label in the game; Hands down. Wrekonize is no exception. great album
definitely one of the projects of the year!