Nicholas Craven’s Craven “N” 3

By Leo Hewitt-Provost

02/18/2022

Nicholas Craven, the producer from Montreal, announced earlier this year the release of Craven N 3, which had many heads excited, me included.

The track list includes the likes of Stove God Cooks, Boldy James, Evidence, Navy Blue, E L U C I I D, Pink Siifu, Your Old Droog and Connaisseur Ticaso.

The opening track, called ‘Opulence’ features Stove God Cooks, who has had a fantastic year in 2021, so it was an exciting perspective seeing him on the track list, the song is lyrically terrific, Nicholas’ Craven could not have picked a better instrumental for Roc Marciano’s protégé. ‘Murder is a tough thing to digest, it’s a slow process, and I got the patience of a buddhist…’ is both a beautiful nod to Hov and frightening at the same time.

Having released Yzerman right before 2021 came to an end, I had not consciously heard of Nicholas Craven before, whilst learning from the horse’s mouth (Bo Jack himself) that a new track was supposedly coming out, this is the moment I realised that Nicholas Craven was the architect behind many tracks that I fell in love with over the past year or two. Yzerman is always a treat to listen to, and I am hoping to see the two individuals working together real soon.

Breaking Atoms featuring Evidence came out last month and I promised myself to wait until Craven N 3 came out to hear it and I am not disappointed, the production on the song is out of this world, beautiful and melodic samples in hip-hop are everything that makes hip-hop so magical.

I am not too familiar with a lot of faces on Craven N 3, which makes it even better and enjoyable, artists like Pink Siifu, E L U C I I D and Connaisseur Ticaso all sound clear on this record, whilst Craven does what he does best with the utilisation of samples.

On songs like Anchor featuring Navy Blue, both Nicholas Craven and Navy Blue’s chemistry can be felt. Navy Blue, who released a very strong project last summer is back over the catchy beat, as both artists expose their talents ever so well.

Having dropped The Wolf on Wall St 2: The American Dream last month with Tha God Fahim, Your Old Droog connects once more with Nicholas Craven on YOD Body over this melancholic instrumental, his wordplay is slick and straight to the point, ‘They just mad because I did it with no help, I didn’t even pull up to the event and my presence is more felt.’ […] ‘They can’t perform in the hotel lobby, all the fans just want to see Yachty, that boy is nice and he knows out to rock a party.’

Nouvelle Religion featuring Connaisseur Ticaso is flawless, and it is always nice to be bilingual when writing album reviews, ‘Les murs ont des oreilles on a tous entendu le ‘murder’ tous vu les rubans orange, il y a juste ta mère qui souhaite que tu ne meurs pas’, translating to ‘Walls have ears, we all heard the murder, all saw the orange ribbons, only your mum hoping that you stay alive’ the song is very powerful and what I appreciate about rappers from Quebec is that they can display impeccable rapping abilities in both French and English which is always an amazing nod for those looking for those sort of sounds.

The last track of the project is called ‘Sud Wes Craven. I have never been a rapper, nor will I ever be, but to hear instrumentals playing without the MC behind the booth makes me want to grab a mic and start spazzing, Nicholas Craven is a dope producer in the game, the fact that it took me a while to realise who he is, is simply mind blowing. Hearing all the different MCs that work with him giving him his flowers over Sud Wes Craven is amazing to see.