Stream Sheek Louch’s New Album

Sheek Louch is a constant. Through massive sea changes in hip-hop--both in his native New York and more broadly--the LOX legend has kept his hand steady on the wheel, his gruff voice relatively unchanged. To wit, the first Silverback Gorilla album: Released on Koch (the independent label now known as eOne that was a refuge for Cam'ron, Fat Joe and others and the subject of Jay Z's scorn), it had sensibilities and soundscapes nearly identical to those from Walk Wit Me, his 2003 major label debut. Since it was 2008, there were small, ancillary concessions--Unk is on the album--but for the most part it was another sprawling, sneering iteration of the unrelenting D-Block mentality.

Today (Dec. 4), Louch drops Silverback Gorilla 2. It's 2015, which is worlds away from the second Bush administration, but Sheek stays mostly within his own sphere. To that end, there are guest spots from Jadakiss, Styles P, Ghostface Killah, Fabolous, Dyce Payne, Billy Danze from M.O.P., Swizz Beatz. Younger rappers who got the call include Gotham revivalist Joell Ortiz and Harlem synthesizer A$AP Ferg. And when Sheek does step across state lines in his rolodex, it's to summon MCs who share his core principles: Trae tha Truth and Pusha T stop by to share their dead-eyed fatalism with the crowd. Stream the entire record below, courtesy of Spotify, and get your Timbs out of storage.