Review- Grey Market "Summer Sessions and Life Lessons"

Chances are you probably haven't heard of Grey Market so allow me to educate you. Grey Market is a trio made up of DJ Comp-B (deejay/producer), Wes Hunter (emcee) and Dialogue (emcee). The trio hasn't even been together a year yet, but they've known each other for a minute. They put out an EP called “Out of Nowhere” and now they've released their debut album “Summer Sessions and Life Lessons”. Let's go in.

“Summer Sessions and Life Lessons” is actually the perfect title for this album, it's a combination of some nice chill joints along with some very personal and introspective tracks. Dialogue and Wes Hunter have great chemistry together, in which they'll toss the mic back and forth. DJ Comp-B's production is strongly sample-driven, but it'll have your heads nodding. The album starts off with “Summer Solstice” a nice chill joint to kick the album off, talking about a relaxing summer and their grind as musicians. DJ Comp-B provides a track that will have you missing summer and is a great track to kick off the album.

One of the favorite tracks on the album is “Wake Up” it's honestly the reason it took forever to listen through the whole album because this track was on repeat. Comp B provides an amazing soundscape for Wes Hunter and Dialogue to talk about their journey through life so far. They also cover that no matter how bad life might get they've got to keep pushing and keep working. Along the same route is “Never” which features Hil fromDysfunktional Family. Comp-B creates a dark beat with a haunting piano loop and all three emcees talk about never quitting regardless of the obstacles that come their way.

“I Always Knew” is another favorite, on some of the songs on the album, Wes or Dialogue will handle the track by themselves. Wes Hunter takes this one and everyone should be able to relate the track. He speaks on a broken heart. Comp-B laces another dark beat for this one kind of reminds one of something Kno of Cunninlynguists would put together. You can just hear the emotion and frustration that this woman has caused Wes and this joint was on repeat for a bit too.

Now we head back to the “Summer Sessions” part of the album with “Welcome to A-Town”. This track features Emcee Schwartz from Dysfunktional Family and it's all about a night in Athens and a little bit of battle raps. No hooks on this one just dope and clever rhymes from all three emcees. “Gotta Get Away” is another summer feeling joint, Dialogue tackles this track and it's a weed anthem but also covers how life can just beat you down and sometimes, you just need to get away. Dialogue also showcases his singing ability with this one too.

Grey Market is trio with a lot of potential hence why this review was written. The trio will be doing numerous shows in a Ohio coming up so if you see them in the area go and check them out you won't regret it. Simply put, this is a hip-hop head's album, if you love sample-driven beats with a mixture of real lyrics, personal stories and just having a good time, this album is for you. Go cop “Summer Sessions and Life Lessons” and join me in nodding my head to what hip-hop is really about. Dope beats and dope rhymes.  

-Michael Stover (@BigSto)