OuterSpace is a revered underground duo from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania consisting of Crypt the Warchild & Planetary. Originally a trio alongside Jedeye, they would catch the attention of local emcee Vinnie Paz & joined his Army of the Pharaohs collective following their debut EP Illegaliens. They would go on to drop 4 albums since, with my favorites being their full-length debut Blood & Ashes alongside their last one My Brother’s Keeper. But after laying low for over a decade, Crypt & Planetary are finally preluding Lost in Space in the form of their 2nd EP.
“Pay Homage” is an aggressive boom bap opener produced by MTK with OuterSpace demanding you give them their flowers while the song “Gimme Patience” with Elemxnt takes the trap route courtesy of C-Lance confessing that they’ve been trying to stay strong for too long. The penultimate track “10 Toes Down” returns to the boom bap as the duo strives to stay loyal to everyone on the ground until “Mi Hermano” comes through with a cinematic closer talking having no mercy to give & refusing to swallow their pride.
Lost in Space has been long overdue & if this is just a taste of what’s to finally come, then I’m sure it’ll be amongst the biggest comeback albums in recent memory. You can truly hear the passion reignited in Crypt & Planetary as their chemistry is stronger than it was when they first started 25 years back as the production mainly sticks to a more traditional boom bap sound.
Jehst is a 43 year old graffiti writer, MC & producer from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom introducing himself by dropping an EP called Premonitions through his own label YNR Productions based out of London. He would go on to drop High Plains Drifter along with his debut album The Return of the Drifter & the sophomore effort Falling Down under the Leeds imprint Low Life Records, following the latter up with the Mengi Bus mixtape & the Nuke Proof Suitextended play. The Dragon of an Ordinary Familyas well as Billy Green’s Dead & Heathens would all come out independently as a result of Low Life’s collapse, returning for his 5th studio LP.
“Cornerstone” starts with this symphonic boom bap beat produced by Sonnyjim talking about being a foundation of the UK hip hop movement when there are no lies being spoken whereas “You” works in some pianos admitting he doesn’t give a fuck regarding this person who isn’t anything like him whatsoever. The self-produced “Footsteps” takes a jazzier boom bap approach instrumentally becoming unsure in the midst of finding his way back home while “Lonely World” featuring SINDYSMAN finds the 2 talking about finding hope over a Sam Zircon beat.
Meanwhile on “Wild Herb”, we have Jehst exploring a bit of a g-funk sound for a look inside of his kaleidoscope leading into “Doctor” talking about life getting lonely without having anyone to hold down & him getting older. “Daily Planet” featuring Confucius MC finds the 2 linking up so they can observe the insanity occurring every single day just before “Flight to L.A.” embraces a more soulful sound thanks to Beat Butcha talking about wanting to hit up the west coast.
“Autumn Nights” featuring Confucius MC drumlessly reunites the pair to discuss making something out of nothing being a part of their daily lives while “1 Horse Town” featuring both Confucius MC & Eva Lazarus brings the trio together hoping a spot is saved in the areas they each call home. “Front Door” takes a slower approach in generally talking about looking out to find the antidote blowing ganja smoke & “Skylines” stripping the drums 1 last time asking who’s to blame for the thoughts polluting his brain.
Heavily sampling the Paramount Skydance Corporation owned sitcom Mork & Mindy, the YNR Productions founder continues to unlock Jehst’s superpower of making the melancholic incisively slice through all before him revisiting topics he’s explored in the past broken down from a brand new perspective. The production’s more jazzier & boom bap instead of continuing the experimentations of Billy Green’s Dead, employing a slower flow & reaching a typically supreme standard of syllables & similes over 2 decades later.
This is the 7th full-length album from Louisiana rapper Summrs. Coming up as a member of the Goonie-founded Slayworld collective, he presence has been known predominantly in the plugg scene by constantly dropping projects whether it be his previous EP What We Have or even the last album Fallen Raven that we got 6 months ago. Both of which I highly recommend listening to if you wanna get into his music & is also enough to have me looking forward to Stuck in My Ways when he announced it merely days ago.
“Relying on Roxy” is an acoustic trap opener produced by BenjiCold with dude feeling like he’s dying when he’s strung out whereas “Start Striking” takes a cloudier route picking up where it’s predecessor left off thematically talking about fighting withdrawals. “No Days Off” brings back the acoustics yet again referring to himself as a rockstar & being in the studio constantly leading into the ethereal “Life’s a Beautiful Curse” courtesy of ZeeGoinXrazy talking about the ups & downs that come with living in the world today.
However on “Pure Motion”, we have Summrs handling the hook so his younger brother Desire can spit a verse accompanied by a booming GeoGotBands instrumental just before the synth-laced “No Morals” calling out some bitches for being as licentious as they are. “Russian Roulette” has a wavier groove to it admitting that he ain’t in this rap shit for the fame but rather the cheese, but then “Die Rich” blends some synthesizers & bass to talk about going out lit.
“Van Cleef Poppin’” dives into plugg territory droppin’ some vibrant braggadocio along the way while “Addy Geek” brings a more futuristic flare to the mix talking about being fucked up off the Adderall. “The Detox” comes together with some keys & hi-hats thanks to Chief Keef to my surprise dedicating it to a bitch who be with him because he stays winning while “Drug Traffickin’” is another piano trap ballad about living lavish in the penthouse.
Meanwhile on “Like a River”, things take a more moodier approach encouraging to keep the money flowing while “My Voicemail” is a settle 2 & a half minute R&B joint which is fine except my biggest complaint about it definitely has to be the mixing. “Closing the Book” is a syrupy slow jam singing how he ain’t like the other boys that his girl has been with in the past with the stripped back “Blood Tears” talking about no one being on the same tier as him & that things would’ve been done differently had said person was with him.
“Miles on U” comes through with a hazy, auto-tune heavy pop rap cut with some romantic lyricism while Autumn! gives “Album Just for You” a pluggnb vibe singing about how he has a whole unreleased body of work on his phone dedicated to the love of his life. “I.K.Y.M.M.G. (I Know You Miss Me Girl)” has a more standard plugg sound Goyxrd cooks up telling this woman to call him because he knows she misses him dearly while “Pilates” keeps the synths & hi-hats going talking about everything being exotic.
Following that, “Like My Diamonds” keeps things in plugg turf comparing his girl’s beauty to his ice while the woozy “Baby Blue Gwag” is a catchy little ode about copping this dude’s girl a G Wagon. The track “Switch Sound” is a shimmering trap banger with some boastful lyrics while the penultimate song “Praise da Most High” is a peppy anthem giving his thanks to the man upstairs. The title track then ends the album on an acoustic trap note admitting that he wars his heart on his sleeve & is trying to cover up his sins with the drank.
Fallen Raven still stands as my favorite Summrs album to date since it shows his artistic range best, but I still came away from Stuck in My Ways enjoying it almost as much. Primarily because of the fact that still brings the pop rap, pluggnb & rage aesthetics that made the previous full-length enjoyable & swapping the drill undertones out by pulling from alternative/contemporary R&B a little bit more than usual.
This is the 3rd full-length album from Mableton, Georgia rapper, singer/songwriter, producer & actor Lil Yachty. Skyrocketing to fame in 2016 by bringing a unique sound & personality to the trap subgenre on his debut mixtape Lil Boat, his subsequent material since then has ranged from being mid at best like Summer Songs 2 or even his previous mixtape Michigan Boy Boat to absolute trash like Teenage Emotions & Nuthin’ 2 Prove. But when I heard that Let’s Start Herewas gonna be a complete stylistic departure for Yachty in contrast to one of my favorite singles of last year “Poland”, I was sold in checking it out.
“the BLACK seminole.” pretty much sets the tone for what’s to come as Yachty sings about his inner self & compares himself to the titular Native American-Africans part of the Seminole people over a Jimi Hendrix/Pink Floyd inspired psychedelic rock instrumental whereas “the ride-“ with Teezo Touchdown takes a more neo-soul route with the 2 singing about needing the special women in their lives by their sides. “running out of time” has a more summery twang to it addressing a relationship that pretty much ran it’s course at this point prior to Foushée tagging along for the atmospheric “pRETTy” singing about dying the pussy.
After the “:(failure(:” interlude, “THE zone~” to go into space rock territory admitting that Yachty feel at home up until he’s by his lonely with Justine Syke counter-parting him telling him she never meant to make him feel alone & asking if he’d put anyone else above her leading into “WE SAW THE SUN!” having a bit of a Tame Impala influence sonically singing about how shit don’t get better & to take picture for proof. The “drive ME crazy!” duet with Diane Gordon has a more synthpop flare to it as they profess their love for one another with Yachty dropping a cool reference to both Kanye’s “Jesus Lord” and later WWE Hall of Famer & unrecognized WWE Champion Ted DiBiase, but then “IVE OFFICIALLY LOST ViSiON!!!!” is an otherworldly experience detailing a bad drug trip over an EPIC guitar riff.
“sAy sOMETHINg” brings back a more mellow vibe instrumentally living the dream & feeling like a teenager again while “paint THE sky” gives me a bit of an art pop feel to it singing about stalling for & overdosing on one’s love. The song “sHouLd i B?” treads the psychedelic pop waters admitting that he needs to do right by his lover & that he ain’t mad at what she did even though he’s unsure if he should be while the penultimate track “The Alchemist.” sings about living a good life over some warm rock production. “REACH THE SUNSHINE.” featuring Daniel Caesar is a 6 minute neo-psychedelic grand finale with them talking about filling a void.
If you told me 7 years ago that the same guy who made “1Night” & “Never Switch Up” would go on to drop a full-blown psychedelic rock album & actually manage to pull it off, I would’ve laughed at you. And if anyone can’t appreciate the artistic growth that Yachty shows throughout Let’s Start Here., then that’s your funeral because the most consistent body of work that I’ve heard from him in a grip. All the artists that he draws inspiration from mentioned throughout the review (i.e. Hendrix, Pink Floyd) have literally made some of my favorite music EVER & the fact that we got a body of work from him in those specific styles of music into his own after being called a “mumble rapper” early on in his career proves ANYTHING’s possible.
This is the 6th EP from Atlanta, Georgia up-&-comer tana. Coming up in 2018 as a member of the plu2o9 collective under the original moniker BabySantana, he would go on to drop his first 2 EPs Recreation! & Planet Sosa alongside his debut mixtape Quan a couple years later & eventually signed to Lil Tecca’s very own Republic Records imprint Galactic Records the next fall. But coming off his last 3 EPs n(n) as well as Santana & it’s sequel, tana’s ringing in 2023 by making Gaultier his official major label debut.
“y” is a cloudy trap opener to the EP with tana the type of woman to drive you crazy yet the one you’d want to settle down & have kids with whereas “archive” continues to take a more atmospheric route courtesy of Internet Money Records founder Taz Taylor talking about wanting to touch the stars. “saving me” samples “Clairvoyant” by MISOGI confessing that he can’t be saved whatsoever, but then “hell nah” gives me a more psychedelic feel talking about hanging with shooters & telling/showing you how he feels.
Moving on from there with “hell yeah”, we have tana boasting his wealth & being prideful of the position that he’s in currently on top of a pluggy trap instrumental leading into “fear no man” talking about being afraid of anyone or anything over some hi-hats & synthesizers provided by Nosaint & Zodiac from Vanguard Music Group. “gon be ok” keeps things in cloud rap territory promising that everything will work itself out in the end just before the piano-laced “swaggin’ like this”with Lancey Foux finds the 2 showing y’all how they swag out.
The song “as i walk thru the path” speaks on getting faded in light of haters over a peppy trap beat while the penultimate track “hills @ night” has a more wavier groove to it from the synths to the lyrics about wanting to call this baddie his. “hope you feel the same” however is an acoustic-heavy closer to the EP touching on being unable to numb the pain & being stuck in his ways. I also don’t mind the interpolation of “changes” by the late XXXTENTACION at the back-end of the verse either.
Of the 3 protégés that Lil Tecca has taken under his wing & signed to Galactic/Republic so far, I respectfully think tana is the most promising of the bunch & Gaultier further cements that in my personal opinion. From the improved production choices to the passionate performances & catchy songwriting, this is a solid major label debut that demonstrates how much he’s grown as an artist within the last 5 years & gives me the feeling that it’s only the beginning.
This is the 5th full-length studio LP 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 would continue Onoe’s evolution & Surf or Die has become the most celebrated work of his yet, coming off fighting the Invisible War for some Concrete Fantasia days after Alex Winsdor became the longest reigning RPW British Women’s Champion & a month since Leon Slater was crowned the youngest RPW British Cruiserweight Champion.
Zdechły Osa appears during the intro “Purple Haze” stylistically taking inspiration from the Memphis scene dropping bilingually hardcore lyricism in both English & Polish just before “Slayaz / Elf Island” lets off a rapid-fire flow until “Não Podes Fugir Do Teu Destino” by Hareton Salvanini gets sampled during the 2nd half. “Fifi (Mermaid Lagoon)” featuring Lil B goes for a boom bap vibe instrumentally thanks to Telemachus so they can spin out their minds together while “House on the Hill” works in this addicting flip for a 3 minute horror film of multiple different genres.
“Pet Cemetery” gives off an experimental trap atmosphere swinging his sword under the moonlight glow just before “The Cheshire Cat” shifts gears back in boom bap territory except there’s a groovy twist to it referencing Alice in Wonderland, asking why stay chase rabbits when they always fall down the darkest hole doing so. “Wipeout” treads the experimental trap waters once more dismantling anybody on the mic who has no game compared to him while the tread/hip house 2-parter “Afro Samurai / Quest”contemplates one another similarly to night & day.
After the “Cat Kingdom” interlude, “Magic Carpet” officially kicks off the 2nd half of Concrete Fantasia promising to make this woman his while the 2nd single “Pinnochio” featuring Jehst documents the many highs &inevitable lows of running the roads on an ill-fated quest to become a real boy. “The Horsemen” likens his pen-game to the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse while the 5th & final single “Ice King” combines cloud rap & plugg to talk about being colder than crystal storm on the twilight tundra.
“Cat in Oz” makes for a jazzy lead single finding himself unable to get sleep because of the witches outside his house while the 4th single “Heaven’s Gates” explores the spaces between reality & the spirit realm. “Outsiders” fuses cloud rap & boom bap for a shimmering lurker’s anthem but once “Psychosis City” suggests those who don’t know him to keep it lowkey, “Age of Aquarius” officially sends things off with a compositional outro clocking at almost 5 minutes in length.
Offering an alternate space for his fans to escape whilst still commenting on the highs & lows of city life, the newest entry of Onoe Caponoe’s discography sticks out to me as the greatest thing he’s done since Surf or Die & makes another example of why he’s amongst the UK’s finest hip hop artists today. The production creatively fuses the sounds of cloud rap, boom bap, jazz rap, experimental hip hop, trap & plugg for an hour long ride inside the mind of High Focus’ lyrically abstract enigma.
Eto is an MC from Rochester, New York who I first caught wind of him in 2018 with his feature at the end of the 6th installment of Westside Gunn’s infamous HWH mixtape series & eventually his DJ Muggs-produced full-length debut Hell’s Roof a few months later. This was followed up with Long Story Short as well as & Front Row & The Beauty of It, but is enlisting Toronto’s very own Futurewave behind the boards to make Dead Poets his first solo effort in 2 & a half years.
The titular intro sets things off with a bare piano instrumental talking about people trying to leave them in the dark & still shining regardless whereas “Vintage” works some raw kicks & snares declaring that he’s still living like the king he truly is to this day. “Bullets & Pills” was a good choice for a lead single keeping things in boom bap turf talking about having to clean up shop if one got the bills prior to Daniel Son tagging along for the gritty follow-up “Make It Out” as they both vividly describe being fortunate enough to get out of tough situations alive & well.
Moving on from there with “Poetry is Dead”, we have Eto over lavish piano chords pointing out the fact that those cut from the same cloth as him won’t live if the grind stops leading into “Cut the Robbin” returning to the boom bap declaring shop to be open for business nor to forget the unforgiven. The solemn titular interlude prioritizes self discipline & addressing that he hasn’t taken any losses or even wins yet just before G4 Jag comes into the picture for the jazzy “Did You Hear?” answering the question if either of them heard what others have said.
“My Poetry Deep” talks about how rare it is to see a costless person fall after learning that scared money gets it all over a boom bap instrumental with some harmonious background vocals while the song “City Broken” with Warlord Ironsheik has a more morbid approach sonically as both MCs advise not to slip & that slowly is the fastest way to get to where you wanna be in life. The penultimate track “Black Star” is a symphonic boom bap hybrid speaking on what those who die good men will receive & “Don’t Listen” ends things with Tearz handling the verses calling himself Van Gogh with a hoodie & Timbs on top of a tranquil beat.
From the moment Dead Poets was announced over the summer, I knew it was bound to be a great comeback from Eto after nearly 3 years of dropping a solo effort & I’m more than satisfied with the outcome of it. Although I respectfully wasn’t too crazy about the features during the back end of the album, Futurewave’s production is incredibly consistent & Swayze himself sounds rejuvenated on the mic.
This is the 28th EP from emerging Swedish-American recording artist Smokingskul. Coming up in the spring of 2018 off his debut EP Souls, it wasn’t until this past fall where my little brother & UnreleasedSnip founder Jacob! played some of his shit for me during a smoke session. Namely the singles “Assembly Line” & “Vlone”. I was so impressed by the witty lyricism throughout both of those cuts, that it intrigued me enough to check out the Geffen Records-backed Nat Cap a few days later. I didn’t get to cover his previous EP Swedish Guy a few weeks later, but was most certainly intrigued to hear Bready following it’s announcement over the weekend.
“Chicken Wing” is a bombastic trap opener spitting about his mob ties even including an insane Backyardagains reference whereas “Aesthetic” comes through with a more synth-based approach calling out those who want his formula kin to a Krabby Patty or matching much like Freddy Krueger & Jason Voorhees. “Blue Zan” delivers a chaotic trap instrumental from TDF loving the blick more than rednecks along with getting Starbucks & how he ain’t Dunkin’, but then “Comic Con” almost has a cloudy flare to it talking about everything being real with him.
However with “Move”, we have Skul airing out the artists who be purpin’ & making all the opps accompanied by some sub-bass & synthesizers while the song “Fed 2” is a short yet aggressive sequel to the highlight “Fed” off his 22nd EP Da Slimeprint nearly 10 months ago at this point. The penultimate track “Green” goes into more pluggier turf letting y’all know what he’s sipping on & being off that white à la Charlie Sheen just before the rage-inducing closer “Perks on Hand” ties things up talking about staying to himself.
In comparison to everyone else that’s apart of the Taliban collective, Smokingskul has only been further revealing himself to be my favorite member within the past few months & Bready solidifies that for being the kick-off to what I personally believe will be the biggest year of his career to date. The production year again hones in on the plugg sound that he blew up off of as his distinct voice, invigoratingly aggressive delivery & witty gangsta raps continue to cement him as one of the most exciting new faces in the subgenre.
Bristol, England, United Kingdom’s very own Upfront MC returning for his 2nd extended play. A member of the Split Prophets collective, he would make his solo debut in 2012 off the Sound of Evolution… EP followed by the debut album Upfront & Personal and the sophomore effort Lettermorphosis. Coming off the inaugural entry of the Throwaway Thursdays mixtape series a couple years earlier, coming off Reflections to link up with Badhabitz & have his crew’s in-house producer solely handling Headrush’s production by himself.
“Nothing Guaranteed” hops over a cloudy boom bap instrumental to talk about embracing everything you have while it’s here prior to him confessing he’s been trying to “Stay Afloat”, advising everyone to accept change being a part of the process. “Toxic” hooks up more kicks & snares so he can talk about him losing his sanity being the cost of this music shit leading into “Daily Struggle” ending the 1st leg of the EP on a cloudier note explaining that there’s always a message within his rhyme patterns.
To get the 2nd half going, “Perspective” brings up a piano flip to talk about the issues of balancing the dreams he has & living in reality while the cavernously raw “C.B.F. (Can’t Be Fucked)” rawly asks if anyone has ever woken up feeling like nobody can fuck with them. “Fine Lines” leans towards an uncanny boom bap direction telling the world to not let anything break you & “Feel the Fear” somberly concludes with him talking about the Devil inside of his ear.
Over a decade since Sound of Evolution… & with the 10-year anniversary of Upfront & Personal approaching next summer, one of the Split Prophets’ strongest links moves on from his Reflections to embark on a sudden feeling of hardcore boom bap euphoria dropping what I firmly believe could be his greatest entry in his whole entire solo catalog. Badhabitz’ boom bap production is a cut above beppo’s 9 months earlier & lyrically, the Upfront MC is in top form.
This is the 39th EP from from Atlanta, Georgia emcee/producer Tha God Fahim. Coming up as an affiliate of Griselda Records alongside Mach-Hommy & Your Old Droog, he’s also built up an incredibly vast discography with a couple of standouts being Breaking Through tha Van Allen Belts & Dump Assassins. Now the last time I covered Fahim’s work was when he dropped his 19th full-length album 6 Ring Champ & the final installment of the Shot Clock King trilogy of EPs produced by Nicholas Craven shortly after last spring, but is reuniting with Griselda in-house producer Camoflauge Monk to drop Dark Shogunn Assassin following the NicoJP-produced Chess Moves only a few days prior.
“Gristle” is a jazzy boom bap opener with Fahim rapping about how the dumpin’ won’t stop until he says as well as bringing the pain similar to that of Method Man & asking who the boogeyman of this rap shit really is. Estee Nack of the Tragic Allies also happens to pop up during the 2nd half of the song to lay down the EP’s only guest verse & he absolutely obliterates it, raising my expectations for Nacksaw Jim Duggan even higher than it already was when Westside Gunn announced it on Twitter a month ago already. The penultimate track “Sword n Shields” blends some kicks & snares with these low-register synthesizers so he can treat his pen as if it was a blade moonwalking over MCs as if the late King of Pop himself Michael Jackson came back from the dead & advising that you can lead a horse to the pond, but can’t make them drink. “Never Back Down” finishes it all off on a more mellow note with Fahim talking about being up for any challenge that’s brought to him & coming up from the struggle.
Blvk Pearl, it’s sequel, Iron Monkey, Iron Monkey: Dump Olympics & Only God Can Judge Me are all essential Fahim projects in my book so my expectations going into this EP were significantly higher than Chess Pieces as a result of that. Needless to say, they did it again with Dark Shogunn Assassin. Yeah it’s only 3 tracks running at 9 minutes, but don’t let that scare you from thinking that Camoflauge Monk’s raw production & Fahim’s elevated lyricism make it more than worth your while because they really never miss whenever they join forces.
Legends Will Never Die 