Passalacqua is the Detroit duo consisting of emcees Mister and Blaksmith. After finding each in the indie hip hop scene in the mid ‘00s, they put out their first EP in 2011. Now, after taking a couple of years to work on solo material and side projects, they’ve come back to celebrate that anniversary with a new album, Passalacqua LP.

It’s nice when everything comes together in a nice neat little package. Having a self-titled LP for your tenth anniversary as a group is a nice idea on paper, but much harder to pull of in real life, which is why we should be celebrating the work that Passalacqua has done here. Working with producer Zach Shipps, they have created a definitive album that covers everything the group is about in one listening experience. Have you been following them this whole time? Great, this will sound like the culmination of ten years of hard work and a fun creative partnership. Never heard of them before? Great, start here and listen to them cover the scope of everything they do as a group, and then works backwards through their catalogue. You get fun and playful rhymes traded over funky beats like on “Joni” and “Catmandance.” You get some great flips of soul samples and social commentary on tracks like “Cash 4 Soul.” You get some really intimate music such as the closing track, “Window Seat.” You get a posse cut with SelfSays and Tunde Olaniran on “Black and Blue.” You even get a guest swinging in to almost steal the whole album when D.S.Sense drops her verse on “Emotional Response.” It’s the type of album that you can listen to over and over again and not only not grow tired of it, but you can keep finding all sorts of little nuances spread throughout as there are so many lyrical and musical gems buried within. It’s sequenced incredibly well to take you on this really complete listening experience, but mostly what it comes down to is that Blaksmith and Mister are really talented emcees apart from each other, but they are even better together, complementing each others’ styles and pushing one another to keep striving and creating hip hop that hits you from as many possible different angles.

Passalacqua LP is one of the most satisfying listening experiences, giving you a well-rounded look from a talented group. Blaksmith and Mister keep building and pushing each other, and on the tenth anniversary of their first release, they’ve outdone themselves once again.