Benny and The Plugs meet again
If you asked me how I’d describe Benny the Butcher’s albums, I would tell you that Benny doesn’t make albums. He creates audio motion pictures!
The Plugs I Met 2 is a sequel to an album that certified Benny as one of the top lyrical Emcees. With this album, he’s already a made man in the Hip-Hop industry, recognized for his pen game. Dropping jewels for those still living the street life and giving those outsiders the truth of what it’s like to survive the battles that come with that lifestyle.
Benny continued to apply influence from the movie Scarface by using a scene from the movie as the cover art and referencing the film throughout the whole project. Partially with the start of this album, you have the first track titled “When Tony Met Sosa” that goes with the theme of meeting the plug.
Add in one of the waviest producers out of Brooklyn in Harry Fraud to produce the whole album, and you got an album that felt perfectly executed sonically. Whenever you hear that “La música de Harry Fraud” tag, you know that the production will always be top tier.
Benny also teamed up with Hit-Boy, who produced the entire Burden of Proof album that came out before The Plugs I Met 2. This album collaboration with a producer formula that Benny applied for his past two solo projects is a winning one.
The Plugs I Met 2 stands out because it plays like a letter from Benny to the people still in the street life while also giving out street lessons that anybody can apply to their lives.
One of those tracks that encompass both of those elements is “Live By It.” In the song, he’s talking about how young dudes in the streets can get their hands on guns easily but don’t understand that the actions you take with it can quickly lead to your downfall. Simply put, you can summarize this song with the infamous phrase of “live by the gun, die by the gun.”
My favorite song off the album is “No Instructions,” a song where Benny reflects on his transition from being a street dude to a full-time rapper and seeing how some of these rappers in the industry are just rapping about a lifestyle that they didn’t live. Making gangster rap music because they know that’s what many people listen to and easier to get exposer from that style.
In the song he says, “Okay, I see, y’all believe these rappers if you want, my nigga,Let ’em convince you to do what they never done, my nigga They just trynna sell records, it’s all a front, my nigga (Niggas frontin’).” This is a line that needs to be said because we live in a time where many people are doing whatever is selling, and the bar of authenticity in the rapper game is incredibly low.
It would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Chinx feature on the song “Overall.” Chinx passed away in 2015, so this song came together through the ties Harry Fraud has with the whole French Montana Coke Boys movement.
The song is solid, and Chinx plays his part well by providing a verse and the track’s hook.
In my opinion, The Plugs I Met 2 is the weakest project Benny has put out (not including Benny the Butcher & DJ Drama Present: Black Soprano Family); I’m only counting everything from Tana Talk 3 to The Plugs I Met 2. When I say the weakest, that shouldn’t be taken as a negative because this is an album I’ll be coming back to listen to for leisure listening, but not nearly as much as the past projects Benny has put out over the past two years.
Even with that said, this isn’t me saying that the music didn’t reach the usual standards I came to expect from Benny’s music. I’m just saying this album wouldn’t be my first choice to play out of his album catalog.
