bleood – “Protagonist” review

bleood is a 21 year old recording artist from Florida whose debut EP Seal of Memories came out in the fall of 2023 followed by a handful of a-side/b-side singles preceding the Rascal 51 as well as Pain & How Bleood Stole Xmas EPs respectively. Case in point: You Don’t Need Your Skin or the divisively received IDK I Can’t Say. Coming off the Kill of B Killd EP last month however, he’s dropping his 5th extended play out of nowhere ahead of the 1c member’s full-length debut album Kill Ur Idols coming next month.

“maybach key fob” talks about popping out while he pops xanax & having as many pills as Pouya does leading into “chrome dinosaur” dissing both che & Tana along with him mentioning his beef with rexv2. “codeine tears” talks about his cup being more pink than the main character of the classic Cartoon Network series Courage the Cowardly Dog leading into “rub my belly” making it clear to either che or rexv2 that neither of them are in the same lane as him.

As for “on E”, we have bleood going hard at those who have no money in their pockets whatsoever just before “push” talks about punching any cornball who comes around his parts. “i aint start making money till i started doing drugs” pretty much says it all there & after “ding dong” talks about a whole Seal Team 6 running a train on a hoe who belongs to the streets, “friend or foe” concludes Protagonist airs out a bitch who treats him like a coupon.

Making up for all the delays Kill Ur Idols has gone through recently, I completely understand why bleood proceeded to drop protagonist out of nowhere almost a week since former AEW World Trios Champion Mark Davis ended Jack Perry’s reign as AEW National Champion & the lasting impression I have of it would be that I’m expecting his debut album to take himself farther from here. The experimental production has some interesting ideas built upon the sounds of rage, digicore, drill & free car music although I feel like there’s a decline in quality towards the 2nd half.

Score: 3.5/5

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Memphis Bleek & Smoke DZA – “Trees Open Doors” review

New collaborative extended play between Brooklyn emcee & songwriter Memphis Bleek alongside Manhattan, New York emcee Smoke DZA. The latter of whom has been putting it down for over a decade dating back to when I was in high school & the other blew up in the late ‘90s signing to Roc-A-Fella Records/Def Jam Recordings. These guys have only crossed paths with each other couple times on songs like “Selling Smoke” or most notably “3 Kings” at the beginning of 2025, linking up so they can let everyone know Trees Open Doors.

“Blockbuster Night” begins with this jazzy boom bap beat talking about having a plethora of women in the room & poppin’ bottles from the throne whereas “Lock In” goes for a drumless chipmunk soul vibe instrumentally so both parties can discuss staying determined to finish the 1st half. “Slide” embraces a funkier sound aiming to get the dance floors moving & “Party of 5” featuring Christian d’Or saves my least favorite track for last, ending on a mediocre note.

This one’s definitely gonna appeal more to the most loyal fans of both Memphis Bleek & Smoke DZA because regardless of the guest appearance on the closer, I do think both east coast veterans compliment each other well over production ranging from boom bap to jazz rap & drumless, except I’m not sure who produced what because of there being no credits listed whatsoever, which isn’t new but it’s irritating when it happens.

Score: 3/5

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Stray – “Blink of an Eye” review

Stray is a 33 year old rapper & songwriter from New Haven, Connecticut who formed the Rogue Hollow collective during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. His solo debut extended play Witherman would come out the next fall as did his full-length debut Cloudy Alibi in the summer of 2023 & more recently his previous EP Enjoy the View this past July, enlisting his crew’s newest in-house producer Charlie Beans to handle all of the beats for Stray’s 3rd EP coming off producing most of James Joyce the Squatch’s 4th album Discomfort Inn last month.

“Cicada” after the “Change of Plans” intro starts off with an aggressive boom bap instrumental pleading to dig up this world that’s been underground for too long while “Foul Ground” featuring James Joyce the Squatch talks about the difference between them & the rest. “Out Alive” depressively speaks of sleeping under a cypress tree forever & after “Frost Bite” assures it’s ok if one can’t keep up, the final song “Perfect Timing” preceding the “Epilogue” outro ends by explaining the very thing life has never had.

Gearing up for his upcoming sophomore effort Flinch also entirely produced by Charlie Beans later this fall, I’m getting a huge impression that it’ll top Cloudy Alibi to become Stray’s greatest LP yet since Blink of an Eye surpasses both Witherman & Enjoy the View as far as his EPs go. Between the Sky Swamp Orange frontman’s lyrics & Charlie’s dark production, it could also be looked at as Rogue Hollow’s continuation of making shockwaves across the underground.

Score: 4/5

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Little Simz – “Sugar Girl” review

This is the 11th extended play London, England, United Kingdom emcee, singer & actress Little Simz. Getting her start at the beginning of the 2010s, she would go on to drop 4 mixtapes & 10 EPs alongside 5 albums. GREY Area showed some serious artistic evolution & S.I.M.B.I. (Sometimes I Might Be Introvert) wound up being my 2021 Album of the Year, even giving a perfect 10. The follow-up No Thank You barely made it on my Best of 2022 list since it came out days after my 26th birthday, coming off the Lotus blooming almost a year earlier to drop Sugar Girl.

“That’s a No No” begins with this 2-parter using her signature flow to talk about using count of how many bitches she’s influenced this decade while “Game On” featuring JT finds the pair cautioning that anyone who fucks around & says the wrong thing will get snatched. “Open Arms” featuring DEELA starts the 2nd half of the EP advising everyone listening to learn their place leading into “Telephone” talking about this man needing a real bitch in his life.

It’s no secret that I’ve continuously held Little Simz amongst my favorite women in the UK & hip hop entirely for nearly the past 5 years, but it pains me to say Sugar Girl might easily be the weakest entry in whole discography. It’s more commercial than anything she’s done previously & I don’t see a problem with her giving us something more mainstream than her usually conscious approach to songwriting, it’s just not that memorable.

Score: 2.5/5

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iyrus – “Hottest in Philly” review

New surprise EP & the 5th overall from up-&-coming Philadelphia, Pennsylvania rapper & producer of Nigerian descent iyrus. Emerging in the summer of 2024 after doing an On the Radar freestyle, he would later introduce himself more properly a year ago off his debut EP Resurgenceuntil continuing to make waves with I as well as II & of course III. Not even a couple months since the trilogy’s conclusion & the Hottest in Philly does look to slow down anytime soon.

“$$$Talk” starts us off boasting of him putting diamonds in his mouth hence letting the money do all of the speaking for him over a sinister trap instrumental whereas “Shamu” has a more vibrant approach to the beat talking about walking in masked up with a chopper. “Eagle” gets the 2nd half of the EP going flexing how fly he is coming from the northern side of his city while “Rolling Stone” spends the last minute & a half proving all doubters wrong.

I’ve already made it pretty clear since the beginning of 2026 that iyrus was somebody to keep an eye out for & would certainly say he’s one of the Hottest in Philly alongside slayr, but I still think he hasn’t fully reached his potential yet & I came away from it enjoying it a bit less than the other 2 extended plays we’ve gotten from him this year. Mainly because I don’t find the trap/plugg production to be anything all that groundbreaking although I firmly believe he’ll very much get there.

Score: 3/5

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Jimmie D – “Birds Fly Yonder” review

Here we have the 5th extended play from Montréal, Québec, Canada rapper Jimmie D. Coming up off the Trout & Brussels Sprouts EP a decade ago already, he would later go on to put out a full-length debut alongside a mixtape & 3 more EPs since. The sophomore effort Good Music Hypnotizes entirely produced by Nicholas Craven around this time last year has quickly become the best thing he’s made yet & he’s coming back 12 months later for Birds Fly Yonder.

“Humble Beginnings” begins with this 97 second drumless intro discussing there being nothing nice regarding the struggle whereas “All Nighter”goes for a chipmunk soul vibe to describe learning from his failures & leaving them behind. “No Love” produced by Nicholas Craven was a favorite of mine from the drumless sampling to the lyrics about falling back to progress at times “Koi” featuring Pay$o boasts that no one’s on their level.

Mike Shabb gets behind the boards for another standout track “Peter Thiel” hooking up a psychedelic beat so Jimmie can get in his bag for a minute & a half but after “Rudimentary” reunites with Pay$o & brings Raz Fresco along for a boom bap heater Nicholas Craven cooked up to kick off the 2nd leg looking back at how far each of them have come, “Corporate Prophet” strips the drums again for a lesson of mastering the slow flow & the loop having a summertime aura to it.

“Chipping Away” winds down the last act of Birds Fly Wonder incorporating a drumless gospel sample from Nicholas Craven to dismantle the type of people who like to burn bridges until he talks about hitting “Downtown B.C.” with a homie from the Philippines & a bad bitch with him. The outro “Wasted Time” runs it back with Nicholas Craven for the EP’s remaining 2 & a half minutes chopping up soul samples 1 last time demanding not to fuck around when it comes to his pay.

I fully support the idea of Craven enlisting 3 other producers to help Jimmie D make Birds Fly Yonder& despite half of it containing some of my favorite songs he’s done yet, it wouldn’t necessarily be put in the same tier as Good Music Hypnotizes when ranking Jimmie’s discography although I think the upcoming project Shabbo’s producing for him will be superior whenever the time comes. The instrumentals are more drumless except we’re still getting hints of chipmunk soul & boom bap, although Jimmie’s wordplay & guests all come correctly.

Score: 3/5

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Lelo – “Mastiff” review

Detroit, Michigan rapper Lelo coming off his full-length debut New Detroit last summer to drop his 7th extended play. Signing to 10K Projects a couple years ago, he would make his presence known more widely in the local trap scene by putting out his 4th EP Nightingale not too long after landing a record deal & gained even more exposure a month later by dropping the single “No Contempt” on SoundCloud. LifeAfterDogshit as well as When It’s Over & New Detroit would further increase his profile, returning 10 months since the latter to drop Mastiff.

“Hollowed Bricks” begins with a luxurious backdrop, some hi-hats & 808s talking about living before sitting in the casket whereas “Blueprint” featuring Apolloscase brings a wavier Detroit sound to the picture so both of them can trade verses with each other. “Dialect” ends the 1st leg of the EP explaining that it’s a whole different kind of talk whenever one brings up money around him & not inserting himself around those who haven’t seen shit.

To kick off the 2nd half, things got for a pluggier vibe instrumentally so he can talk about staying “Hoodrich” until his very last breath while “Monetize” brings a subdued tone to the beat flexing his ability of selling this shit back to the trap like he didn’t already begin to make some chips off it. The closing track “Down to Earth” spends Mastiff’s final 3 minutes blending a soul sample with hi-hats talking about having bigger dreams & a few telling him to die by this chain he has.

It made me happy to hear that more ears got put onto Lelo the summer prior ditching the trap elements of When It’s Over so he could make a turn towards a cloudier Detroit trap direction & create something entirely new out of interpolating many of the city’s popular sounds, swapping out the cloudier influences in favor of standard trap for Mastiff & incorporating some occasional plugg undertones to further represent the Motor City’s past & present.

Score: 3.5/5

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Lucki – “Daysb4bad*” review

Finally getting the 10th extended play from Chicago, Illinois rapper & occasional producer Lucki to prelude his upcoming 4th LP. Beginning to turn heads in the summer of 2013 when he released his debut mixtape Alternative Trap to critical acclaim, he would later go on to give his fans 6 more tapes & a dozen EPs with the last one being the F1LTHY-produced Wake Up Lucki a week before my 25th birthday in December 2021. The full-length debut Flawless Like Me saw Lucki finding his style & the sophomore effort s*x mon*y dr*gs was the most I enjoyed Tune’s music in a while, coming off Gemini to drop Daysb4bad*.

“U Ready!” produced by LulRose begins with Tune talking about playing the game in order to ball & that the shit he does not being for show whereas “Sex Mula / Pete” featuring Lil Yachty fresh off helping Trick Williams become the new WWE United States Champion describes their preference of using weapons instead of fists. After freestyling over the instrumentals originally used for “All for the Love” by Jadakiss & “Made My Hoe Faint” by Future, the closing track “Capo 2x” featuring Kkanii finishes with both of them working smarter & trying to become rich.

Almost Woke & both entries of 2 Faced felt more like singles with an a-side & b-side than actual EPs but nevertheless, Daysb4bad* was a decent taste of what we can expect from what many can assume to be his final EMPIRE Distribution opus dr*gs r bad a couple weeks from now & expect it to be a lot better than what we got here. Excluding both freestyles & the outro, it sounds like he’s getting ready to let the world know how much of a student he is of this shit.

Score: 3/5

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North West – “n0rth4evr” review

North West is a 12 year old producer, singer/songwriter, rapper, actress & music video director from Los Angeles, California known for being the eldest child of one of my top 10 producers of all-time: Ye formerly known as Kanye West. She would make her musical debut on “Talking / Once Again” & “Bomb” off ¥$’ full-length debut Vultures & it’s sequel respectively, the latter being my least favorite track on Vultures 2 personally. I did however enjoy her appearance on “Childlike Things” off FKA twigs’ 3rd album Eusexua & the “blink twice” interlude she produced for Skaiwater’s 3rd album wonderful, signing to gamma. briefly after announcing it’s distribution deal with YZY SND to drop her debut extended play ahead of her own full-length studio debut The Elementary School Dropout.

The self-produced intro “H0w Sh0uld ! f33l” opens with this rage-inducing beat sampling “Monster” by Meg & Dia to talk about everyone only seeing her appeal because who her parents are whereas “D!e” fuses hypertrap & pop rap to discuss her rockstar lifestyle. The title track shifts gears with a full metal instrumental to end the 1st half of the EP, talking about having so much people around her except she feels like it’s all fake because of their shadiness.

“Th!s tim3” gets the 2nd leg of n0rth4evr going by embracing a more industrial sound taking accountability for fumbling when this person’s heart was on the line & having no one by her side other than some bands while “W0ah” gets on a kawaii trap metal vibe talking about signing autographs in elementary school as well as running the world. “Aishite (愛して)” ends the EP with a hypertrap ode to 愛して愛して愛して by きくお featuring 初音ミク.

It can a bit blatantly obvious that North West shows us who some of her artistic influences are like Playboi Carti as well as Molly Santana & Bktherula to only name a few, but I’d consider n0rth4evr to be a decent beginning to her musical career even if I think it won’t be until she’s a bit older when her full artistic potential fully reveals itself & gives us something more groundbreaking. Her production’s more rage, pop rap, rap metal, hardstyle & Jersey club rap oriented than the chipmunk soul direction she went for on “Punch Drunk” off her father’s latest album Bully & the boastful teenage angst throughout the lyrics was somewhat expected.

Score: 3/5

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Shoreline Mafia – “Bidness is Boomin’” review

This is the 4th extended play from Los Angeles, California duo the Shoreline Mafia now consisting of Ohgeesy & Fenix Flexin’. Originally a quartet, their debut mixtape ShorelineDoThatShit resulted in them signing to Atlantic Records for their next couple tapes & EPs as well as a full length studio debut. They would temporarily disband following Mafia Bidness so it’s members could pursue their solo careers, reuniting with half it’s members in 2023 & are coming off returning to Atlantic in tandem with 300 Entertainment for the sophomore effort Back in Bidness to explain how Bidness is Boomin’.

“Planet of the Apes” opens up by detailing the gangsta lifestyle over a nervous instrumental whereas “We Like to Party” produced by Hitmaka & Ty$ was easily my favorite single of the 4, interpolating “La Di Da Di” by Slick Rick himself during the hook. “Take U Home” gives off a more soulful vibe talking about their desires of bringing women back to their residences while the 4th & final single “Wood Wire Buffs” explains that the main reason women fuck with them is because of their professionalism.

The 2nd single “Out My Mynd” kicks off the latter half talking about having the ability to make wishes come true due to their statuses as stars while the hyphy-tinged lead single “Rockin’” samples “Funky Little Beat” by Debbie Deb so they can discuss their success. “Fine Shyt” winds down Bidness is Boomin’s final minutes talking about the women they’re seeing fucking their exes prior to the closer “Play Ball” ties things up with this gangsta rap/hyphy outro.

I wasn’t so much a fan of the Disco Mafia’s eponymous debut a few months earlier was a bit underwhelming, so the singles that were building up towards Bidness is Boomin’ gave me the impression of surpassing Party Pack 2 to become the Shoreline Mafia’s greatest EP. A lot of the same musical ideas we heard on Back in Bidnessover a year ago from nervous to hyphy & gangsta rap all bleed through the production once more, but it’s more polished.

Score: 3.5/5

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