They say the family is the most fundamental unit upon which society is built. With this idea in mind, Boston’s BoriRock, Dun Dealy, Shaykh Hanif, Top Hooter and producer Tremendiss have all come together to form the new project “Feed The Family”. It’s a melting pot of stories from these artists with street tales that intertwine seamlessly on a production entirely directed by Tremendiss.
In the intro song titled “Feed The Family”, Shaykh Hanif kicks things off with his Saudi street prince persona while BoriRock is in the background promoting the bizarre production of Tremdiss who gives these murky streams a home. Top Hooter is a self-assured rapper who comes after with bars like, “I walked places long before a crate challenge.” Shaky n—– falls, but I have good balance. BoriRock continues the opening ceremony with his verse, bringing the energy that everyone who knows his movement has come to love. I believe BoriRock is an MVP in this whole draft and Dun Dealy is a finisher. That was his mission on this song. Dealy’s adlibs are arguably some of the best I’ve heard in town – it was the first I’ve ever heard “I’m on my way Jimbo!” to support a bar. This is an example of how the project expands on what each of these artists and producers do individually. It’s really well put together
What makes “Feed The Family” so great is that it combats the “crab in a barrel” narrative that has plagued Boston hip-hop as a whole, but street music artists in particular. . The streets like to divide people. Each artist within “Feed The Family” has had their own time to push their music individually. Moreover, I saw each of them having a great reception for their respective music. So seeing these strong artists come together to give what sounds like a mix of better-known acts like Dipset and Griselda in the form of Boston was just what the street music community needed to kick off 2022. And me, I hope they will keep the Aller collaboration.
“It’s like we all came out of the womb together!” Like we all have the same mom,” BoriRock says of the group cohesion. They move as a unit and are organized in a way that hasn’t been seen in Boston street music for a while. The biggest example of this in Boston hip-hop history was The Almighty RSO in the late 1980s and 1990s. The movement was strongly felt because they had band members who represented different sides of the city. The artists of Feed The Family may not be from different sides of town, but they each have their own fans and no one is stepping on their toes. Shaykh Hanif mentions in a voice note: “Feed The Family is deeper than us four people you see on the album cover…it really is a family. That’s how we treat it. So everyone’s projects – whether it’s clothes, music, or whatever happens in your family – we all play a role in that.
Together, these artists have the ability to spark curiosity around everything they do, but the music certainly has to back it up. These street tales couldn’t connect the way they did without Tremendiss’ solid beats to set the scene. BoriRock orchestrated “Feed The Family” for the band, and from top to bottom, this project represents Boston in a beautiful way.
