Review: The Supreme General's "It's My Turn!!! The Throne Ascension" Album
The tracklist and its many exclamation points for The Supreme General’s "It’s My Turn!!!… the Throne Ascension" made me feel overwhelmed because I wanted to know why he didn’t just let the music speak for itself by forgoing such assertive punctuation. The artist could be simply excited about dropping the project I thought, but then I started to wonder if the artist felt the music could standalone. As I dove into the title track “It’s My Turn!!!” featuring Jy the Vocalist the exclamation points start to make sense. The Supreme General’s rapping style is like a personified exclamation point. He delivers bars with excitement somewhere between DJ Khaled’s “another one” and something something. Despite this, “It’s My Turn!!!” lost my attention about halfway through the 4 minute track. It probably shouldn’t have been the opening track. Unlike "Its My Turn!!!", his second track did keep my attention.
For The Supreme General “Gorgeous!!!” is his version of “life is beautiful,” for him life is gorgeous. His talk of lifestyle and work ethic didn’t hook me but him rapping over a beat that worked well with his delivery almost did. The third track should have been the first because it gets straight to it with its horn-driven instrumental and convincing bars. ”F**king Wit The Best!!!” he claims that he’s nothing like the rest, and at that point I was eagerly waiting for him to prove it. For “Timeless Essence!!!” The Supreme General links with vocalist Gabrielle Parsons to create a track that explores fighting demons and being resilient. “Timeless Essence!!!” finds The Supreme General in a slightly menacing flow as he weaves his words in a rawly poetic way. Parsons opens the track singing, “Inhale all the love you have for the game,” it’s evident that The Supreme General exhaled with that as well.
For his fifth cut “The Eyes of Real Negus (The Eyes of the Real)” The Supreme General recruits singer Walter Barr. He and Barr glide over a disco, roller rink reminiscent production while making a song about being true to self. Barr’s vocals help bring that message home. On “Best Wishes to the Villain!!!,” “I’m That N***a!!!”, and “Inhale Kush and Exhale Classics!!!,” The Supreme General reiterates that he’s a real one again with his bars. Don’t get wrong it’s great he such confidence in himself and his bars, but at times it feels like he’s using different packaging for the same product. And maybe that was his intention in a sense. A concept album that let’s people know he’s the best one up next on every track, per se. Intentional or not, it’s not the best way to go about a 12-track project, especially one that’s likely meant to attract new fans. Because a good portion of those listeners won’t go beyond the surface and be able to appreciate his imagery.
Regardless, if you feel like you’re all that but attempt to stay humble, listen to The Supreme General’s "It’s My Turn!!!.. the Throne Ascension" below.