ZelooperZ – “Pin Breakers” review

This is the 2nd extended play from Detroit, Michigan emcee ZelooperZ. A member of the Bruiser Brigade collective & 1/2 of ZGTO, he has spent the last 15 years building up a solo catalog comprised of a dozen LPs along with another EP & a couple mixtapes. My personal favorites of which being the Black Noi$e-produced Dyn-o-mite & more recently, ZelooperZ’ most recent full-length Dalí Ain’t Dead, digging up all 11 of Pin Breakers’ tracks 9 months later & putting it up exclusively on his Bandcamp.

“Listen” starts us off with a 90 second intro talking about never dropping the ball similarly to Blake Griffin over some sampling in the background whereas “Pain T Wayne” hops over a psychedelic trap beat saying that he reminds himself of T-Pain & shit not changing. “Beautician” goes for a jazzier boom bap vibe instrumentally talking about working in any weather while “Mason’s Dispatch” feels like a minute & a half freestyle.

My least favorite track here might be “The Music” mostly because it sounds underdeveloped & so short where having it on here seems rather pointless while “Nostradamus” featuring Danny Brown makes up for it by giving us a boom bap banger that would’ve fit perfectly on Dyn-o-mite. “My Momma” continues the 2nd half of the EP showing gratitude towards his mother while “River Rogue” continues to chop up more samples talking about having this shit laced.

“Baby Bruisin’” nears closer towards the conclusion of Pin Breakers blending some strings & hi-hats discussing him spending a long time not having shit while “Sailing Seas” further elaborates on that recalling the days where he used to eat a bunch of Spam & sleep in the studio over a piano instrumental. The outro “Aha Aha” soulfully concludes the EP looking back at when he couldn’t walk around the hood because of a bounty placed on his stepfather’s head.

Considering that Pin Breakers was recorded in 2019 around the same time as Dyn-o-mite, it wouldn’t surprise me of these collection of previously unreleased tracks were meant to be on that album since ZelooperZ’ primarily abstract lyrics combined with Black Noi$e’s experimentally jazzy production were all key factors in making Dyn-o-mite so special to me even if there are some occasionally incomplete ideas floating around here & there.

Score: 4/5

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R8 – “Dawn Chorus” review

United Kingdom trap producer R8 curating his 3rd solo EP of rappers performing over his beats. For a few years already, he’s gotten a chance to work with some of the increasingly popular trap artists in recent memory from 9 Vicious to untiljapan & tana in addition to becoming a member of the Vanguard Music Group production team. However, seeing that he’s continuing to drop stuff under his own name with Dawn Chorus peaked my interest even if he was only able to get 4 guests on it & has been getting quite the attention.

“Grand Risings” by Nosaint begins with a trap intro where the latter’s rapping about some of these dudes out here being full-blown hoes whereas “Need Don’t Want” by Santova gives off a cloudier vibe instrumentally even if the repetitive songwriting does nothing for me. “Sak Pasé” by Nosaint co-produced by Patrick Garza boasts that his racks will do the speaking for him & after the compositional title track Tom Levesque co-produced, “Treat You Right” by Nosaint talks about treating his girl properly.

Deathtoricky gets his own moment to shine in the spotlight with “Holiday” even if it another track that I’m not head over heels for, but then “Unfortunate” by 9 Vicious samples the Tems song of the same name airing out someone who did them dirty. “Margiela Coat” by Nosaint talks about finding a woman who’s different from these other hoes until Dawn Chorus finishes up with 2 more 9 Vicious songs: “Free Mind” sampling another Tems joint & “Patience”.

Both of R8’s previous extended plays 8 & 8² have their individual selection of highlights such as “Farewell” or “Whole Story”, but Dawn Chorus brings more consistency to the table than it’s predecessors & think this is his finest solo offering yet. His cloudy trap production remains opulent start to finish & out of the small handful of guests, Nosaint taking up almost half of it was fun since he’s been getting a lot of recognition for his rapping abilities recently & the 9 Vicious fans will eat his contributions up.

Score: 3.5/5

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Tezzus – “The Resurrectiøn” review

This is the 9th extended play from Atlanta, Georgia rapper Tezzus. Introducing himself with his first few EPs Hard2Kill as well as Hellraiser & Everyday’s Halløween, his 2024 debut mixtape Tezzus Khrist would significantly elevate his profile locally as did the handful of appearances he made on The XA Tape. He later gave us the Søufside collaborative EP with Percaso, Backrooms, King Phønk, I Phønk, U Phønk and Tezzy Pendergrass until Young Thug signed him to YSL Records following 9 Vicious’ departure. ##FilthyLikeMax was a solid debut for the label & the eponymous Uy Scuti Bøyz tape left audiences including myself divided, making up for the latter with The Resurrectiøn.

We have PROJECT4PLAY sampling “Cranes in the Sky” by Solange on the intro “Solange” talking about being rich after not having shit whereas “Aubrey” flips “Trophies” by Drake discusses sitting in the back of a car with an extendo. “Tezzus Mane LaFlare” hops over a sample of “Lemonade” by Gucci Mane talking about living what he raps while “Jeffrey Williams” interpolates “Halftime” by Young Thug demanding $250K to sit with him.

“Katy Perry” samples “Dark Horse” by the latter featuring Juicy J to kick off the 2nd half of The Resurrectiøn thanks to Rafmade talking about fucking a hoe in New York until she’s sore leading into the rage-inducing “Ye” sampling “No Mistakes” by Kanye West detailing money coming after praying for the fame. The penultimate song “Lil Røkk” gives off a generally cloudier trap vibe & the outro “ØWay” sends off the EP flexing that he’ll have all his ice on him this summer.

Hopefully the reception of the Uy Scuti Bøyz tape a couple months ago was nothing more than a bump in the road because I truthfully got more enjoyment outta this than I did that or even FilthyLikeMax not too long after YSL signed Tezzus last fall, making The Resurrectiøn the best thing he’s done since joining the label. He’s basically catching up with us on how life’s been treating him & the sample-heavy production PROJECT4PLAY mostly handles results in some of the greatest beats he’s made.

Score: 4/5

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730atMorning – “1 Man Band” review

Minneapolis, Minnesota rapper 730atMorning preluding Context with his 2nd mixtape. Someone who would drop 3 extended plays in 2022 including Pots*, untitled & Hi, I’m Alive. He would later follow it up with the Creeper EP, the 7:30* EP, the full-length debut Asphalt, the Guarded EP, the sophomore effort albeit Virgin Music debut Under the Bridge, the Rotten Fruit EP, his previous full-length Save Your Grievance, the almost inside EP & the Insiders tape. Last we heard from him was the I Can’t STFU EP last Halloween & 1 Man Band’s offering a preview of the new era over a month after Tiffany Stratton ended ジュリア’s record-tying 2nd reign as WWE Women’s United States Champion.

After the compositional “Withered” intro, the opener “Graye” featuring Lerado Khalil begins with them talking about the fuck shaping them to the people they are presently whereas “Clouds n Rain” channels a pluggier vibe instrumentally pleading not to tempt him. “40MGs” produced by LulRose might be my favorite track here talks about trying to get back with a woman who kept putting up a fight while “My Favorite Part” splits itself into halves detailing a woman who doesn’t miss him back.

“Sequence of Events” embraces a cloudier sound altogether talking about being in charge & making the rules since he doesn’t have any corny bullshit in his life but after “God Still Take Me” talks about paying for all his sins as well as him praying for the Higher Power to take him to the afterlife, “Lost the Plot” incorporates some icy synths to talk about finding love in Los Angeles with his homies & being here today because of his hard headedness.

The track “Interesting Character” nears further towards the conclusion of 1 Man Band explaining that he doesn’t need shit from this individual since they told him to die & him reasonably taking that to heart while the final song “Body” preceding the “Repulsive” outro expresses the desire he has of giving this individual what they need even if they gotta go how he wants them to & not keeping up with his own flexes.

1 Man Band warms us up for Context with the most densest entry in 730atMorning’s entire discography & gives me confidence of this next project coming down the pipe maintaining this momentous run he’s been on since last fall. The tape’s trap production takes its secondary influences more from cloud rap, plugg, witch house & wave rather than capitalizing on I Can’t STFU’s rage, free car music, jerk & new jazz undertones & I found the inclusion of guests to be a refreshing move compared to the predecessor’s lack of features.

Score: 4/5

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Protect – “slimedude2003” review

This is the debut extended play from Buffalo, New York rapper Protect. Introducing himself to the trap & plugg subgenres of hip hop by releasing his full-length debut All on Me followed by the sophomore effort albeit major label debut Ball Hog of Life under Atlantic Records a couple years earlier, his previous LP 500 Days of Summer last August was my introduction to him & remains his strongest collection of material today. 10 months later, he’s dropping off slimedude2003.

“RAF Trench” starts us off with a plugg instrumental talking about shooting as if he’s Cade Cunningham whereas “Firearm” cloudily admits to constantly pouring lean like he’s awaiting his own death. “0s” could be a weaker moment here since he’s pretty much sandwiching an unacceptably underwritten verse in the middle of a chorus, but then “Makatussin” continues to express the love he has for consuming cough syrup over a bubbly beat from R8 of Vanguard Music Group

As for “Whole Crowd”, we have Protect talking about getting concertgoers turnt soon as he he hits the stage prior to the plugg-influenced “RE4” referencing one of my all-time favorite video games Resident Evil 4 & dissing N3on for seeking attention online. “What Doesn’t Kill U” begins the 2nd half talking about sending out convoys over a synth-driven trap beat just before “Reset” confesses to feeling overwhelmed by a handful of things.

“AC130” gets slimedude2003’s last let going talking about making opps bleed soon as he catches them while “Sk8r” samples “believe me” alyorra discussing the importance of finding yourself & getting it together. The highlight “Last of Us” produced by Cade makes a nod to another all-time favorite video game of mine & the outro “U da 1” finishes the EP with 1 last motivational anthem about the audience making an impact too by doing it.

500 Days of Summer stands tall as the most refined musical statement of Protect’s career & although I do acknowledge that slimedude2003 was meant to be a collection of “grails”, I felt that the final production turned out to be pretty average compared to his previous LP. You can definitely tell these were recorded sometime before or after All on Me & Ball Hog for Life when he was getting his footing in even if I wouldn’t call it some of my favorite material he’s done outside a couple joints.

Score: 3/5

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SK da King – “Due Diligence” review

Here is the 4th extended play from Baltimore, Maryland emcee SK da King. Emerging as a member of the Checkered Flag Boyz under the original moniker Paul Skola, it wasn’t until a few years ago where he signed to Conway the Machine’s very own Drumwork Music Group as a solo act as announced by his debut single “Actions” & would go on to introduce himself to the Drumwork fanbase that fall in the form of the debut EP Horus. His full-length debut studio album Made 4 Thiscame after Before the Album & has enlisted Haas Almahdi to produce Due Diligence following No More Mr. Guy.

The title track begins with a powerful boom bap intro talking about him trying to build his catalog strongly whereas “Animal” featuring ItzGitty makes for the only song I didn’t care for dustily responding to people calling them beasts. “Top Spot” ends the 1st half talking about his name ringing bells & coming back hot just before “East Side” mixes a piano with some kicks & snares to explain that this is a lose-lose game along with having shit locked from side to side.

“Cruise Control” winds down the last few moments of Due Diligence talking about him riding for this shit & how heavy Drumwork moves over another boom bap instrumental while “Early Bird” gives off a more nocturnally rawer vibe talking about bringing the money home regardless of not knowing when he’ll return home. The closer “John Gotti” spends the last few minutes of the EP comparing himself to the iconic Mafia boss of the same name.

Familiarizing myself with Haas Almahdi after producing for the likes of Lloyd Banks or 7xvethegenius & more recently Courtney Bell, hearing that he was linking up with SK da King gave me the feeling that SK was gonna outdo every single EP he’s done up until this point & that’s exactly what he does. Outside of a guest appearance, Haas’ boom bap production & SK’s lyricism make for a great pairing even if it’s only for 23 minutes.

Score: 4/5

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Jon Connor – “The Artist Yahn Freeman V” review

Flint, Michigan emcee/producer Jon Connor switching things up for this month’s entry in The Artist Yahn Freeman series. Someone who’s steadily been holding it down for the last 2 decades including The Calling, Vinnie Chase & S.O.S. trilogies along with the Best in the World series paying homage to some of Jon’s influences, Salvation, While You Were Sleeping & Unconscious State. He was even signed to Aftermath Entertainment for 6 years before departing after Vehicle City wound up being shelved, coming off Food for the Soul & 24 produced by KLC of the No Limit Records in-house production team Beats by the Pound to have iRockSays produce this guest-heavy installment.

“High Key” begins with a trap intro talking about hoes needing a streamer to tell them exactly what their mother & grandfather have been saying since their youth whereas “I Get’s Down” discusses being born in a system where they’re trying to fuck everyone over. Courtney Bell appears so he & Jon can take things back to “The Essence” over a soulful beat leading into Freeway joining to talk about both of them only having their balls & “My Word”.

Kicking off the 2nd half, “Stay Up” has a more motivational tone to the lyrics explaining that you’re always gonna lose pretending to be someone you’re not while “Glory” talks about everything being ok as long as he never quits. “Held High” featuring X-Raided unites both artist over another boom bap instrumental refusing to lose focus & fearing nobody while “At the Top” ends V encouraging everyone listening to enjoy the journey.

This whole saga has been divisively received by fans in general although I personally would tell you that last month’s chapter still has the strongest engineering compared to the rest, but I didn’t get the same enjoyment out of The Artist Yahn Freeman V compared to it’s predecessors produced by Smitti Boi. I commend him for bringing a new producer & more features on board, even if the amount of features are too many.

Score: 3/5

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Seth Narley – “Prada Cups in the South of France” review

Here is the brand new extended play & the 10th in his discography overall from South Bronx, New York emcee Seth Narley. Dropping his debut EP 5am on Crosby in 2019, he would later follow it up by putting out the Trissland trilogy & drop 3 more EPs in 2024: Night at the Roxy, A Millbrook Story & S.A.L.Y. (Still Ain’t Lie Yet). Coming off both The American Dream: Son of a Dealer & Oceans: Mondrian however, he’s copping Prada Cups in the South of France.

“Jordan on the Baseline” begins with a soulfully jazzy opener clocking at 109 seconds likening himself to my favorite basketball player of all-time whereas “$2K on the Knicks” chops up a gospel sample to talk about betting for his home team in the NBA Playoffs & not trippin’ live it because of his bias instinct. “Unplugged from Marsielle” kicks off the 2nd half of the EP admitting his brother took his own life over a drumless loop while “Celia Cruz & Gloria Estefan” ends on a jazzier note talking about being worth $1M.

Only a few days after getting to see Adam Copeland & Christian Cage end FTR’s record-tying 3rd reign as AEW World Tag Team Champions in person at Double or Nothing VIII this past weekend surpassing All Out III as the best PPV the company has ever put on, Seth Narley begins summer a few weeks early by coasting over a bunch of drumless sampling techniques Creestal has to offer ranging from jazz to soul music reminding us of the symbolism Luna Rossa’s commissioned sneakers have over in Marseille.

Score: 3.5/5

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BVNGS – “Only Crying Because I’m Drunk Too” review

New York City emcee BVNGS has returned for her 9th extended play. Beginning over a decade ago off the strength of her debut EP Not Available, she would follow it up with 7 Dutches & a Sweet Tea, Brown Girls & Bubble Coats, Lula & Only Crying Because I’m Drunk respectively. She later blew up off her 6th EP LaQuisha in the spring of 2021 & only 4 months later, I had the privilege of meeting her at a Catch 1 show in Los Angeles & was impressed by her set. Coming off Mary Mack & Twice a Day w/ Food however, she’s admitting to Only Crying Because I’m Drunk Too.

After the “Statistics Show” intro, the opening song “In Love Again” hooks up a soul sample to get things going talking about her falling for someone whereas “Crazy” embraces a smoother sound instrumentally describing the way this person drives her insane. “Opal” takes a more melodic approach in terms of delivery asking her lover if they’d write her if she was incarcerated while “Reaction” turns up the alternative R&B influences singing about trying to relax.

“Everything That You Do” following “Apple Pie (Bianco’s Interlude)” winds down the last leg of Only Crying Because I’m Drunk Too cavernously addressing someone in her life who makes her feel complete while the syrupy Me Too” gets in her R&B bag again singing about her lover’s body calling her. The outro “Delusional” takes up the EP’s final 135 seconds on an atmospherically alternative R&B note asking this person if she’s a loss to them or if they’d miss her.

Only Crying Because I’m Drunk still remains one of the most vulnerable entries throughout BVNGS’ whole discography, but this sequel takes it up a few notches in terms of vulnerability & capitalizes on her versatility taking more inspiration from R&B music although there are moments where she’s very much rapping. I appreciate Only Crying Because I’m Drunk Too for displaying her artistic range more coming off her appearance on the late Big L’s posthumous 5th & final album Harlem’s Finest: Return of the King.

Score: 3.5/5

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Tayo – “Farewell” review

Brand new extended play & the 9th overall from Seattle, Washington up-&-coming rapper & producer Tayo. Originally starting under the moniker ByeTayo, he started on SoundCloud close around Halloween 2021 off his first few EPs Crash on Purpose as well as Inside Voices & PM the following year. He would later go on applying pressure with couple more EPs in wintr & a sequel to PM, coming off Thank You Tayo taking himself to newer levels both artistically & personally on both Bye & Goodbye. The latter of which is the most refined he’s ever sounded, returning 6 months later to end the trilogy Bye began & Goodbye bridged with Farewell.

“rainbow 6 2” begins with an enjoyable plugg sequel to a Bye highlight nearly 13 months earlier whereas “proud of you” hops over a more upbeat instrumental to tell his bae how happy he is for her & watching himself on YouTube smoking weed. “window” incorporates another blissful plugg beat encouraging someone flexing on their own to do the same thing to these hoes while “cancer” talks about not believing this woman who wants him back.

As for “3am”, we have Tayo turning up the plugg influences so he can tell his lover that he’ll be right here waiting for her while “bailey” produced by Pi’erre Bourne tells his lover to show her patience for him. After a sequel to the Tooly? interlude, “burn” featuring Tooly? finds the 2 talking about each of their pockets staying crowed & the closer “thing about it” sends off Farewell with a 2 minute outro admitting that he gets high out of nervousness.

I may have not loved Farewell as much as I did Goodbye last fall, but I still believe that Tayo’s one of the most interesting plugg artists I’ve heard within the past couple years & would consider this to be on par with Bye around this time 12 months earlier. His knack for catchy songwriting has changed & it’s still rooted in plugg & pluggnb stylistically, although I’d like to hear him working with producers in that vein who I’m a fan of like SOULJASPIRITS or Ayelavish! for example.

Score: 4/5

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