I spent the holidays in Southeastern Ohio. Our little piece of the heart lays at the confluence of the Licking and Muskingum rivers, muddy brown arteries whose lifeblood used to flow through the streets. Plasma is reduced to but a trickle now, the battleship colored heart populated by vacant buildings and wandering souls. Downtown is an empty shell, plywood windows outnumbering people. Houses stand with blacked out eyes and drooping walls, losers savaged by a vicious battle with Industry and The Future that they did not win.

Lights frame those hollow skulls. Christmas lights here seem odd, a cruel juxtaposition–as if someone outlined a crime scene in glitter. The hopeful hint at a better life gilds the holidays, strives to hold back the bitter cold and time’s relentless march. A sense of beauty and menace pervades the city; feelings echoed by “No Church in the Wild.”

Perhaps the prime cut of the burgeoning Luxury Rap genre, who better to sit on the Throne than the diamond dripping king of Cocaine Rap excess himself? Ross handles the beat’s indomitable aura admirably, his dark smooth flow exerting his will like the swollen banks of those sinister Ohio rivers. His larger than life persona allows him to hold sway even on a song as powerful as this. Mill, on the other hand, seems out of his league. His piercing, pins and needles sound is better suited to the stomping gutter sounds that he normally thrives on. It was admirable of Ross to pick a protege for this track, but one wishes he went with a better match-up. Instead, we are left to wonder what Pill or Stalley would have done if given this opportunity.

This freestyle receives a PAR

Download: Rick Ross & Meek Mill – “No Church in the Wild”

“No Church in the Wild” receives a PAR

Rating:

P…Horrible

PA…Tolerable

PAR…Good

PARL…Kinda Great

PARLÉ… Classic

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