Tracks

Finale: "Motor Music"

(2009)

By Chet Betz | 24 February 2009

The resurgence will not be televised but it seems it can’t be stopped as Detroit hip-hop’s recent bright burn continues to microwave its way through the headphones of everyone keeping their ears on it. Finale, who first came to the Glow’s attention with some dynamite guest verses on Invincible’s Shapeshifters last year, is preparing to drop his debut album on April 7th and, meanwhile, I’m preparing to lose my shit. Finale’s got the best rap voice coming out of the underground since maybe Breezly Brewin’; like Breezly there’s a depth to his tone that somehow does nothing to stand in the way of how his syllables snap, crack, and pop off his tongue. I think you can see proof of the man right there in the producer list, what with a cavalcade of talent including Dilla, Flying Lotus, Nottz, and the man who brought us Tronic, 2008’s dirtiest pure slab of beatsmithery.

Now, we’ve heard Finale over Black Milk a couple times before: he was featured on Shapeshifters highlight “Recognize,” all rattlesnake tambourine and an uncoiling string loop, and the gritty herky-jerk of Internet-only “Don’t Sleep,” also with Invincible. On first single “Motor Music,” though, Finale’s got Black Milk’s beat all to himself. The results are insidious. Finale takes ownership of this track’s thick synth bass trying to twist itself into a snake charm and the hiss and clap of the percussion. And where before Finale’s harsh artillery put Invincible’s rallying cry urgency in relief, here we have a non-stop verbal barrage riddling holes through a brick wall of sound. “When the piston get to jumpin’ up and down / I’m Joe Dumars.” Finale’s “Motor Music” is unyielding, a mission statement as blunt as a bullet and hard as rock.

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