steel tipped dove is a producer from New York, one who has worked with Armand Hammer, milo, PremRock, and many, many more over the years. Just this past October, he teamed up with Backwoodz Studioz to release his solo album, Call Me When You’re Outside, which features a murder’s row of talent rhyming and singing over his production. Now he’s shifting gears and working with a lesser known artist, Chaz Canairy, to make a full-length album, The Birds.

Chaz Canairy is an emcee from West Virginia who has released a couple of single and bootleg tracks on Soundcloud, but if you weren’t looking for him, you weren’t necessarily going to find him. Fortunately, one of the people who knew him and knew what he was capable of was steel tipped dove, and now he not only gets to give his friend a boost, he gets to make a really fun album in the process. Dove is handling the production on all but a handful of tracks, when Harvey Cliff and HOKES take the reins, but all the beats fit together so well, you won’t notice if you’re not looking for it. One of the first things that hit me in listening to The Birds was just how much fun this album is. There is still room for some darkness and weirdness to dove’s production, but this project brings out much more of the funky side of dove that makes you want to turn that shit up and make the stank face while you’re listening to it. On the mic, Chaz Canairy is going to hit you with so much charisma you’re going to be wondering where he’s been hiding this whole time. He’s got a great playful and melodic flow, and you can easily imagine how much this album would kill in a live setting. Lyrically, there is plenty of room for Canairy to have fun just talking shit, but finds room to get serious here and there, such as facing the economic realities of being an indie rapper on “Layaway,” or the sweet and mature love song of “Bubbly Pt. 2.” It’s an incredibly well-rounded album, and the chemistry between dove and Canairy is off the charts.

The Birds might be an introduction to steel tipped dove and Chaz Canairy as a duo, but this album works so well and feels so natural, you’d swear they’d been at this for a decade with multiple albums already under their belt. They clearly had a lot of fun making the album, and it comes through in music. Turn this up and have fun blowing out your speakers with some great hip hop.