Paul Wall & Termanology Level Up Their Chemistry on “Start 2 Finish” (Album Review)
This is the brand new collaborative album between Paul Wall & Termanology. One hails from Houston, Texas & the other coming straight out of Boston, Massachusetts. However, both of them have been holding it down for the culture for the past 2 decades with their insane work ethics & albums like The People’s Champ or Politics as Usual. They’ve worked with one another a few times within the last couple years & are now taking their chemistry to new heights by dropping Start 2 Finish.
“No Asterisk” opens up the album with a soulful Statik Selektah instrumental talking about wanting the rings & the title whereas “Ask Permission” takes a jazzier route advising to ask them in advance prior to pulling up to either H-Town or Beantown. “Recognize My Car” dives into boom bap territory with the help of Pete Rock talking about whips just before Bun B tags along for the classy money making anthem “Thailand”.
Meanwhile on “No Favors Pt. 2”, we have Paul & Term delivering a fresh sequel to a joint off The Po-Up Poet leading into Statik KXNG & Wais P coming into the picture for the triumphant “Clubber Lang” spitting braggadocio. “How You Been?” goes into a sensual direction thanks to Dame Grease getting romantic while the song “No Tolerance” with Fly Anakin & NEMS is just a dusty, 4 minute barfest. The penultimate track “Money on My Phone” has a slower beat talking about that’s all see & “Step Outside” with Millyz ends the album with a powerful boom bap ballad encouraging to forget what it’s like living in the dark.
Coming from someone who’s been a fan of these guys for a minute, Start 2 Finish is definitely one of the best collab efforts that either one of them have ever made. I think Paul sounds great on top of traditional East Coast production & his chemistry with Termanology is improving steadily also.
Score: 8/10