LoDeck and YESH have known each other since the 90s, both coming up from the same South Brooklyn scene that fed the Fondle Em and Rawkus/Lyricist Lounge eras. Despite that history, “Viscera Cera” marks the first time the two MCs have actually linked up on a track. The video dropped August 25th, pulled from LoDeck’s album Dinner at Dorsia, out back in June through his own jOHNNY23 Records. Sol626 of the Golden Godz handled production, and the track was recorded in Las Vegas, where LoDeck is based these days. The title refers to what the artists call the viscera of life, the moments that stick with you and get pulled out on special occasions.
The flow between the two MCs is easy and unforced, the kind of trade-off you’d expect from friends who’ve had decades to build a rapport even without ever putting it on record. What carries the track, though, is Sol626’s instrumental. It’s old-school in the best sense, built around a soulful R&B sample that gives the whole thing a warm, melodic bed to work over, pleasant enough on its own that you find yourself humming along independent of the bars. That doesn’t happen by accident. The press notes describe a meticulous selection process aimed at finding a beat that could mesh two distinct rap styles, and that care comes through.
The video leans into the nostalgia, cutting in archival footage of both LoDeck and YESH from years back, which gives the whole thing a time capsule feel for anyone who came up on that era of New York hip-hop. It’s a fitting way to frame a first-time collaboration between two guys who’ve been circling each other’s orbit for thirty years. LoDeck is already working on his next studio album, and YESH has a show lined up in Santiago, Chile on September 5th. For now, “Viscera Cera” stands as a solid document of two South Brooklyn veterans finally sharing a beat, and Sol626’s production is reason enough to give it a spin even if you’ve never heard of either MC before.