Yuno Miles – “YNX” review

Yuno Miles is a comedy rapper who’s been making waves online throughout this current decade by dropping off a dozen EPs, with the most acclaimed of the bunch being Knock Knock It’s Santa Bitch & Yuno History. Unfortunately the self-professed Nazi himself Ye formerly known as Kanye West currently in the midst of his grossest Twitter meltdown ever as of yesterday named Yuno as the only rapper he listens to & this shoutout inspired him enough to the point where he’s droppin’ YNX to start Super Bowl Weekend following his appearance on the “Bomb”’remix off ¥$’ sophomore effort Vultures 2.

“Hop Steps” begins the EP with some finger-snaps & Yuno admitting he can’t dance although he’ll hit the titular move whereas “Break Something” featuring BRBLuhTim finds the 2 talking about their music giving off that exact vibe. “Side Chick” is this cloudy pop rap cut dedicated to the woman he’s seeing in the midst of his ongoing relationship prior to “In My Zone” referencing 16-time WWE world champion, 4-time WWE tag team champion & 5-time WWE United States Champion John Cena fresh off putting over former WWE Intercontinental Champion & 10-time WWE tag team champion Jey Uso at last weekend’s Royal Rumble XXXVIII.

Ayekeem joins Yuno Miles on “IDGAF” freestyling over the classic Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz joint with Mystikal & one of my favorite Krayzie Bone verses regardless if I find myself enjoying Yuno’s parts the most in my respectful opinion while “Oh Naw” goes for a rage vibe to talk about them being on my dick like the belt on his waist. “Poured Up” featuring Ayekeem reunites the 2 for the EP’s final moments so both of them can take the time to talk about remember being played showing a diverse side to them dabbling with pop rock.

Not too sure if it’ll surprise some people that I appreciate comedic music acts like Milo Murphy’s Law star “Weird Al” Yankovic or Wheeler Walker Jr., but one of my top 10 producers of all-time naming Yuno as the only rapper he listens to is ironic since he posted “‘08 Obama” off the new Coast Contra EP In Case You Forgot on his IG story 48 hours before his embarrassing self-destruction calling out disgraced Tesla CEO, SpaceX founder, Neuralink founder & Twitter owner Elon Musk for “stealing my Nazi swag” at the inauguration couple weeks ago resulting in me never wanting to buy a Tesla ever again. Either way, it’s a decent EP.

Score: 3/5

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Babytron – “Song Wars” review

Detroit, Michigan emcee Babytron preluding Luka Trončić 2 with his 5th EP. Coming up as a member of the ShittyBoyz along with his childhood friends Stanwill & TR Dee signing to Lando Bando’s own The Hip Hop Lab Records, he’s also built an impressive solo career for himself as well as the side groups Lewis & Clark and the Dookie Brothers. But the last couple years was probably his biggest yet landing interviews ranging from No Jumper to even Rolling Stone following the release of Luka Trončić until signing with EMPIRE Distribution later that same month & Bin Reaper 2: The 2nd Coming that same fall. Bin Reaper 3 ended the trilogy with a 2-disc effort, the bootleg Style EP wound up being disappointing, the full-length LP 6 made up for it as did his previous mixtape Megatron 2. His collab mixtape Mario & Luigi with Certified Trapper wasn’t all that great either & Tronicles was cool, whipping up 5 new tracks & compiling them into Song Wars.

“Xyla” was a decent Detroit trap intro with these bells & pianos talking about being immersed in the dangerous gangsta lifestyle & after “5 Star” finds himself feeling like he’s on Tattooine from The Walt Disney Company-owned Star Wars after consuming some psychedelic mushrooms, “Boogaloo (May God Be My Witness)” gets back on the gangsta tip lyrically.

16-time WWE world champion, 4-time WWE tag team champion & 5-time WWE United States Champion John Cena gets referenced on my favorite track here “2025” produced by Danny G prior to “Killas, Juggers & Robbers” peacing up the Song Wars by talking about his preference of being the kidnapper instead of the hostage or a killer rather than getting popped.

Recorded for PlaqueBoyMax’s popular series on his Twitch channel where he invites rappers to compete against each other in a music competition & judged by a panel of guests, Song Wars still proves to be tolerable enough to satisfy fans of Babytron distinguishable punchlines until time for the sequel to my favorite tape in his catalog comes.

Score: 3.5/5

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9 Vicious – “B4TM” review

Atlanta, Georgia up-&-comer 9 Vicious gearing up for his upcoming sophomore effort Tumblr Music by releasing his 4th EP. Breaking out last summer off his debut single “U Fancy”, he would go on to further introduce himself on B4SA & the debut album Studio Addict helped him gain more exposure to the point where Young Thug has been trying to sign him to YSL Records since. Coming off both TM 1.5 & TM 2.9 from earlier in the month, the time has come for B4TM ahead of the main course later on in the year.

“R.I.P. Keed” kicks things off with a cloudy trap intro he, Jwade & Patrick Garza made together paying homage to the late Lil Keed whereas “Slime Bidness” boasts about making your hoe throwing it back for him keeping a stick & a mag on him over a 406ahmad beat. “Conversating” takes a soulful trap direction instrumentally addressing those who thought he was gay while “You Said” asks if this woman remembers if she told him she loved him. The outro produced by Taurus finishes the EP telling his life story.

Studio Addict was welcomed over a month ago to mixed reception although I could very much hear what 9 Vicious was capable of doing artistically & the prelude EP to his next LP here only provides 11 & a half minutes of what Tumblr Music has in store at a later date. The trap production gets refined here compared to both of his previous projects showing a hint of cloud rap thrown in the mix & he shows the world more of who he is lyrically.

Score: 3.5/5

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V Don – “Sent For” review

New York producer V Don curating his 3rd EP after signing to Black Soprano Family Records & Roc Nation Records. In the past 15 years, he has become one of the most in-demand producers that the underground has seen working with the likes of Willie the Kid to Ransom & Estee Nack in addition to his small handful of solo efforts including the debut album The Opiate & his last EP Better Than Money. The latter celebrated its 3-year anniversary earlier this month & is returning with Sent For.

“Mafia” by Eto is this gritty boom bap opener talking about never sitting in a spot if he could never landlord it whereas “Fortunate” by Hobx & WhoisBravy hooks up some strings along with kicks & snares to discuss staying putting in orders in order to maintain the baller mentality of theirs. “The Same Day” by Benny the Butcher & Conway the Machine finds the pair talking about goals coming together doing something to your soul leading into “Episode” by Lloyd Banks boasting that his life’s complete.

The song “Too Much” by Al-Doe & Willie the Kid reaches the backend of Sent For by going drumless suggesting you should take it if you like what you see from them while “Old Kemba” by BabyMaine & Ty da Dale returns to the boom bap talking about staying hands on with the work. “Know Me” by Elcamino & Sule closes V Don’s debut with B$F/Roc Nation with both MCs giving headshots as if they’re photographers & that you better act as if you know what the deal really is.

Whether it be the Deutsche Marks saga or B.R.A.P. (Born Rewards & Penalties) & the Chaos is My Ladder duology, V Don’s case in being one of underground hip hop’s most in-demand producers has already been made clear as day in the past 15 years & his Black Soprano Family/Roc Nation debut takes it a step further introducing himself to a wider audience. His signature hardcore boom bap sound remains the same & he recruits a mostly high tier list of performers to kill his beats.

Score: 4/5

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Coast Contra – “In Case You Forgot” review

Coast Contra is a jazz rap/trap group from Los Angeles, California consisting of RioLoz, Eric Jamal & Ras Kass’ twin children Taj Austin & Ras Austin. Their debut album Apt. 505 in the spring of 2022 received significant acclaim & their debut EP The Old Way the next fall, coming off being featured on Masta Ace & Talib Kweli’s latest albums Richmond Hill & The Confidence of Knowing respectively followed by the Austin twins’ appearance on Kamasi Washington’s 5th album Fearless Movement a year ago by teaming up with Toronto, Ontario, Canada producer Marco Polo for their 2nd EP.

“Mountain Climbers” begins with this jazzy boom bap intro wanting everyone who’s working all day to know that their time is on the way & to keep climbing making way for “‘08 Obama” co-signed by one of my top 10 producers of all-time Ye formerly known as Kanye West to work in a soul sample referencing WWE Hall of Famer, former 3-time WWE world champion, 3-time WWE United States Champion, 2-time WWE Intercontinental Champion, 9-time WWE tag team champion, 8-time WWE Cruiserweight Champion, アイアンマンヘビーメタル級チャンピオン & The Crash’s inaugural Mundial Pesocompleto Campeon Rey Mysterio.

The first half of the EP ends with “Shanghai Tower” gets romantic over a luxurious boom bap instrumental prior to setting out to make it right with their partners on “Been a Minute” backed by strings, kicks & snares. “Sunday Regulars” realizes obedience bringing a gospel/boom bap twist & the dusty, piano-driven title track wraps up Coast Contra’s finest work as a group with that shit you can’t fuck with.

These guys’ rise to notability has served as a breath of fresh air to hip hop fans due to the raw talent, complex lyricism, camaraderie & infectious personalities of all 4 members celebrating a decade together with the project that I’ve always wanted Coast Contra to make capitalizing on what makes the group so special. Marco Polo’s production strongly caters to boom bap, jazz rap & samples of gospel & soul music perfectly backing the quartet in reminding everyone who they are.

Score: 4.5/5

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Dax Riggs – “7 Songs for Spiders” review

This is a brand new EP from Houma, Louisiana singer/songwriter Dax Riggs. The frontman of the seminal sludge metal band Acid Bath, he began releasing music under his own name in the summer of 2007 after signing to Fat Possum Records for his solo debut We Sing of Only Blood or Love & the sophomore effort Say Goodnight to the World. 15 years later, he returning to jot down 7 Songs for Spiders coinciding with labelmate Ghais Guevara’s debut album Goyard Ibn Said.

“Deceiver” sets the tone of what’s to come with this swamp rock, heavy psych, stoner rock & garage rock revival intro now realizing exactly how the Son of Sam feels whereas “Sunshine Felt the Darkness Smile” passionately sings about Jesus never laughing & Satan never crying. “Even the Stars Fall” is an alt-blues meditation on human collapse and how failure creates the only heaven we’ll ever know while “Blues for You Know Who” kinda riffs showing his love for Lebanese & Egyptian music.

The song “Ain’t That Darkness” gets the other half of 7 Songs for Spiders going slowly singing about darkness spinning across his guitar while the penultimate track “Pagan Moon” asks a young man if he even knows he’s dying & that his darkness is shining. “Graveyard Soul” rounds out the EP officially hauntingly pondering where & when one lost their junkyard smile.

Inspired by world music in addition to gospel music as well as hillbilly or even the proto-metal sounds & the Cajun landscape, Dax’ first solo effort in over 15 years feels like as if he hasn’t been gone for that lone tackling themes of human beings collapsing in upon themselves, sympathy for the villain, God & what your gods tell you about yourself fusing stoner rock with swamp rock, heavy psych, garage rock revival & alt-blues.

Score: 4.5/5

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King Syze, Planetary & Reef the Lost Cauze – “Murderers’ Row” review

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania emcees King Syze, Planetary & Reef the Lost Cauze coming together for a brand new collaborative EP produced by the Snowgoons. All 3 of whom are members of the Army of the Pharaohs collective, with Planetary making up the duo OuterSpace alongside King Syze’s brother Crypt the Warchilda year prior to AotP’s formation. Reef on the other hand did a stellar collab EP with King Syze a decade ago called Year of the Hyenas & are getting back together on Murderers’ Row with Planetary by their side.

After the titular intro, the first song “Yard Rec” is this boom bap opener talking about everyone listening up in case they don’t know by know whereas “Royal Family” featuring Planetary’s children ELEMXNT joined by Kxng Charisma & Trxstworthy serves as the only track without Reef the Lost Cauze talking about liking scary things. “The Most Imperial” grimily lets everyone know the type of people they stay rollin’ with just before “Heat Wave” talks there being too many lames.

“Death Penalty” gets the other half of the EP going by working in this piano-driven boom bap instrumental warning everyone that last year was their last year while “187” find a trio of setting out to make murdering an artform. The closing track “Something Outta Nothing” officially rounds out Murderers’ Row by mobbin’, stealin’, grindin’ & hustlin’ in order for them to achieve the goal they’re going for.

Year of the Hyenas holds a very special place in my heart since it came out in the winter of 2014 during my senior year of high school & I played it heavily then since it was one of the most stressful time periods of my life, but Murderers’ Row recaptures the energy of that previous collab EP & adds Reef the Lost Cauze into the equation excellently. The Snowgoons’ signature boom bap production combined with the performances from each AotP member make for an exciting hardcore hip hop experience.

Score: 4.5/5

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Gloom Unit – “Come Heavy II: Mo Heavy” review

This is the 2nd EP from west coast horrorcore duo the Gloom Unit consisting of Acetone Boogie & Frankie Goldie. One of whom comes straight out of Tucson, Arizona & the other representing Sin City Las Vegas, Nevada respectively as part of the Swamp Society collective. Acetone’s been putting it down for the underground for over a decade at this point putting out a total of 3 solo LPs as of me writing this review & Frankie has been establishing himself artistically by doing a couple features & even releasing 2 solo singles. Come Heavy last New Year’s Day produced by Devereaux was a phat introduction to the unit & are returning 12 months later unloading Mo Heavy.

After the “Mo Heavy” intro, the first song “Money Makin’” is a dark-synth trap opener telling everyone to move out the way so they can get to the bread whereas “Honey Berry” takes a tropical trap vibe to the beat getting on their Gloom type shit. “D.M.M.D.I. (Devil Made Me Do It)” heads for a cloudier direction asking for people to check their shit in since they need it leading into “Denzel” calling for the roof to burn.

“No Sleep” continues the other half of Come Heavy II: Mo Heavy by Frankie Goldie atmospherically gettin’ on his count-up shit while “Raindance” manically declares that the Unit be running every piece of the underground at this point. “This is How It Endz” wraps up the duo’s 2nd EP with an Acetone Boogie solo cut that he dropped last spring by working in some sampling walking alone under the moonlight.

Over a whole year since Come Heavy marked their introduction to the the world, the Gloom Unit are back with another EP carrying over every single thing that made it’s predecessor a fun New Year’s listen as Devereaux expands on their dark trap sound in favor of drawing inspiration from cloud rap to the Memphis scene & both MCs leveling up their chemistry after a whole 54 weeks.

Score: 4.5/5

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Logic – “Aquarius III” review

Maryland rapper, singer/songwriter, producer, author & Twitch streamer Logic preluding Phonkadelic with a new EP. Emerging just over a decade ago off the strength of the first 3 installments of the Young Sinatra mixtape series. His potential would continually be shown on his first 2 albums Under Pressure & The Incredible True Story. However, it’s no secret that the quality of his music took a nosedive from Bobby Tarantino to Supermarket or the unlikeable bitterness of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. No Pressure however was a mature sequel to his full-length debut & I also thought the Doc D concept mixtape Planetory Destruction was decent too, but Bobby Tarantino III was pretty underwhelming. His final offering for Def Jam Recordings that dropped couple summers ago Vinyl Days happened to be his most artistically definitive yet. College Park & Ultra 85 was his strongest since Vinyl Days, but is compiling leftovers from that recent LP onto Aquarius III.

“This is the Way” samples ”Sittin’ Sidewayz” by Paul Wall thanks to Bobby Boy Records in-house producer 6 talking about rappin’ until he’s dead & gone whereas the self-produced “French Dispatch” takes a groovier route instrumentally explaining that music, family & movies are his 3 favorite things. “Not a Game” playfully suggests a change in the rap game while “Universe” nocturnally talks getting paper courtesy of Soundtrakk & the weight off his shoulders. “A Message From My Younger Self” rounds out the EP with a spoken word piece that was recorded in the summer of 2011.

Phonkadelic is said to be a huge stylistic departure for Logic since Juicy J will be executive producing it & the overall sound will be influenced by the phonk subgenre of trap artists like the $uicideboy$ & more recently Ouija Macc have become known for, so for Bobby to drop off an EP’s worth of Ultra 85 outtakes will do fine until then. The production continues to be more interesting now that he’s been off a major label for a few years at this point & the themes of these tracks would’ve fit in with the rest of his previous album without any objection.

Score: 3.5/5

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Jae Skeese – “40 Hours” review

Buffalo, New York emcee Jae Skeese is back for the 4th EP in his discography. Starting in 2010 off his debut mixtape W.A.C.K. (Women, Alcohol, Cash & Kicks), it wasn’t until a decade later where he & 7xvethegenius gained wide exposure as the first signees to Conway the Machine’s very own Drumwork Music Group. The Big Ghost Ltd.-produced 3rd EP Authenticity Check & the sophomore effort Abolished Uncertainties both elevated Skeese’s popularity in the last couple years. Coming off the Superior-produced Testament of the Times & elevating from Ground Level though, he’s starting 2025 right by putting 40 Hours in.

“Balance Inquiry” is this jazzy boom bap intro wanting to know what the holdup exactly is whereas “Rotary Phone” talking about the real ones always breaching through the walls at the end of the day. “Buffganistan” featuring Glueski dabbles with trap trading back-&-forth refusing to go broke while “FedEx” works the kicks & snares back up to talk about piecing it all together.

The song “Strike!” featuring K Pi$tol & Lil Jonezy reaches the backend of 40 Hours vibrantly boasting that this shit be larger than life itself leading into “Way Up” featuring Scoop Dolla fusing soul & jazz rap 1 time for ya mind. “Round & Round” concludes the EP hopping over a sample to read between the lines talking about finding once you set out to seek. The first bonus track “Toast Up” links with Ill Tone warming up for something greater & “Banditland” featuring Chasè Scanz ends the deluxe with a triumphant ode to Buffalo.

Looking to put on a handful of local artists & a couple producers, Skeese delivers vibes & bars for the Drumwork fanbase although I personally find myself gravitating towards the Ground Level mixtape that he delivered last summer. The production a lot like that previous body of work balances boom bap & trap except its predecessor contains stronger feature performances.

Score: 3/5

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