The 90’s, that’s when yours truly and many others in the artist space were born, the 90’s were when we had classics like Sonic the Hedgehog (before Sega brutally murdered him), Rugrats, Pepperann and more that made us who we are today. Texas emcee The Fifth Estate has taken this aesthetic and not just made a project inspired by it, but a full tape immersed to the point you feel like you went in a time machine back to dope raps and beats for the cookout.
When I first heard about the project I was hype, a tape with some 90s sounding beats with Fifth Estate just ripping through the production like a cypher sounded right up my alley. However he’s created so much more than that basic idea, because the 90s were more than that. In fact the intro to the tape reminded me a lot of Chance’s intro to “Acid Rap” done Fifth Estate style. The next two tracks “What It Is” & “Soul (We Got)” show how dedicated Fifth is to this. I pray I get to see Fifth live because the hook in “What It Is” is perfect for calling back to the audience.
Speaking of “Soul (We Got)” brings me to the production and if I’m being frank it blew me away, this wasn’t what I was expecting at all. Again when approached with the tape, I expected 90s instrumentals some that I had heard some that I hadn’t, instead the team of Jay Humble, Tyler Wrighteous, m o o n & Zou High throw you right into the 90s with a number of sounds. “Soul (We Got)” evoked an Exile feel and the Jay Humble produced “Back Home” can’t help but have you in your feels as we enter adulthood.
The Fifth Estate’s approach to “Stuck In The 90s” is varied, he’s not just taking the stereotypical route. It would have been real easy to take Nas’ “The World Is Yours” and the like and just tear through every beat but have his own spin on it. Instead we get a bit of everything from The Fifth Estate, he adds a bit of singing to the tracks, changing up the tempo. But then we also get tracks like “Manifest” where we get an aggressive Fifth Estate speaking his truth over a trippy beat beat by m o o n.
This is a creative release and The Fifth Estate’s praise of the 90s is unapologetically drenched in nostalgia while not sticking to one 90s stereotype. The potential is easily there and I’m really curious to see what a full-length from The Fifth Estate would sound like. For now though jump in the time machine and head back to the 90’s.