Boston emcee Reks is swimming in a sea of talent, one in which he hopes to emerge as the shark that eats all the small fish with his second project, Rekless. After creating a buzz with Along Came the Chosen, Reks is now attempting to build momentum with a much more focused project, as Reckless comes off as an attempt to separate himself from the rest of the music that
comes out of Bean Town.
 
      Reks, the emcee, stands as a pretty average cat. Which says a lot compared to the crap that oozes from radio stations these days. His style and lyrics won’t jump out and grab the listener right off the bat, but after a few listens they manage to turn the trick. Most of the time he poses with his dick grabbing braggadocio, which in the field of a lot of other, more experienced nut clutchers, he doesn’t fare very well, as seen on “One”. Rekless goes mostly by the book with its battle joints (“Crush You”), thug music (“Wherever We Go”), double time rap (“Ready for War”) , riding music with singing hook (“Baby Boy”) and introspective views (“Back to the Essence”), which makes it seem more manufactured than what was intended. But when he attempts to tackle other subject matter, he shows a much more diverse emcee. He leaks heartfelt vocals on “Man Am I”, allowing us to see Reks as simply Corey, the human being in relationships, complete with all the faults most of us have in unions with the opposite sex.  But as soon as the listener is allowed to view Reks as something other than a rapper, he drifts right back into that common ground of manufactured emcee.
 
     From a production standpoint, the Soul Searchers lend overall, sound production to the mix. From the thumping “Crush You”, it seems as if the Soul Searchers may have a promising future ahead of them, if given the chance with other emcees. “Blindfold” utilizes soul claps and a beckoning vocal sample that provides the ingredients of an ill moment. Although it
seems like it is begging to be ripped by the likes of Ghostface Killah, Reks still manages to hold his own. The monstrous drums of “Fall Down” may cause many heads to nod in appreciation, especially when the drums roll into a freakish arrangement during the hook. But with so many tracks at times it seems as the production is restricted from being more experimental because of Rekless’ by-the-books presentation
 
 
     At twenty-two tracks deep, it is apparent that Reks could have benefited from shaving some of that extra weight and exposing more of his strengths instead of treading the line of mediocrity. As explained, Rekless straddles a fence known as not wack, but also not great. Nothing on the album comes off as non-listenable, yet nothing will have heads reaching to pump up the volume. It does have its moments, and at times sounds promising, but in the end “okay” just doesn’t cut it these days. Reks, at the end of the day, will just leave many who don’t know about him spending their well earned cheese elsewhere.