Brand new album & the 3rd overall from London, England, United Kingdom emcee/producer Onoe Caponoe. Introducing himself in the early 2010s off his debut mixtape Central Control as well as Willows Midnight Gallery & Holy Mountain, it wasn’t until The Staircase to Nowhere caught the attention of High Focus Records & made his full-length debut for the label with Voices from Planet Cattele during my senior year of high school. Spells from the Cyclops continued Onoe’s evolution & had me hoping Surf or Die.
After the introductory skit, the first song “Suicide City” begins with a mix of Bionic from the London Posse & early Pro Era kicking flows over a nostalgic boom bap beat whereas “Red Planet” goes for a more cloudy Memphis trap vibe inciting an intergalactic mosh pit. “Ms. Universe” feels instrumentally reminiscent of A Tribe Called Quest’s late 90s output telling the woman he’s been seeing that he can make the stars shine while “Blood Moon (City Hunt)” shifts treads the trap waters again discussing 169 coming through the back door.
“Valentine’s Massacre” returns the boom bap after the compositional “Carnival of Souls (Hypno Pop)” piece abstractly referencing the murder of seven members & associates of Chicago, Illinois’ notorious North Side Gang just before “Graveyard Funk” shows off a bit of a Bone-Thugs-n-Harmony influence with a Memphis twist to it. “Behind the Wall of Sleep” talks about the good living forever & bad croaking whenever their time comes leading into “Chop ‘Em Down (Mosh of the Dead)” featuring L-Zee Roselli ending the 1st half of Surf or Die with an aggressive crunk gangsta rap fusion.
After the “Last Bittersweet Moment” instrumental intermission, “Heathers” smokily recalls a woman he met during the summertime & getting far away from people together while “Spaceship Funk / Cat on the Roof” talks about being swerved out in our solar system ahead of the spoken word outro during the 2nd half. “Raincloud” brings some jazzy piano chords in the fold speaking hearing voices in the back of his head like the Harry Potterfranchise antagonist Voldemort while the trap-flavored “Phone Call” produced by Telemachus talks about stepping out engulfed in flames.
“Crazy Cat Coffee Party” takes inspiration from jazz rap once again flexing that he’s been high in the sky & there being nobody higher than him generally while “Yellow Brix” confesses to being afraid of changing. “Lost the Love” smoothly samples “Running Out of Time” by Rexy realizing his mind’s true potential & the final song “Cymatics” prior to the “Black Sun (Love’s Key)” outro jazzily leaves a trail of flames behind when it’s time for him to go off.
Capturing the turbulence within Onoe Caponoe’s life these past couple years, I have no doubts of Surf or Die being heralded as the greatest LP in his entire discography & amongst the top 5 projects throughout High Focus Records’ most for years to come. The prominent experimental hip hop direction of Spells from the Cyclops ventures further out in favor of boom bap, jazz rap, cloud rap, Memphis rap, trap & sound collage getting a lot more lyrically abstract than what he’s done previously.
Score: 4.5/5
Legends Will Never Die 