Here is the 13th extended play from Belleville, New Jersey emcee/producer Action Figure 973. For a while at this point, his first couple mixtapes followed by his last dozen EPs & the full-length debut DOOM Was Right over a year ago giving flowers to one of my all-time personal favorite albums Madvillainy have each established himself as a promisingly skilled luchador who so happens to rap. The Most Interesting Man in the World got with Machacha for his sophomore effort last October, coming off What Would Harley Race Do? & 24 Hours in Switzerland to have DiMaggio fully produce Polo Grounds.
After the intro, “Butch Husky” begins with a mafioso vibe instrumentally talking about constantly being in the field whereas “Ken Griffey Jr. Was Never a Yankee” embraces a drumlessly dark sound to discuss doing a lot for people & them never thanking him even once. “Showdown at Shea” has an eerier tone to it talking about offing your favorite rapper while “Lou Gehrig’s Disease” references the terminal neurodegenerative illness AEW performer Rebel has been dealing with since this spring.
“Nomar Garciaparra” gives a shoutout to the retired shortstop & current SportsNet LA analyst of the same name while “Pete Rose” featuring 067 Red finds the pair referencing the 3-time World Series champion & WWE Hall of Famer who passed away a couple years ago. “War Memorial” featuring Brother Tom Sos reunites the 2 over a jazzy boom bap beat talking about living the dream of life itself while “Relief Pitcher” includes a bar referring to the current 2-time AAA Mundial Mixtas Parejas Campeon Mr. Iguana of the WWE subsidiary Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide.
Act-Lo even said during the closer that he has countless lyrics that wrestling fans sing at his shows & it’s gotten to a point where he felt like he had to switch it up a bit & it would surprise me if the general consensus would be that Polo Grounds serves as a breath of fresh air for his discography. The hardcore lyricism’s more baseball themed in time for the Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Star game tonight, coasting DiMaggio’s batch of jazzy boom bap & drumless instrumentals with only a couple guests accompanying him instead of What Would Harley Race Do? only having 1.
Score: 7/10