Fashawn’s long-awaited sophomore effort
Fresno, CA rapper Fashawn’s 2009 independently released debut album, Boy Meets World, received almost universal critical acclaim with heavy focus on his age at the time–21–and the fact that someone so young could articulate the struggle so well. Many drew comparisons to hip-hop royalty Nas and the fact that Nas was 21 when he released his near perfect hip-hop classic Illmatic. Over the past six years Fashawn has released a handful of mixtapes, a couple collaborative albums, and an EP, but his latest release, The Ecology, shows that Fashawn’s debut was not just a flash in the pan. Nas himself has taken a liking to Fashawn as Nas both appears on the album and was instrumental in signing Fashawn to independent record label Mass Appeal Records. Highlights from The Ecology include “Guess Who’s Back”, “Letter F”, “Man of the House”, and “F.T.W.” but the entire album is worth checking out. Other guest appearances on the album include Dom Kennedy, Aloe Blacc, and BJ The Chicago Kid. The Ecology can be streamed or downloaded for free via DJBooth or it can be purchased from iTunes. The video for “Guess Who’s Back is below.
