Album of the Year #41: Mach-Hommy - Balens Cho (Hot Candles) - HipHop | HipHop Channel

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Album of the Year #41: Mach-Hommy - Balens Cho (Hot Candles) - HipHop

Album of the Year #41: Mach-Hommy - Balens Cho (Hot Candles) - HipHop

Album of the Year #41: Mach-Hommy - Balens Cho (Hot Candles)

Posted: 10 Feb 2022 01:32 AM PST

Artist: Mach-Hommy

Album: Balens Cho (Hot Candles)

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Background:

Following the release of Pray For Haiti earlier in 2021, rumours emerged of a new Mach-Hommy album releasing on Black Friday. Mach had dropped multiple albums every year until 2020, so fans were excited for the possibility of a second album and the return to 'dumping' multiple releases a year. The project was soon postponed, and was eventually released the next week on December 4th with the title Balens Cho (Hot Candles).

Review:

The album's cover depicts the rapper sitting, completely toned in the yellow which colours the music to come. Behind him appears a shrine, potentially one of Vodou or Santeria practises. These religions are prevalent in Haiti, comprising of the religious bellies of West African slaves and Catholicism. Vodouist shrines are typically adorned with the candles which the album centres itself around. The symbol of a candle suggests the focus Mach places on the Haitian diaspora, the beliefs and religion which defines it, and the importance of these light-bearing adornments and everything their light represents.

The album's opening interlude is 'La Prèmiere Bougie', a French phrase which can be translated as 'The First Candle' in English. It directly addresses a listener, instructing them to "go down to Haiti […] looking for new items to buy". This narrative runs throughout the album's 5 interludes - describing this colonial presence concerned with commodification.

Balens Cho opens on 'Labou', where a loop of horns harken back to those on the opener to Pray For Haiti, this time triumphantly announcing a victory lap. The song sees him rapping about his origin from the "swamp", embracing the Haitian tropical landscape and the murk which defines himself. The track's title, 'labou', is Haitian Creole for "mud", which is mentioned several times throughout, most noticeably in the chorus. Mach relentlessly echoes the words "I got it out the mud, swear to God", a call to his origin - emerging from the "mud" of the societal bottom. The first verse ends calling upon "the swamps with the green moss", and the second opens further describing these "muddy waters". In a reference to Mach's Hard Lemonade, he raps about how he was "really picking lemons in the orchard", building upon his description of working from the bottom by comparing his craft to that of agricultural work and growing fruit out of the mud. The triumphant horns of the beat continue, produced by Nicholas Craven, and Mach's final chorus closes the track.

The album then moves into its second interlude, 'La Deuxième' (The Second), where ceremonial drums pulse and an American voice describes the meeting of "executives of Caribbean exports" who meet at a cafe on the south coast of Haiti. The brief interlude then ends with a short description of their discussion.

What follows is the choral loop and boom bap beat of 'Separation Of The Sheep From The Goats', again produced by Nicholas Craven. The track is a biblical allusion to Matthew 25:31-46, where Christ will separate mankind 'as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats', where mankind is divided into the punished and the righteous. The track's title also calls upon the pervasive hip-hop proverb of the greats ('greatest of all time') being the "goats". When compared and separated from the similar livestock of "sheep", Mach fundamentally contrasts the 'great' rappers with those who aren't. The track's chorus is spiritually sung using the doubled vocals of the rapper, one recording in his signature baritone, with a higher variant layered above it. It's content includes singing the track's title, as well as a direct a biblical reference to its inspiration, "the Book of Revelation". In the final line he raps "So holla at me if you want the throne back, not bad for some gibberish and monotone raps", a direct assertion of his 'greatest' status and referencing the praise for his craft despite its esoteric and hard-to-parse style.

This is followed by 'Magnum Band Remix', produced by Ras G. Before the album's release Mach was pictured at a Ras G mural, and has spoke of a collaborative album Haitian Space Base coming at some point. The beat opens on a heavy organ drone and bass line, with dusty drums and the Ras G producer tag echoing into the space of the track. Mach enters with a slow flow, rapping allusions to Frida Kahlo (coolin' with my Mexican wiz"), MF DOOM ("seen a stocky n***a in a mask like a DOOMposter"), Biggie ("say peace to B.I. after that G ride to heaven") as well as the standout final bar "chain snatching to DMCA, either way your link gone", a double entendre that equates snatching chains to pirated music. An outro is spoken by A.A. Rashad, Griselda's second in-house poet, who's Afrofuturist monologue finally asserts that "all space programmes are from Africa".

The album's third interlude, 'La Troisième' (The Third) features an old recording of orchestral horns, whilst a voice describes "warm tropical breezes", "a big golden moon" and "dramatic drums in the distance".

Proceeding track 'Lajan Sal' opens on the jingling warmth of its beat, produced also by Nicholas Craven, and the baritone chorus "my lajan sal, I ain't seen my P.O. in a while". The phrase is Haitian Creole for 'dirty money', with the track's focus centred on criminality and societal trapping of those into criminal acts. The final line of the hook makes a demand to free from prison those close to Mach, with the assertively sung "let em out" closing each section. The second verse suggests sentiments of escaping this criminality, with the rapper stating "I really made it out the bricks, done got rich, no longer gotta stick up". This growth does not leave him any less assertive however, as suggesting by closing lines "ain't no Jesse Jack when it's Hommy-town, try me clown, got me clap back like Kwame Brown".

Fourth interlude, 'La Quatrième' (The Fourth), features more dialogue, which asks "how'd you like to attend a voodoo ceremonial worship?". The invitation is answered "aren't those things supposed to be secret?", before the interlude closes on a short, ominous moment of horns.

After this is 'Wooden Nickels', comprised of a soft, drum-less jazz loop produced by Fortes. It also features the airy, breathing saxofone of Sam Gendel, which emerges at times in the slow loop. This song sees Mach at his most vulnerable, and his softer spoken raps are parallel to the jazz loop, as he recounts the wisdom of his grandparents ("words fitting in the stanza just like poetry"). He references his grandfather's martyrdom, who wasn't appreciated by those he helped. This is where the track's meaning lies, like his grandfather he feels an that lack of appreciation, suggesting "n****s ain't gonna leave me with two wooden nickels to rub together". Essentially, the world will leave him with nothing for his work, just like his grandfather, describing the generational discrimination of Haitian people. He extends this generational discrimination to his father, explaining how those who owed his father favours were eager to forget them after his death. The end result being that it has made the rapper's "heart colder than Antarctica", wary of the world and its exploitation of his people. To close the track the loop fades out, and Gendel solos until a final, sustained note breaths.

After this is 'Traditional', the final track produced by Nicholas Craven on this album. Craven once again employs a sample of horns, played slower than the album intro, but just as commandingly. Mach once again has a message to share, continuing his focus on the effects of discrimination he describes the hopelessness of poverty. Over the cinematic horns he raps, "What happens when conditions ain't liveable, n****s get to acting they religion ain't biblical", where he describes the conditions of poverty as so unable to be lived in, that all hope is lost for those suffering in them. The message is told over the continuing cinematic horns, which eventually fade away with it.

Final interlude, 'La Cinquième' (The Fifth) features the audio of an apparent 'ritual', with the "throbbing rhythm" of drums and a dancing horn underscoring the narration, as the ceremony "picks up in intensity".

The next track, 'Money Magnets', sees Mach rapping with his fellow Dump Gawd Tha God Fahim, in another ode to the Dump catalogue. The beat is produced by Messiah Musik, consisting of a slow piano loop and traditional boom bap drums which drive its eery melody. Standout lines from Mach include "watch how I put you on skates, it's the Haitian", followed by "I dedicate my masters to this tape, to the next generation" where he details the good he wants to do for his country. The track is a declaration of wealth, but also that it's going to the right places.

'Self Luh' continues Mach's stylisation of 'love' as 'luh', seen in both Bulletproof Luh and Luh Hertz. Building on the concept, this time it is applied to the self - with the song's production taking a soulful sample of vocals and looping this message of "loving yourself, but taking it all for granted". The song is produced by Griselda staple Conductor Williams, whose trilogy of beats made for some of the most powerful moments of Pray For Haiti, and makes for a just as powerful outro to Balens Cho. Opening the track Mach asks "you ever stop to thank your heart for beatin'? What if you had to stop and thank for your lungs to start breathing?", questioning the apparent lack of gratitude many have for the parts of their body used everyday. This starts a message of caring for the human body and self love which runs through the whole song, ending in final lines "I am infinite wealth, but it all starts out with loving yourself".

Overall, Mach-Hommy's second showing of 2021 is another powerful project that showcases his G.O.A.T. status in the underground hip hop scene. He proves that he retains the ability to make projects in a similar vein to past work, as well as working in the sound of his breakout Pray For Haiti. He also channels the Mach of 2017-2019 in the "dumping" of more than one project, leaving much to be excited for in his next releases. Will he continue his old sound, his current sound, embrace a combination of the two, expand on the post-2019 'yellow trilogy' (Mach's Hard Lemonade/Pray For Haiti/Balens Cho), or move forward and do something entirely different? This leaves a hope that Mach-Hommy continues to build his discography and craft his increasingly growing presence in hip hop in the 2020s and the future.

Questions:

  • Do you prefer Balens Cho or Pray For Haiti?

  • Is this a return to the more 'underground' form for Mach?

  • What would you like to see him do in the near future?

submitted by /u/LiquidKonfusionPlaya
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