This is the 2nd extended play from Bristol, England, United Kingdom emcee/producer Axel Holy. Originally known under the moniker Baileys Brown producing for several local underground hip hop artists, he would eventually make his full-length solo debut in the spring of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic with WonderWorld & went on to follow it up with his previous EP God Comflex produced by Jack Danz the following summer. However, he’s decided to enlist Micall Parknsun to solely produce Got It Down in it‘s entirety.
The title track opens up with a bloodcurdling boom bap beat talking about making his own rules whereas “Loop Digger” sonically brings a funkier vibe to the table discussing that he’s flipping more paper than origami these days. Kicking off the 2nd half, “Boomboomdahdah” instrumentally puts a cavernous spin on the traditional boom bap sound talking about him always winning & the outro “Talkin’ Landscape” finishes up on a cloudier note explaining he’s not around much since time’s money.
As someone who appreciates the contributions Micall Parknsun has made for both Low Life Records & his recent Boot Records output, I went into Got It Down expecting it to surpass God Comflex to become Axel Holy’s greatest solo EP as much as I liked the latter & am hopeful this will only be the beginning of what’s to come. Axel holds down the verses by himself compared to WonderWorld’s inclusion of guests & sounds great over Micall’s production varying between boom bap, cloud rap & funk.
Score: 4/5
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