J Reno is a 39 year old MC/producer from Windsor, Ontario, Canada introducing himself over 2 decades ago off his debut mixtape Ground 0 as well as the full-length debut Unleashed & the sophomore effort The Lunatic’s Back. He would follow it up with 6 more albums preceding Crossworm signing him to Dirtcore Music: Lost in the Dark, Politikilla, Into the Fire, Welcome Home, Blood, Guts & Boom Bap and Me & My Demons. Coming off Misery Coast’s eponymous debut EP this previous Hallowicked weekend, he’s making his official debut under Dirtcore with the inaugural entry of The Dirttape trilogy.
After the “Meet the Maker” intro, the self-produced “Exhumed” begins with an eerie boom bap opener talking about this whole saga of tapes coming with a curse whereas “Kill Flow 2” works in some strings & pianos for a sequel to one of the finishing moments off Lost in the Dark. “In the Ring” featuring Sleep Lyrical embraces the darker vibes even further talking about being undefeated for a reason while “The Juice” shrugs off him receiving hate because he’s got motion when they don’t.
“City of Fiends” talks about a once promising town shaping into it’s current form inhabited by zombies while “Should’ve Been” hints at him committing crimes instead of having a music career because we’re pitiful slaves to the rich. “NBT4LYFE” featuring Krimmy Van Skull decently combines boom bap & horrorcore lyricism despite Krimmy’s verse being alright to me personally while “Kill at Will” talks about acquiring a set of skills throughout the course of time that allow him to murder anyone at anytime.
After the “Voicemail” skit, “FU” contains what could most likely be my favorite beat here sounding like some 90s east coast shit explaining that rappers & their opinions are the only 2 things in the underground that haven’t changed at all while “Stand on Biz” featuring Bukshot finds the pair warning those who don’t take responsibility for themselves they’ll take everything plus interest. “What You Fighting For” goes full-blown rap rock talking about oligarchy prior to him discussing the kind of people who don’t know what it’s like to be “The Man”.
Shaping up to be the most ambitious body of work in J Reno’s solo discography with almost 26 more tracks spread across The Dirttape & assuming the next couple installments are gonna divide those songs, the beginning of this new era in his career makes some major improvements over Me & My Demons almost a couple years ago and it’s a great way for Dirtcore Music to kick off 2026 wiping a clean slate after a difficult 12 months. The production’s mostly boom bap centered other than a couple hints of rap rock & trap, there are fewer guests & the lyrics conceptually introduces us to a character named the Tape Keeper.
Score: 4.5/5
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