By P80 Parks

Touted as possibly their final work, CnL deliver an LP of epic proportions. Delaware emcees Chuck Angus and Lockjaw, better known as Chuck N Lock have always eluded the status quo in their genre. Their mission and mentality has always been to put out clever and humorous rhymes over quality production, never catering to anyone. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more genuine duo, constantly eschewing the notions of how to engage with fans in this era of shameless self-promotion and endless social media antics. Put plainly, Chuck N Lock could give a fuck. They prefer to create music with peers they admire and respect.

Deeply Rooted: Tell us about a little about Centralia, cuz the project is flames.

CNL: “The idea is just that, it’s fire.. CENTRALIA is an old mining town that’s had a fire burning underground for years, but has since been forgotten about. The (hip hop) underground has been on fire, and just recently, in the past few years it’s had a new light shed on it and what’s been going on. People been down here getting busy.”

Taking shit serious on their LP over production from Loman, Evilldewer, nopulp, Wolfagram, NCL-TM, Don Carrera and JLVSN, Crucial The Guillotine and J-Es, Chuck N Lock bust it down on every track, filling the bars with thoughtful lyrics and plenty of quotables. CnL bring in some finely selected features including Nickelus F, Lord Juco, DapZini and LeftLane Didon.

CNL: “We wanted to bring in a bunch of different features and production to shine a light on the underground artists who’ve been putting in fire work.”

Peep “Monster Mile” feat LeftLane Didon here:

https://m.soundcloud.com/chuckandlock/monster-mile-ft-left-lane-didon-prod-jlvsn?ref=clipboard

Highlights include the moving flute loop on “Jewel Of The Nile” where Lock spits: “I would like to stack a couple Ben Franklins. Cuz money is imperative, but I wanna switch the narrative, I’d rather ya be rich in character.”

Tracks like “Underwater Home Run Derby” feat DapZini and “See You Next Tuesday” uphold a futuristic, apocalypse vibe. The whole project plays well with plenty of eerie moods and melodic samples to subtly help CnL craft some dope hip hop tracks.

The duo deliver a well developed project, pulling together some of the consistent and unique talents in the underground. Chuck n Lock come through on CENTRALIA, leaving the question for their future in the game on the table. Will this be the last we see of Chuck n Lock? Doubtful.. But we can certainly enjoy this culminating piece of work from two talented emcees over well-selected production.