Here we have the 7th 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 followed by the Jack Danz-produced God Comflex as well as the Micall Parknsun-produced Got It Down & Welcome Back. Coming off Chess however, hearing that Badhabitz of the Split Prophets was fully producing Persian Grillz sounded promising on paper.
After the intro, “Flava” samples “Big Sur Suite” by Johnny Hammond to get things going shouting out all the people who’re still by his side today whereas “Runnin’” goes for a piano-driven boom bap vibe talking about switching up the pace. “Grillz” instrumentally has this nostalgic feeling to it boasting of going toe-to-toe in a battle & after the funky “Bwoyyyy” talks about stealing the show, the outro “Bitch Don’t” ends with a warning not to fuck up his mood.
Welcome Back & Chess both have their individual share of songs that I still enjoy, but Persian Grillz lived up to my expectations that were set when it was announced & joins Got It Down to become yet another crucial EP in Axel Holy’s growing discography as an artist. The production Badhabitz cooked up here’s significantly rawer than last couple EPs we got from Axel & lyrically, he goes a lot harder than he did compared to both of it’s predecessors.
Score: 4/5
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