''Beyond Bulletproof'' is the fifth studio album by American rapper Mozzy from

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. It was released on May 1, 2020, via Mozzy Records and

Empire Distribution EMPIRE Distribution, Records and Publishing Inc. (marketed as EMPIRE) is an American distribution company and record label founded in by Ghazi Shami with offices in New York City, London, Nashville, and Atlanta. It has released albums in vari ...

Production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

was handled by sixteen record producers, including Jay P Bangz, Musik MajorX, Tariq Beats, TNTXD, and Yung Lan. It features guest appearances from Blxst, Celly Ru, E Mozzy,

Eric Bellinger Eric Aldwin Bellinger Jr. (born March 26, 1986) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Los Angeles. He began songwriting in 2010, and his co-writing credits including "Lemme See" by Usher, " New Flame" by Chris Brown, "You D ...

G Herbo Herbert Randall Wright III (born October 8, 1995), better known by his stage name G Herbo (formerly Lil Herb), is an American rapper from Chicago. G Herbo is signed to Machine Entertainment Group. He has released the mixtapes '' Welcome to Faz ...

King Von Dayvon Daquan Bennett (August 9, 1994 – November 6, 2020), known professionally as King Von, was an American rapper from Chicago, Illinois. He was signed to Lil Durk's record label Only the Family and Empire Distribution. Early life Benne ...

, Lil' Poppa,

Polo G Taurus Tremani Bartlett (born January 6, 1999), known professionally as Polo G, is an American rapper. He rose to prominence with his singles " Finer Things" and " Pop Out" (featuring Lil Tjay). His debut album ''Die a Legend'' (2019) peaked at ...

, and Shordie Shordie. The album peaked at number 43 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The album was supported by several singles, including "Big Homie from the Hood," "Overcame," "I Ain't Perfect," "Pricetag," and "Boyz to Men."

Background

In an interview, Mozzy explained the meaning of the title stating:

Singles

The album's

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

, "Big Homie from the Hood" was released, along with its

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

on December 12, 2019. It samples the 2004 single, " Let Me Love You" by American singer

Mario is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his cre ...

. On January 14, 2020, Mozzy released the albums second single, "Overcame", along with a music video, which was directed by David Camarena. The album's third single, "I Ain't Perfect" featuring Blxst was released on March 26, 2020. The fourth single, "Pricetag" featuring

and Lil Poppa, was released along with a music video on April 8, 2020. On April 21, 2020, Mozzy released the album's fifth and final single "Boyz to Men". The single's music video was released the same day.

Critical reception

''Beyond Bulletproof'' was met with generally favorable reviews from critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

score of 77, based on four reviews. RapReviews.com critic Ryan Feyre said, " Mozzy's greatest strength as a writer is clear intimacy. Every time he spits a verse, I feel like he's talking to me one-on-one with a cigar in hand and his posse surrounding him. There's wisdom attached to his words because he's been through it all. ... Mozzy still carries demons, but there are indeed shimmers of happiness percolating throughout some of these passages". Kenan Draughorne of ''

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of hip hop music criticism and news. The website's current president and publisher is Sharath Cherian and the Head Of Content is Jerry L. Barrow. ''HipHopDX'' is the flagship publication of Cheri Media Group. ...

'' said, "He doesn't dazzle with sinewy flows or clever melodies; he spits what's on his mind and trusts it will resonate. It definitely resonates on ''Beyond Bulletproof'', due to his transparent lens and well-suited production. Chalk it up as a victory for

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

's lyrical champion". Sheldon Pearce of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' summed up, "''Beyond Bulletproof'' is the closest Mozzy has come to making his songs accessible".

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

's Fred Thomas said, "Lyrical themes orbit around topics he often returns to: crime, struggle, and street vengeance. With ''Beyond Bulletproof'', however, the delivery is shades more relaxed and even introspective, allowing for a clearer view of Mozzy's pain as well as his personality".

Track listing

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2020 albums Mozzy albums Empire Distribution albums