Allen Poe

There is hip hop made with urgency. There is hip hop made in a state of emergency. There is hip hop made manic. There is hip hop made in a panic. There is hip hop that doesn't rhyme much. There is hip hop made on a time crunch. There is hip hop with a heavy plot. There is hip hop made without barely a thought. There is hip hop from out in left field. There is hip hop glorifies the next deal. Record or drugs, it only makes me shrug. There is hip hop that's bugs old lady's, and hip hop that'd mug little babies.

And Allen Poe's How Gardens Grow isn't any of them.

Honestly, sometimes all you need is a mellow, chill record on that everyday shit. This record came on while driving to a show the other night. The windows were down. The blunt was rolled. The lighter in hand. The city speeding by like I was going in slow motion. I wasn't in a hurry. I had somewhere to go, but I wasn't late. I wasn't early. For once in my life, I was right on time. That's this record, right on time.

If I had listened to it in another setting I might have passed. There's nothing really revolutionary, but that's not the point. How Gardens Grow reminded me that good rap music can be just that - good rap music. I've fallen into new grooves. Listening for the next dude with something interesting to say in a different way. Allen Poe is not that dude. He isn't trying to break any lyrical molds, he hasn't gone to galaxies and back to get his references, his beats aren't constructed from MIT grad student sound banks. It's just good rap music. Accessible. Every man type shit.

I go to this diner called Pete's Blue Chip by my house. They only take cash. The menu is the same menu that you can get to burger/lunch joints the city wide. There is literally nothing special about Pete's except for its proximity. Allen Poe is that dude. I've heard a dozen rappers with similar records, but How Gardens Grow managed to find its way through my speakers and into my ears at the right time that I was hungry for something like this. Allen Poe is the rap game's lunch BLT with a side of fries. And, man, I mean that as a big, big fucking compliment.