Rome Cee: Grey Area

I’m DC born and raised, but matured in Maryland. When I was an MC I took pride in following local talent but that was a while a go. I don’t know anyone any more so I was surprised to see a tweet from Baltimore based Rome Cee letting me know his new EP was out, hinting at a review. This is a first for me, being asked to review an album. So, without biting my tongue or playing local favorites…

The first thing I noticed on Grey Area is that production quality is inconsistent. I’m not sure what it is, but every track comes off as missing something. Small, but something. Production quality aside, the intro track, The Dual, left me wanting. The track is short, so its peaks and valleys are brief but right when it begins to crescendo, it ends.

On Nightfall, Rome reminds me that he is an indie MC, not just underground, but Indie. Let me say that again, Rome is an indie MC. No where is that more clear than on this track. He says “I’m rain man, doing a african dance on my last chance to get signed on the streets. Bound to the beat like S&M. Wee hours of the morning when gusts come in, when the dust come in, I can tell that it’s dawn. On the following day, we gon’ do it again.” The production in this case only compliments the fact that both he and his music are raw, and ultimately are supposed to be.

Instrumentally For The People is right my alley. Lyrically, it’s pretty damn close too. Rome, without one feature, asks you to read between three lines at once on indirect analogies and metaphors such as “Like an old negro spiritual I experience death in the flesh, and in the physical, and now my tears are digital. I’m crying everyday, you can tell when it’s really real so if you buying can you pay?” as he likens his music birthed through pain to those of our ancestors; both ultimately shared for free.

After zoning out for a few tracks Bout to Blow caught my unfortunate attention. It’s a trap style record with a base heavy southern bounce. I almost feel as if this song like a few others were made specifically to cater to a regional audience. Wether that’s the case or not, I can’t promote the monotone deliveries, stagnant rhyme patterns and lackluster similes.

I’m a big fan of personification and metaphors, so I appreciate the play Rome and 810 present referring to music as their drug on Makes Me High. However I did notice a bit of inconsistency in the 2nd verse where the MC says screw the innuendo, I’m talking about weed here. Otherwise lines like “the studio is like the medicine man, and when I’m lit… what am I gonna say” over the classic sample gets a tepid thumbs up from me.

Honorable mention goes out to Moment to Shine. It screams DC, wait what was that? Rome’s from Baltimore? Sorry, I guess it was wishful thinking. The track is smooth and upbeat, and perfect to nod your head to. Like “For the People”, Virtue is featureless, and it seems like that’s when Rome is at his best. He has his most introspective and thoughtful lyrics when going solo.

Rome, channeling his inner Drake on Cold World delivers a semi auto tuned sing song rap. All the effects and gimmicks really distract from the lyrics and the song as a whole. It’s emo and too poorly produced and sung for my taste.

Rome makes up for Cold World with another top notch solo performance on Something Beyond. Dude spits hard on this track “… when your poor, getting caught in the allure is the norm. When the only warriors you think of is in the streets and the god fearing men was only cowards and they weak, back then, but now it’s deep.”

I was going to skip Koole, but had to point out that it features a Kendrick Lamar audible dopleganger. It’s the third and last of the “extremely inspired by someone else” series.

If your keeping track, Rome’s winning in my book. Less features and maybe better mastering would put this EP in an even better position. I recommend you give it a listen, a couple in fact. I haven’t written a review in months with reason. Passing over numerous commercial releases that I was looking forward to because honestly, I had nothing nice to say. Grey Area is good, not great, but very good.