Midwest MC Sankofa is not one to let much time lag between projects. Whether it’s constantly writing verses for new tracks, collaborating with friends, fellow MCs, producers, or coming up with ingenious new merch to help promote his work, Sankofa does not waste a drop of creative juice. Stephen Bryden, aka Sankofa, doesn’t let a day go by without the seed of an idea take root. Thankfully those seeds almost always leads to new Sankofa albums, which leads us to new LP Legacy Materials.
I’ve never claimed to be a hip hop scholar. I don’t possess the righteous vernacular in order to give a great rap album its proper due. I’ll just say that Sankofa impresses me each time out with his thoughtful, engaging rhymes. And he collaborates with only the best producers and MCs when making albums. He’s an artist that believes in the community of creation and collaboration. I think Legacy Materials might be his best album yet.
Since 2017 the rapper known as Sankofa has been on a tear. Ink From Rust, 1,000 Magnets, 102 Magnets, $5,000 Flashlights, Weird Summer, BLKTCHP, Floodgates, and The Dubs I Met are just a portion of the work Sankofa has released in the last 5 years. Every time out he seems to equal, if not surpass, the bravado and delivery of what came before. Legacy Materials comes barreling at you with the breakneck “The 8th Of December” right out of the gate. The speed and dexterity of Sankofa’s delivery is awe-inspiring. Then “Chains Of Gold” follows with an almost dreamy feel in the production with of course another masterful delivery.
Songs like “That Pair Of Crutches In The Third Grade” feel close to the chest. As does “If Not Now, When?” and “Until I’m Not”. Sankofa lashes out with “venom tongue” with grace and precision here. And of course a Sankofa album would not be complete without a collaboraton with JON?DOE, which shows up as the funky and horn heavy “That Classic Back And Forth”.
Legacy Materials is another future classic from Fort Wayne’s one and only Sankofa. Pick it up at sethros.com.
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