Buffalo, New York spoken word artist Keisha Plum now based in Atlanta, Georgia releasing her 2nd EP & the first in almost a decade. Notable for her spoken word poetry that you can easily find on a plethora of Griselda Records projects in the past decade of them taking over the underground, some may not know of here putting out an EP of her own in the spring of 2016 called Tears of Honey & is dropping Trouble only 48 hours after Benny the Butcher’s newest mixtape Summertime Butch 2.
“P.P.P. (Peaches, Plums, Pineapples)” was a soulful intro talking about being in tropical paradise & suggesting to look deep into her eyes to see the villain in her whereas “W.W.G.D. (What Would Griselda Do?”) answers the titular question over a chilled out instrumental by reaffirming that they’ll fire the sticks first before they shoot you. “All Blvvdy” moves on from there talking about leaving crisp White Forces covered in blood prior to the jazzy “Write Something” instrumental interlude.
Starting the 2nd half of Trouble, “AK Spray” gives me a grandiose vibe instrumentally to talk about being a Goddess by day & her poetry hitting y’all like an assault rifle while “Lamboramo” works in an orchestral sample admitting that Lil’ Kim of the Junior M.A.F.I.A. used to be her role model when she was younger & desiring a purple colored Lamborghini. The title track closes the EP with heavy pianos talking about her doing well these days knowing a few people she considers Lucifer in jest.
Trouble comes only 7 & a half months since that posthumous DMX spoken word EP Let Us Pray: Chapter X last winter & despite Warryn Campbell’s production on the latter being superior in comparison, there’s no question that Keisha’s recap on the past quarter of a century recalling the pain & struggle she endured is more appreciable giving hardcore Griselda fans a little of her story completely resetting herself in the process.
Score: 8/10