How many artist can you say have managed to be nominated for a Grammy, traveled the world through music, been able to beautifully transition from one genre to another all before releasing their debut album?
Not many are in Phonte’s good company.
Phonte has made a name for himself within different worlds—the hip-hop world as a member of the trio, then duo Little Brother, as well as within coffee shops (“yo-yo” reference came to mind) through the neo-soul duo/collective The Foreign Exchange. He has successfully been able to bridge the two worlds through countless tracks, which gained him a rather impressive following. Now, we finally are getting a glimpse of who Phonte really is on the solo tip with his long-awaited debut and highly anticipated solo project Charity Starts At Home.
For all the Little Brother and The Foreign Exchange fans who have been waiting for a project from Phonte—this is the project that we’ve been waiting for. There’s no downplaying of bars, “No such thing as Tay without bars, that’s like Pixar with no cars, or seeing a dark-skinned DeBarge” (“Eternally” featuring Median Produced by 9th Wonder). There’s great production, courtesy 9th Wonder (make sure you cop Wonder Year as well), Swiff D, Khyrsis, Symbolyc One, and E.Jones, as well as great features featuring the likes of Elzhi, Sye Spence, Median (get The Sender), Carlitta Durand, Eric Roberson, Big K.R.I.T, Evidence and etc.
Specific track highlights kick off with the first track on the project, the Swiff D produced “Dance In The Reign” featuring Ms. Sye Spence. This track already sets the tone for what to expect for the rest of the project in a rather comedic way– “It’s Phontiga and I do this all for hip-hop, I’m lying like shit, I do this shit for my God damn mortage nigga, and my bills.” This song, just continues with Steinbeck and Dr. Suess references, to “cause they are not believers, tht I don’t want the world, but I done seen the world, and if you ever saw it, hell, you wouldn’t want it either.”
The next track on the project “The Good Fight” produced by 9th Wonder is honestly a song that essentially everyone can relate to. The first single/leak from the album, the 9th Wonder produced “Not Here Anymore” featuring Elzhi is definitely an album highlight. This track is dope despite people’s questionable opinions on the production that 9th laid out, however, I think what’s more questionable about this track is that Elzhi doesn’t really lay out a memorable verse. After listening to this song a few dozen times, the only thing I remember from Elzhi’s verse is, “since life flipped I’m getting Chips in Milan.”
“Eternally” featuring Median, is a highlight– the two have such great chemistry together. The next few tracks, the Stro Elliot Music “Sendin My Love”, “Ball and Chain” produced by Swiff D, “To Be Yours” produced by Zo!, and “Gonna Be A Beautiful Night” featuring Carlitta Durand and produced by Symbolyc One, all go together seamlessly, and as a set they make for the perfect album highlight. I’m not much of a fan of the production that 9th Wonder laid out on “The Life of Kings” featuring Big K.R.I.T and Evidence, but this track is a highlight– perhaps the collaboration of Phonte and K.R.I.T on the same track.
After listening to this project, I am pretty content on not listening to any other hip-hop album for a while. This is honestly, the Phonte project that I have been waiting for, along with legions of other Phonte fans I suppose. This project is also one of the prime examples why Phonte is one of my favorite emcees/artists! Make sure, you cop the project here ← don’t bootleg.
