Roc Marciano Rocky II

Coming from Pimpstead, Long Island, Roc Marciano as risen to the top tier of spitters since his 2010 slow-burning masterpiece Marcberg. Over a dozen or so self-productions, Roc's solemn and stylish opus breathed life back into dead tropes with a razor sharp flow. The MC that was once a member of both Busta Rhymes' Flipmode Squad and The UN has spent a few years on his follow-up, Reloaded, due out late November of this year.

This single, "Rocky II," doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the Sylverster Stallone flick, and I won't try to make some kind of Apollo Creed joke to try to make it so. But it's a damn good track. A sunnier selection of a beat than what he usually rocks over, Roc's rhymes are as intricate and deliberate as usual. His verses are always full of quotables, but on this my favorite part is when Roc imagines himself as an ancient Kemetic relic with his "images ingraved inside of hallways, fades with the water waves" -- he runs with that scenario for the rest of the verse.

Reloaded has been one of the few projects anticipated by pretty much all of hip-hop. This November we'll get to find out more, but for now enjoy some of the appetizers Roc is serving up.