Collaborative albums are looked at as ways for an emcee and a producer to form a musical alliance. In hip hop, these collaborations usually warrant excitement. Apollo Brown has been making a name for himself as of late. With plenty of instrumental albums and a thoroughly impressive collab album with O.C., Brown impresses the masses. Now, with his Detroit brethren Guilty Simpson, we have Dice Game: an album that is both lyrically focused and musically captivating.

 

 

If anyone is paying attention, Guilty Simpson weaves words of wisdom and worth in the simplest forms. As “Reputation” lets us know that Guilty has “been through more s**t than catfish”, “One Man” explains that he is just that: one man. “Dear Jane” deals with the “woman” that he has to leave alone for the sake of productivity. However, it is “Change” that can be the most endearing with its message of struggle, dependency, and hope. Keeping it copasetic, Guilty Simpson wastes very few words.

 

As expected, Apollo Brown’s production is just as potent as the lyrics. With Dice Game, Brown wanted to bring production that hearkens on a heavily urban nature. Whether he is flipping familiar samples to elevated headnods (the Jay-Z engulfed “Reputation” and the C.R.E.A.M. interpolated “Let’s Play”), the soul sampled goodness of “Lose You”, or the strings on “Ink Blotches”, Apollo takes no musical mercy. The serious issue with this album is that the production stays consistently relentless. Not for nothing, Apollo Brown uses this album to show out.

 

Thematically, Dice Game deals with the gamble of life. Yet, the bigger gamble was the infusion of Guilty’s grit with Apollo’s gift. The concoction works because both do what they do best. Guilty spits with simplistic conviction while Apollo just wants to make banging instrumentals. They both succeed because they don’t deviate. In short, Dice Game is one of 2012’s gems because their musical gamble was more of a sure shot.