Album Review: SHOOT DICE NOT PEOPLE by 4FIVE6 NICE & DeevoDaGenius
A Boston rapper who chopped weed on his grandmother’s bathroom floor links with a Lowell producer at a Brockton studio. They report on staying alive.
Translator’s Note: Originally written in Japanese; translated into English for publication.
The “WRBYF” hook is “who is left when shit hits the fan.” In pricing, pumping so hard he raps about asthma, he answers this by breaking peas to onions on a bathroom floor, sliding dubs before his rapping career even began—two minutes of writing from the off-mic side of his life. Breakout Boston rapper, hustler, and 4FIVE6 NICE, rhymes second. Monopoly outro: someone lands on his property; someone pays.
SoundLab in Brockton is where DeevoDaGenius has his beats tracked. His compilation in February 2024 (CHAMPION SOUND) collects 15 Massachusetts MCs, signing off under the “97.8 Champion Sound” of the 978 area, and SoundLab itself claimed Studio of the Year at the 2025 Boston Music Awards. Where that compilation was a roll call, this project does the opposite. One rapper, one beatmaker, no count, the most powerful single producer Mass. rap record of the year.
On the track “HERO (PAYTON PRITCHARD),” nice paints a picture of his life and the transition from illegal Hustling to a legitimate business selling fitted caps; from digital scales selling dope to legit digits and money. His statement about “old Boston where the men were really made” stops being a nostalgia trip by the second listen. This era he is referring to is marked by a shoutout to Bone Crusher’s “Never Scared.”
“Loyalty is rare, so I threw one on the house.”
Over a patient indoor loop on “PLAY TO WIN (RED LINE),” 4FIVE6 NICE earns the bar that names the dual life. He raps that he runs a nine-to-five and slings to pay his bills, rides Dorchester end to end on the train, and lands a quiet clause: “Still make it home to tuck the babies in for bedtime.” He RAPS that bar without inflection. Red Line in the title is also a colorway. SHOOT DICE NOT PEOPLE is a creed on “SDNP FREESTYLE” and a sound effect on every interstitial skit. Wayne Street is also a corner. Every meaningful noun pulls double duty.
“Tuck the babies in for bedtime.”
Across “FCKEDUP (WHATITFEELIKE),” 4FIVE6 NICE admits he could never buy his kids fruit snacks at the grocery store. His grandmother’s death broke his soul to a million parts. He raps, “I had to sell weed, sell pills, even robbed,” and says he disliked the feeling, so he got a job, forty hours a week, no problem. A rapper this practiced names the hours, and the writing earns belief on the bar alone. Out on a Dorchester block on a Saturday night, a circle of men in tech fleece and white Air Forces is on the ground arguing over a roll, while the closing audio interlude on “DEREK JETER” announces the “8th Annual World Series of Dice” and MC EyeFlo’s hook rolls under it: “If not me, who? If not now, when?”
Great (★★★★☆)
Favorite Track(s): “WRBYF,” “HERO (PAYTON PRITCHARD),” “PLAY TO WIN (RED LINE)”