Theory Hazit has yet to drop a bad album, has yet to drop anything that is less than a classic that we will be listening to years from now. That trend continues with Theory Hazit’s new album “Thr3e”. “Thr3e” is the last installment of the Lord Fire series even though “Lord Fire” is absent from the title. As with the previous LF’s Theory is working with a new producer and what better way to end the series than with one of hip hop’s best producers in Dert. The two have come together to make something real special.
To start this off, let me say this, this is a Hazit record that we’ve never seen before and I don’t know if we’ll ever see something like this again. It’s a different type of Lord Fire, it’s more personal, more introspective but still has that Hazit dopeness that we all love. The album starts off with the “Thr3e Intro” and it’s beats and raps where Theory raps about the numerous meanings of “three” from biblical references to the childhood meaning of three. The beat bangs as Dert threw in some sounds from Super Mario to accompany Theory’s lyrics.
“What Lies Beneath” is turning out to be a joint that I have on repeat a lot, there are no guest verses on this record, but there are a number of guest vocalists. Melanie Rutherford sings the hook on this song and she kills it. Theory speaks on the Devil and the impact he plays in our lives and this track continues to set the trend for the record, which is introspection and reflection.
Moving a couple tracks forward we see another facet of what Theory brings to “Thr3e” and that’s storytelling. “I Need You More Than Ever” was a track that I saw recorded when Theory did that behind the scenes Ustream session. The track tells the story of a recently divorced couple and Theory tells how this divorce effects both the husband and wife, but also the daughter that they had together. And then Propaganda comes in with some Spoken Word and easily steals the show, his poem comes from the viewpoint of the stepdad and I’ll leave you to listen to that track on your own, but you don’t want to miss it.
“For Lack Of A Better Word” is one of my favorite tracks lyrically on this record because Theory bears all and it was interesting to see how he felt about himself on this journey he’s going through. Hazit talks about everything he struggles with in life and it’s interesting seeing the flaws that he speaks of.
“It’s evident, I failed as a son, a brother, a boyfriend, a father, a husband”
Everyone should be able to relate to this track and the struggle that Theory talks about in his own life. This track is excellent, Dert laced a dark beat with a piano loops and Sivion even drops in with some saxophone having this track on repeat at least for me.
The last track I’ll talk about is “Distorted Joy” where Lolligag appears telling the story of a crack baby. This may sound like a cop out but I honestly do believe that this track is the equivalent of “Concealed Sorrow” from “Modern Marvels”. Theory flexes his storytelling muscles and he does it real well, this was one of the tracks I was really looking forward to hearing when I heard the samples of the record and he did not disappoint.
This isn’t the record that a lot of us were expecting when we heard that Hazit and Dert were working together, but I’ll tell you this it’s better than what we wanted it to be. Theory went against the grain on this one and once again created another classic. Being able to hold down a solo record all by yourself is a difficult task, but Theory’s done it here. His legacy continues with “Thr3e” and there’s no reason you shouldn’t pick this up because it’s free. Theory gives the listener something we hadn’t got from him on an entire record and that’s introspective and reflective raps on his life, his walk with Christ and more. Dert brought the heat on this too as he always does, both artists brought things we hadn’t really seen from either before, but both bring the heat.
So I guess that means the score ends with:
Fire Department: 0
Theory Hazit: “Thr3e”
Rating: 10/10
