Termanology, 'Time Is Currency'

(AfterLyfe Music, CD, digital) In a genre full of hard workers, Boston rapper Termanology has distinguished himself as one of the most prolific artists in the game. A lifelong genre purist who's been hustling rhymes since high school, he celebrates his legacy on Time Is Currency, his latest, and 50th, album. That is not a typo, but it is one hell of an achievement. It also happens to be a huge win for one of Vermont's most respected hip-hop talents — Burlington's Nastee, who produced the album. "I'm what Dre is to Compton, or Jay is to Brooklyn, and Scarface to Houston," Termanology raps on "Stay Out the Way (feat. Solene & Fabeyon)." It's a fair claim. Few New England rappers are as visible, and it's debatable whether any of them can match his sheer output. These days, Termanology is simply a historical fact, a king of the underground who's been around forever. But it's instructive to consider how he got here. Back when rap culture was aflame with debates over the infamous 2006 Nas album Hip Hop Is Dead, a young Daniel Carrillo had zero doubts about the future. He was just getting started. Hot off an appearance in The Source's legendary "Unsigned Hype" column in October 2005, the rapper was flooding the market with his "Hood Politics" mixtape series and laying the groundwork for his 2008 debut album, Politics as Usual. To casual observers, it may seem strange to talk about the "debut album" of an artist who already had nearly a dozen releases. The dividing line here is albums versus mixtapes. The latter are fast and raw and involve a lot of uncleared samples and classic instrumentals (and, ideally, a lot of the DJ screaming and scratching). By contrast, Politics as Usual was the product of years of careful work. Clearly patterned after Nas' 1994 album Illmatic, it featured production credits that were an A-list of New York City talent, including Easy Mo Bee, Large Professor and Pete Rock. It was a landmark LP for Boston hip-hop and the blueprint for everything Termanology has done since. His quality control as an independent artist is exacting, and his albums are always carefully calibrated experiences. The man may work fast, but he never cuts corners. The same is true of his bar game. Early on, Termanology distinguished himself with his jigsaw-tight lyrical workouts, a mix of Big…