Pray for Haiti by Mach-Hommy, A Deeper Look

After a lengthy absence from the spotlight, Mach-Hommy has just emerged back into the mainstream rap scene. On May 21st, the enigmatic Haitian MC released Pray for Haiti, his reunion album with Griselda leader and mastermind, Westside Gunn, who executively produced and curated the project.

For the past 5 to 6 years, after Mach-Hommy’s distancing from the Buffalo based rap group, Griselda, Mach has been behind the curtains, retaining a sort of ambiguous persona, far from the lights of the mainstream rap scene. However, he has not stopped grinding, releasing music almost covertly, with no social media, no promotion and albums only being sold on his website with high price tags and a limit to how many people can access them (with the exception of a few albums on major streaming platforms).

Attempting to acquire the extensive Mach discography would eat up your whole bank account or take a lot of deep searching. Despite the lack of major marketing strategies from major labels, notable names in today’s rap game like Action Bronson, Danny Brown and Jay-Z have called Mach one of the most talented in the game. His fans who have been following him through his cryptic journey these past years are insanely dedicated, calling him the best rapper alive with no one knowing it.

Only recently did fans learn that the beef between Westside Gunn and Mach had been squashed and we were all jumping out of our seats with excitement as to what this collaboration would look like. This past week, we finally got it.

In Pray for Haiti, the Haitian-American rapper brings his best. Along with features from Westside Gunn, Keisha Plum, Tha God Fahim and Melanie Charles, Mach brings his Haitian New York unique flow and lyricism to many new ears. He even had Drake posting his songs to his Instagram story. No, deadass.

The album features temperamental yet unheated beats followed by a more slowed down and less complex flow and lyricism compared to Mach’s older projects. However, there is still a lot to unpack. Including a couple shots thrown.

One of which is on The Stellar Ray Theory, where Mach throws shade at rapper Jay Electronica saying,

“Wonder why you piss poor

N****s be on message boards planting seeds of discord

Go get your front row seats for the greatest show on Earth

Next 40 days and 40 nights sure gon’ hurt”

This seems to be shots at Jay Electronica after Electronica went on a rampage on a discord channel, banning anyone that didn’t have good things to say about his album A Written Testimony. Jay had written the album in 40 days and 40 nights. Additionally, the beef could have started because Mach was supposed to have a feature on A Written Testimony but they ended up cutting it, according to Electronica himself. The song title could also be a play on one of the songs from Jay’s album called Shiny Suit Theory. Whether or not we’ll see Mach and Jay beef ramp up is hard to say but we shall see.

Some of my favorite tracks include; Magnum Band (feat. Tha God Fahim), Rami (feat. Westside Gunn), Marie and Folie Á Deux (feat. Westside Gunn & Keisha Plum). Conductor Williams and Camofougue Monk do an amazing job producing the majority of the beats on the album. Mach is able to glide over the beats and change his tone depending on the beat and the mood that is set. Furthermore, his ability to switch in and out of Haitian Creole, which separates him from most New York artists, never ceases to impress and enlighten the audience in his background.

Another special thing about this album is that Mach is donating 20 percent of all proceeds to Haitian schools. He vocalized his repungence of the reports of charities stealing money that was supposed to go to Haiti after the earthquake in 2010.

My personal overall rating of this album is a 9.5/10 and definitely the album of the year so far. His ambiguous persona as one of the best rappers around has lived up its expectations and now the public finally has access to him. I am extremely excited to see the future of Griselda and Mach-Hommy, I am certain it holds great things.