Album Of The Week: Roc Marciano Reloaded

Here are the things I remember about the Flipmode Squad, Busta Rhymes' late-'90s rap crew: Rah Digga, the female rapper with the supremely tough and husky voice, who went on to a pretty decent solo career years after she came close to bodying Lauryn Hill on the Fugees' own "Cowboys." Spliff Star, the antic hypeman and excellent dancer who went on to become Busta's human shadow, a position he still holds. Lord Have Mercy and Rampage The Last Boy Scout, who had funny names. (Spliff Star also had a funny name.) The "Cha Cha Cha" video, in which they dressed like mariachis and matadors and clamped roses between their teeth. That's it. That's all I remember. I sure don't remember Roc Marciano, the Long Island rapper who broke in with the crew in 1999 and spent the next decade-plus lurking in the New York rap-scene periphery. I clearly wasn't paying enough attention. A little more than two years ago, Marciano released the self-produced indie album Marcberg, with no PR blitz and barely any guest rappers. That album, his solo debut, introduced a language-drunk master, muttering intricately worded head-smack threats under his breath over spectral boom-bap that flickered and smoldered evocatively. It was a quiet revelation: This guy had always been there, right under our noses? And now he's back with the follow-up, and it's somehow even better. We'd do well not to sleep this time around.