AOTY #4: Big Ghost LTD. - Carpe Noctem [2020]

Welcome to my Album of the Year highlights! I’ll give you a little run down with a brief history to start, show you the tracklist (with the tracks in bold being my favorites) with all of the featured guests (if any), give you some descriptors that might make you more inclined to check it out, and I’ll provide links to stream/buy the project down at the bottom. Enjoy!

I’m 25 years old. In 1993, I was negative 2 years old. That makes it a bit difficult to listen to 36 Chambers back whenever it first came out. *HOWEVER*, if I were to pick an album experience that I believe would give off the same emotions and wonderment of that Wu-Tang classic off of the first listen, I would undoubtedly pick this monster of an album right here, Big Ghost’s first offering of 2020: Carpe Noctem. Being the only artist who places on this list twice (my #8 was his album with UFO Fev, The Ghost of Albizu), Ghost has earned his place amongst the greatest of active hip-hop producers, expertly crafting his beats as true to the roots of hardcore hip-hop as possible, while still trying new ideas. You are not given a single dull moment of instrumentation on this project, with every beat being a slam dunk of atmosphere, whether that be aggressive or more laid back. Equally as impressive is the army that Big Ghost has assembled to make this project, emcees that line up behind him all ready to drop the hottest verses they can. This is not a compilation tape: this is a group album from a core component of 8 emcees that all bring something unique to the table, a Swiss-Army Knife that has every vibe in the modern underground ready to utilize. Expertly produced and sequenced, perfect usage of the assembled talent, and skits from the ever-wise Lukey Cage make this my favorite Big Ghost LTD. album to date, a seemingly effortless look at what makes this underground shit, this Abyss shit, so powerful. Big Ghost has turned into something very important in the hip-hop community to me: a bar. He sets the standard for all of you other producers in my mind to overcome; Carpe Noctem is now that bar.

Tracklist

1. Division 1 (Intro)

2. Murder at the Opera (Feat. Estee Nack, Recognize Ali, Mooch, Rigz, Asun Eastwood, & CRIMEAPPLE)

3. Goon Etiquette (Feat. Rome Streetz, Recognize Ali, & Asun Eastwood)

4. The Elegy (Feat. Rahiem Supreme, Mooch, Rigz, & Rome Streetz)

5. Iz Real (Interlude)

6. Fake My Death (Feat. Rahiem Supreme, Recognize Ali, Rome Streetz, & Estee Nack)

7. Paper Plane Lords (Feat. Estee Nack, Recognize Ali, & Asun Eastwood)

8. Gladiator School (Feat. Rigz, Mooch, Rome Streetz, Asun Eastwood, Rahiem Supreme, Recognize Ali, Estee Nack, Daniel Son, & Ty Farris)

9. Benghazi Emporium (Feat. Estee Nack, Rahiem Supreme, & al.divino)

10. Clyde Frazier Minks (Feat. CRIMEAPPLE, Estee Nack, Recognize Ali, Rahiem Supreme, Asun Eastwood, Rome Streetz, Rigz, & Mooch)

11. Hate To Love (Feat. Rigz & Mooch)

12. Bricks in the Futon (Feat. Asun Eastwood, Recognize Ali, Mooch, Rigz, & Rome Streetz)

13. The Abyss (Outro)

From his blogging days to international production acclaim, I feel like Big Ghost’s career, despite having already given us countless bombshells, is entering a new phase of genius, a refinement and mastery of his stylings that can only lead to more classics.

Recommended if you like:

lots of different emcees with different styles, Wu-Tang Clan, classic hip-hop sounds, DJ Premier, insane production quality, Griselda, lyrical and aggressive emcees, The Alchemist, multi-phase tracks, D-Block, long songs, Mobb Deep

Here’s my original write-up of Carpe Noctem:

Big Ghost LTD. - Carpe Noctem [2020]

↓ Listen to Carpe Noctem ↓

Spotify/Apple Music