If East Coast hip-hop melded into modern boom-bap production is something you look for from artists with flow and heart, then you have to hear Leedz Edutainment’s latest album, Hard to Learn. An album that’s taken years in the making, it pulls from musical pioneers from the decades past as well as a lifetime of learning life’s hard lessons.

Leedz brings a heartfelt performance with his own signature tricky and effortless flow throughout the entire album, namely the signature track “Hard to Learn” that shares the namesake of the album. From the jump, this is the kind of rap that’s been turning heads since the 90s, but this time through the eyes of a rough-and-tumble artist fighting to survive in a world all these years later. A mark of wisdom and homage to hip hop artists who have come before him, Leedz laments over the sacrifices of life and making the time count without hesitation.

“Life lessons hard to learn

And Gang Starr told you this shit hard to earn

Cause once you get over them bridges start to burn

The game moves swift, you already lost your turn”

With shoutouts to the everyday witnesses and working class to the callback to Houston legends, Gang Starr, Leedz doesn’t shine alone on this modern shining achievement in rap albums. The title track features artists that make this track cut to the bone with Torae, Skyzoo, and Reks, as they carry the story about the working man marred by the battles of blue-collar life, loss, perseverance, recovery, and ultimately acceptance.

Worthy of praise on this record are hands down “Penniless Kings (feat. the Arcitype & DJ Slipwax),” “No Surprise,” “Walk Among What Remains,” and “Battle Tested.”