Stanisland Magazine

Wine & Circus is Locksmith’s fresh drop with a message, one that seeks to unite rather than divide

Locksmith (Davood Ali Asgari) has been propelling a campaign of raised eyebrows and visceral lyrics thanks to his freestyle appearances throughout the breadth of social media. Today he drops a collaborative new album with The Heatmakerz titled, “Wine & Circus”.

Review and Verdict

The ten-track album is cruises for 34 minutes of razor sharp lyricism ripping into a justified tirade of political lines on a number of points.

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Production slashes through the bullseye, while Asgari rages with precision rhyme schemes. Built for those seeking to cleanse their hip-hop palate, it’s a refreshing reset, far from miss-selling its promotional roll out.

Culture, featuring Styles P pursues constructive bars, upheld by constrasting delivery types — which, as you’d expect — leaves puncture marks.

“You hit the nail’s head:
What if, instead of Sexxy Red, it was sexy to be well-read?” – Locksmith

And:

“Saying you’re gonna slide? Well, that’s a slippery slope, Fuck the Democrats and the Republicans, If you ask Me, it’s one government, If you really look at it close” – Styles P

The method in which Lock drops each bar is like the beat itself; I end up bopping more to the vocals than its composition at times. Cons & Prose is a good example of this, where the lyricist smacks of high-grade verbiage: “People will share a meme before they share a song, so the songs become memes and the artists are forced to play along.”

Aside from the potency of its message — and a fresh way of projecting socially conscious lyricism — the pudding gets warmed up through Asgari’s multimorphemic, death by a thousand cuts style.

It’s entertaining, laced with style and venom, but above all else, it has something to say. This is a real ride until the wheels fall off project, poking holes in the status quo and more.