the Breakdown: Ace Tha Don’s epic ‘Legend’ mixtape and meaning of the records

Ace Tha Don’s latest mixtape ‘Legend’ is one of the best he has ever put out in his career so far. The 3 tracks mixtape is a project that will make Ace Tha Don gain music influence and presence not only in Kenya but across Africa where his status will feel at home.

Breaking down the ‘Legend’ EP made me know how deep Ace Tha Don is not just lyrically but also historically. The EP’s cover art is a sculpture of Thales of Miletus (620BCE – 546BCE).

Among ancient Greek philosophers, Thales of Miletus gets the top spot on this list for being the pivotal point in ancient Greek philosophy whereon the subsequent generations of many famous thinkers, theorists, dialectics, metaphysicists and philosophers sprouted from.

He is reputed among historians as the Father of Ancient Greek Philosophy. Coincidentally, Ace also refers to himself as the “Future Of Kenyan hip hop” and when you listen to the ‘Legend’ Extended Play, you will understand why he deserves that title.

As a philosopher, Thales rarely confined his research to a limited area among available knowledge and was actively indulged in understanding various aspects of knowledge. Just like Thales, Ace Tha Don does not confine himself to “hardcore” hip hop alone, despite being a lyricist.

Breakdown Track 1: Legend

The record was produced by Ace Tha Don, Shatzy K, and Kevin Grands

“Feels like I’m in the Matrix, my virtual reality programmed to interact with the greatest/ the A-list entertainers all part of my amazing creation; the same ninjas I used to bump on my playlist/…” – Having interacted with all top tier artists in the industry, e.g., Khaligraph Jones, King Kaka…

“For the sake of debating/ the way the labels are making the 808’s a sensation/ but when it makes you impatient to wait n’ changing the station…that’s when you realize the entire game is in danger/…” – Trap is the sub-genre being pushed over Hiphop, but the artists venturing into it poorly execute it, or are in other words ‘whack’.

“Legend” is a mix of punch lines & complex multi-syllabic rhyme schemes, once again proving Ace Tha Don is one of the few artistes, if not the only one, that can do what he does.

 Breakdown Track 2: Mine

The record was produced by Ace Beatz

The song is mellow, a different side of Ace we don’t get to see often seeing as he doesn’t usually put out that many emotional tracks in his career because he is a secretive person when it comes to his personal and private life.

Could be a dedication to his girlfriend from the lyrics, though Ace couldn’t confirm this….keeps his relationship and private life discreet and people guessing.

In this record, Ace Tha Don real name Curtis Omega proved that he can sing and still be good at it and make it seamless while we both know singing is not easy, ask somebody.

Breakdown Track 3: Apprentice Adept

The record as produced by Kevin Grands

The first track that dropped from the EP, & by far the most personal which was a response to Poppa Don’s ‘Python Flow 2’ respond.

Backstory:

So Poppa Don name-dropped Ace Tha Don on the ‘Python Flow 2’ record and went on to talk about being the first ever Don on the game and went on further to provoke him on social media;

“If he feels he is a worthy challenger then let us go bar for bar” Poppa Don wrote on Twitter.

When Ace Tha Don didn’t respond, Poppa Don went ahead to release another record ‘Warlord’ as a direct diss track to Ace.

Ace had enough and went ahead to release his most savage diss track dubbed ‘Apprentice Adept’ to Poppa Don that he has not yet replied to.

Apprentice (definition) – a person who is learning a trade from a skilled employer…ace addresses in the track, talking ‘bout at one point in his career he’s looked up to Poppa.

Adept (definition) – very skilled or proficient at something. Can’t deny Ace Tha Don’s unmatched level of lyricism.

The original artwork of ‘Apprentice Adept’ was a railroad chronometer, probably signaling time…that Poppa’s time is up, and that Ace was about to “run a train” on his career.

Coincidentally, Apprentice Adept is a heptalogy of novels written by English American author Piers Anthony.

The song starts with Ace Tha Don’s narration: “When you call yourself the best, there’s bound to be people that wanna challenge that fact”, so you always gotta be ready, referring to the beef that sprouted between them for no reason, but Poppa provoking Ace…competition, good for business. He goes on: “question is…are you gonna stoop to their level with the same weak generic insults? Or are you gonna get your bars up?? Whichever you do speak a lot about your character…” – a shot to Poppa’s immaturity displayed in “Warlord”, where he called Ace ‘mbwa’, ‘mwanamke’, ‘ugly lightskin’ which is way below the belt even for him.

“We held you with high regard, King Of The Nile/ you were the Don, with a reputation bigger than mine/ now you’re name droppin’ so we can fuck with a rap verse?/ Do The Math homie, you’re Hustlin’ Backwards/” – Ace implying Poppa was once recognized for his authenticity, but now he has to “take shots” at other artists just to get people talking. Also, “King Of The Nile” is Poppa’s tape, “Do The Math” is a Poppa/Ace collaboration (prod. By Jeraw Beatz), & Poppa’s got a feature verse on Shukid’s “Hustlin’ Backwards” track.

“Talkin’ bout who’s first, these are Ray J traits/ too pussy for your age, you tryna take Ray J’s place?/” – comparing Poppa to what Ray J’s famously known for, ‘hitting it first’. Addressing Poppa’s remarks on “Python Flow 2”, where he talked about being the first Don. “It’s not about who was first, it’s about who’s the best”

“You my boy, if there’s a problem there’s nothin’ we can’t fix, you know/….just light a G-Bag n’ relax, but he’d rather provoke me for the street dab n’ see mans quit? You not Shady, there’s no coming back from this relapse bitch/” – implying Ace has no reason to beef with Poppa n’ if there’s a problem they can hash it out like adults, but he chose “beef”, n’ that that will be the cause for his downfall. Also, “see I’m ready to kick it one-on-one witchu Poppa/ you wanna go bar for bar tho’, then I ain’t done witchu Poppa/…”

“See I don’t even like the industry tho’, too much gossip/ I’m only interested in knowing who’s poppin’/ not who’s fucking who n’ I wanna know everything about ‘em/ see where I’m going with this? You’ve got a problem” – implying Poppa has a gossiping problem. Also shots at the industry, giving more airtime to all things irrelevant but the music itself.

“N’ to think we were cool, n’ you were my big homie/ take the bass out your voice, you’re acting like a bitch, homie/…” – the beef came from nowhere, and how Poppa handled it was childish.

Plenty more gems in the track…..

A lot of thought was put into the whole EP, from the name and artwork, to the songs and their lyrics.

Nearly 2 years after the release of ‘#BARS101’, ‘Legend’ is testimony to Ace’s unmatched lyricism still intact.

The ‘Mine’ record was different side of Ace that we are not used to but we sure like it, shows his versatile side, more mellow one would say.

The ‘Apprentice Adept’ record is the first known song from Ace where he’s actually beefing with another artiste and he isn’t afraid to let the whole world know about it. The ‘Legend’ EP is a 12 minutes, you can spare 12 minutes to listen to this masterpiece.