This is the 6th studio LP from Baltimore, Maryland emcee Ill Conscious. Introducing himself in 2010 off his debut mixtape The Underachiever, he would return in 2015 with the full-length debut The Essence followed by the 2018 sophomore effort The Prerequisite & Logistix. Coming off both Acres of Diamonds & The Aggregation of Marginal Gains however, I was excited to hear that Finn of the Brown Bag Money collective was gonna fully produce The Premise.
After the intro, the opening track talks about him freeing the people it’s the reign of the “Tuthmosis” over a boom bap beat with a lo-fi twist to it while “Pupils Become Rivals” keeps it dusty instrumentally explaining that the kind of people whose egos are inflated moving suicidally. “Prominent Sunz” featuring Rome C finds the 2 talking about the reason each of them stay shining while “Conductivity” jazzily talks about no one having the ability of fucking with him.
Asun Eastwood & Mandiq both appear on “Bass Drum” so they can end the 1st leg discussing their methods never changing this deep in their careers leading into “Pineapple Mimosas” talks about raising up a high glass for the culture to get the 2nd half going. “The Allegory” turns up the jazz influences again so he speak of disputing all the corny fables regarding him just before “Consortium” featured Snook da Crook talks about the battle becoming greater when the blessings are bigger.
“Carbon Traces” winds down The Premise’s final act detailing that the arbitrators have all betrayed us over this calming boom bap beat while “Pressure” featuring King Magnetic & Recognize Ali saves my favorite guest appearances for last, talking about hitting trifectas with the commas. “11th Commandment” hops over an instrumental kin to Conductor Williams taking us to a higher level of consciousness while “DNA” by combining a verse & a spoken word outro.
I’ve always enjoyed this guy’s collaborations with Jay Royale because it’s like the Baltimore version of AZ & Nas to a degree, but I’m confident of discussions eventually being had regarding The Premise surpassing Acres of Diamonds to be the finest LP in Ill Conscious’ whole discography. Regardless of a couple underwhelming guest appearances, Finn’s soulfully dusty boom bap production appropriately suits the intelligent lyrical style that makes Conscious so appealing compared to other artists around his neck of the woods.
Score: 9/10