After decades of Friendship, and working on music together, the duo once known as COOLER HEADS PREVAIL have finally released their 1st full length project, titled COOLER HEADS PREVAIL Vol 1. J.R. EWING and TRACE BIZZLE have been family friends way before they became Vocal Booth Brothers, and the natural chemistry is felt throughout the release, which was a labor of love by J.R.EWING to honor the memory of his fallen partner, TRACE BIZZLE, who sadly passed away in May of this Year. This fact makes the conversation on the intro of the album all the more gripping, as J.R. gets a call from his Manager while he is about to lay a verse down in the booth. You can hear the huge smile on BIG PLAY RAY’s face as he boasts that COOLER HEADS are the
“New Outkast Of the Dirty South” . When J.R. asks him how much he currently has in his pocket, BIG PLAY jokingly flexes
“About 20 Grand , You know thats a regular thing, I prefer to have 60K on me at all times, but you know how it is….” – BIG PLAY RAY, Manager Cooler Heads Prevail
And so the debut album from these 2 long time friends begins, full of messages to help hot heads cool off and take a minute to think about their future, and the little time they have left on this Earth.
Listen to COOLER HEADS PREVAIL Vol 1 Here
On the album opener, “CLASSIC”, J.R. and TRACE deliver “A simple allegory bout chasing this paper”. Writen and Recorded during the COVID Lock Down Era, TRACE did not let the 4 walls he was forced to quarentine behind limit his Dreams and Vision of blowing up. He takes pride in the bars he drops claiming. “They can make you think or they can make you twerk”. Then J.R. hits you with a third verse that shows off the pen that made him a feard opponent in Miami’s ART OF WAR Battle League. He weaves a BIGGIE SMALLS Scheme in his verse that leaves your head spinning
“Real Players gonna head to V.I.P/ Notorious like the B.I.G/ X Hoes be like, give me one more chance/ You gone need faith for me to be Your Man/”- J.R. Ewing
This is when the project hits its stride. PUSHING ON & THROW IN THE TOWEL are my two personal favorite songs on the album. TRACE sings a soul sterring hook that will be relatable to anyone who has been stuck between a rock and hard place, caught in the stressful state of indecision, or faced with a road that they have to walk against their will. Responsibility is about doing what we need to do even when we don’t want to. EWING shares a story about his struggle with suicidal thoughts, and TRACE hits me in the soul when he observes how most of us sleep on God’s plan for our lives, and in doing so miss out on the blessings he had in store for us. THROW IN THE TOWEL is a song about resilience during the trying times, and works perfectly paired back to back with PUSHING ON.
CLUB SPACE is my least favorite joint off the record with its super slowed down, old school cadence. This literally sounds like when the amount of drinks and drugs you have taken on a night out clubbing in Miami catches up with you and everything starts slowing down little by little til you Black Out. JR EWING saves the song a bit with his 2nd verse, but not enough to make the song replayable, but thats just my humble opinion. Take a dose of it yourself, but dont O.D. now. The album closer however is a whole different story. On BISCAYNE BLVD, another 305 Theme Song which will be felt throughout the city, J.R. & TRACE BIZZLE report from some of Miami’s most famous hoods and landmarks. With 3 Verses of pure South Florida Hood Hop, this a joint that you can bump loud and proud from Carol City, to Liberty City, to the Goulds and Homestead. When I first heard BISCAYNE BLVD, my only negative critique was that they should have recruited an experienced soul vocalist to deliver the hook. However, when I found out that TRACE had passed away earlier in the year, I understood why J.R. EWING decided to leave it on the album as is. Somethings are fine left as is, no bells and whistles, just authentic and organic feeling. Now that I know these are some of his last recordings, it makes me appreciate his bars a bit more. Some of them were TRACE’s way of vocalizing his dreams and aspiration, some of them were his coming to grips with his faults and shortcomings, some of them were borderline prophetic.
Throughout the album, TRACE BIZZLE slung his verses like a man desperate to get his truth off of his chest, like a heavy weight you are desperate to come out from under. Thankfully J.R. EWING released this project so we can all get a taste of what TRACE was cooking up before he transitioned to his next big mission on the other side. May The Lord be as pleased with his child as we were reviewing this album. REST IN PEACE Brother TRACE.
Written by 8ch2Owens
Founder of Vice City Cypher, WVCC Radio, PROFRESH Publicty. With over 20 Years in South Florida’s Hip Hop Scene 8ch2Owens has carved his name into the Miami Hip Hop history books, and now uses his talents to promote the best in South Florida Indie Hip Hop and Underground Hip Hop from around the globe.
