Your Old Droog – “The Yodfather” review

Your Old Droog is a Ukrainian-American underground MC who caught my attention when he dropped his self-titled debut. Many actually first thought he was an alter ego of Nas given that their voices are somewhat similar, but eventually became a legend in his own right off later projects such as Packs as well as It Wasn’t Even Close, TIME & more recently the Nicholas Craven-produced YOD Wave that dropped this past spring. YOD Stewart & Yodney Dangerfield both weren’t as great in my opinion, but certainly had it’s highlights at the same time & had interest in his 8th EP over here which I don’t mind in light of him going on Twitter saying he’ll drop a 6-track EP the next time someone complains to him about another 7-track EP.

The “WW3” freestyle kicks off things off with a drumless soul loop & Droog talking about wanting to get this money before the world ends whereas the Tony Touch freestyle works in a flute courtesy of Sadhugold calling himself the rap Leo DiCaprio. The David Bowie freestyle jumps on top of some impressive vocal chops throughout to talk about being on the road to victory just before “Francis Ford Coppola” comes through with a jazzy boom bap sound thanks to K-Nite 13 expressing his plan to achieve the impossible.

Droogie-La” by Droogie Otis is most definitely my favorite song on the EP from Madlib once again putting his unique ear for samples on display to Droog’s hardcore lyricism while “Zubin Mehta” starts off in drumless chipmunk soul territory talking about standing out in the pack like Lil B. The Munchos freestyle returns to a jazzier sound warning that your homie don’t want the fade kin to song endings with the 3rd & final installment of “90 from the Line” ending the EP in abstract boom bap fashion.

If this is the last EP we’re getting from him in 2022, then I’d say it’s a solid conclusion to the 4 that we got. The production’s just as decent as the last 2 were, but Droog most definitely has one of the best pen-games in the underground today & he definitely makes it a point to remind everyone that here. Whether it’s an EP or an album next year, I’’m always looking forward to hearing new music from him.

Score: 3.5/5

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King Kashmere – “TR3B” review

Grahame Park, London, England, United Kingdom emcee King Kashmere recruiting Wolverhampton, West Midlands production duo Letherette for his 3rd EP. Notable for being a part of several groups or duos over the last few decades ranging from Kingdom of Fear & Invisible Inc. to Gawd Status as well as Old Children & Strange U, he also has 4 full-length solo albums & a couple of extended plays under his belt through a multitude of labels from Low Life Records to YNR Productions & Boot Records. Signing to High Focus Records recently, he’s ready to make his debut for the label with TR3B a couple months after Ricky Knight Jr. became a 2-time RPW British Heavyweight Champion.

“G-Cell” starts off with a futuristic boom bap instrumental talking about being in his own different lane lyrically & covering his stomach in armor while “Black Knight Satellite” hooks up some synthesizers to get the audience hyped for the mysteries of life. The final song “Snake Pie” takes a bit of a bombastic approach to the beat wondering if humanity’s ghost will find another host before insanity approaches leading into “T-33” finishing off in the form of this compositional outro catered towards Andy Harber & Richard Roberts’ signature house sound.

Meeting each other roughly a decade ago after performing in the same boiler room & connecting through a shared love of the same genre-blurring styles that’ve defined their respective careers, it was only a matter of time until King Kashmere locked in with Letherette to give their fans something worth celebrating & it could possibly be considered Chuck Enzo’s finest EPs years to come from now. Andy & Richard’s production is heavily centered around their experimentations of the 2010s compared to Motherbox and The Iguana Man lyrically finds himself stuck between thought & feeling.

Score: 4/5

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Che Noir – “The Last Remnants” review

This is the 5th EP from Buffalo emcee/producer Che Noir. Catching my attention after 38 Spesh signed her to TCF Music Group & fully produced her first 3 EPs, it wasn’t until her Apollo Brown-produced full-length debut As God Intended & then her self-produced 4th EP After 12 during the 2nd half of 2020 where her potential began to blossom exponentially. She just dropped her sophomore album Food for Thought at the beginning of the year & is rounding out her 2022 in the form of The Last Remnants.

“Handicap” is a 2-minute opener with Che belittling her competition on top of a weepy boom bap instrumental whereas “Therapy Session” takes a more soulful approach to tell the story about herself as a Buffalo queen. Ransom comes into the picture for the atmospheric yet dusty “Bidding War” produced by Trox speaking on the music industry just before Elcamino tags along for the classy “Summertime” talking about how they kept fighting to be where they both are today.

Meanwhile on “Wine & Dine”, we have Jynx716 assisting Che on top of a rich boom bap beat comparing their love for this rap shit to that of their own kinfolk leading into “Wash the Dishes” weaving a funky bass-line & a vocal sample together so she & Benny the Butcher can flex their boss statuses. The song “Lately” with Klass Murda finds the 2 over a more whimsical instrumental talking about being stressed as of late while the penultimate track “Promised Land” with 38 Spesh returns to soulful turf celebrating their success. “Art of Patience” however serves as an ambitious conclusion to the EP needing to know if the goals she sets are achievable.

Che has already proven herself to be one of the most skilled women in the game today & if The Last Remnants is only an appetizer for something bigger coming down the pipe in the near future, then it’s most definitely on par with all 4 of the EPs that she’s given us in the past. The concept of her thanks the man upstairs for the bread on her table & blessing it is incredibly profound as she takes a backseat behind the boards to allow some of the best producers in the underground to shine.

Score: 4/5

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BeTheGun – “Miami Deco” review

Here we have the debut solo EP from London, England, United Kingdom emcee & filmmaker BeTheGun. A former member of the Children of the Damned collective & currently apart of it’s successor the Cult of the Damned, he’s probably the most elusive member of both crews making occasionally rare guest appearances on a handful of projects to come out of Blah Records for over a decade. However, we’re finally getting a better look at who Barebase is altogether using some Miami Deco.

“Excepts of Irony” hops over this funky beat produced by Lee Scott talking about nothing changing around his part of town whereas the title track goes for a lo-fi boom bap vibe instrumentally observing that everything seems to be the same to him. “Force Majeure” keeping the dustiness ensuring he maintains his audience & after “Better Daze” smoothly talks about knowing what some people out there have been looking for, “Metropolis” ends the EP discussing most of the frogs that got kissed became princes of darkness.

Keeping my fingers crossed that Miami Deco won’t be the only time we get to hear the original Children of the Damned member as a solo artist & was quite surprised it took BeTheGun this long for him to create a body of work under his own name, but it makes me hopeful it won’t take another extended period of time until he makes his full-length debut. The hook maestro & storyteller extraordinaire we were introduced to 15 years ago hasn’t lost a step & the production mostly handled by Lee Scott could be some of his greatest.

Score: 4/5

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Curtis Foster – “Slasher’s Delight II” review

This is the 3rd EP from Chicago, Illinois emcee Curtis Foster. Coming up in the fall of 2020 off his last 2 EPs Innertia & Slasher’s Delight respectively, he has since spent the last 2 years giving us singles such as “Ambition” & “Bad Memories”. But with the 2 year anniversary of Slasher’s Delight passing by this weekend, Curtis is choosing to celebrate in the form of a sequel considering that we’re in the Halloween season currently.

“Nightrover” is a blaring yet grueling trap opener with Curtis talking about being at the hands of such whereas “Vintage Horror” dives into boom bap territory with Novatore assisting him in vivid spitting the wicked shit. After the Phone Call” skit, we have Orlando Coolridge coming into the picture with Curtis & Novatore for an atmospheric yet rattling trap sequel to “Slashers” off the predecessor while the penultimate track “Ghosts in the Graveyard” returns to the boom bap bringing you the hardcore. And to finish off the EP, the Seuss Mace-assisted “Witching Hour” comes through with an occult trap banger talking about putting spells on his competition.

If you loved the boom bap/trap sounds & horror-themed lyricism that made the original Slasher’s Delight my favorite body of work of his to date, then you’re gonna like the sequel almost as much. In comparison to the predecessor, the sounds that it brought to the table are being refined & the pen-game’s nearly as gruesome.

Score: 3.5/5

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Donnie Darko – “Life Lessons” review

Donnie Darko is an MC from New Jersey notable for extensively collaborating with New York producer, DJ & occasional Black Sunday partner-in-rhyme Sutter Kain since the beginning of his career. The ghetto metal pioneer himself has laced pretty much everything that Donnie has ever done from The Darko Effect to Another Day at the Office. But with the latter being released this past spring & fall kicking off last month, Donnie’s ringing in October by linking back up with DJ Bless for his 6th EP.

Things kick off with the 6th installment of the “Block Game” series hopping on top of a soulful instrumental to talk about coming from the project lights whereas “Charles S. Dutton” has a more crooning boom bap flare to it spitting that hardcore shit. “Dark Dayz Rainy Nights” takes a more funereal route detailing how clout’s a Hell of a drug prior to Naymez coming into the picture for “Late Night” which samples Sade if I’m not mistaken belittling motherfuckers. The song “Desperate Measures” diving into trap turf talking about being built to win & then the title track with King Brian ends the EP with a touching ballad about being determined to win.

Although I enjoyed Another Day in the Office when it came out earlier this year, Life Lessons has gotta be my personal favorite of the 2 EPs that Donnie gave us this year. The lyrics are some of the most introspective/personal stuff that he’s has laid onto wax yet as his longtime collaborator Sutter Kain sticks to his signature ghetto metal sound behind the boards.

Score: 3.5/5

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Nvy Jonez LKR – “A.L.T.D. (Angels Loyal to Demons)” review

This is the 3rd EP from Brooklyn emcee Nvy Jonez LKR. Coming up in the summer of 2019 off an eponymous debut EP, he would go on to expand his profile in the underground within the last few years by follow it up in the form of Black Popeye & even a tetralogy of collab EPs with D-Rell called the Chicken Spot series, coming fresh off the latest installment 6 Piece earlier this past summer. But for A.L.T.D. (Angels Loyal to Demons) over here, Nvy’s enlisting Accosta the Man to produce the entire thing from start to finish.

“Blakk Magikk” is a vibraphone-laced boom bap opener with Nvy talking about wanting all the static whereas “Greed & Love” follows it up with some twinkling keys & dusty kicks letting y’all know who you’re fucking with accompanied by a sung AHVE verse during the 2nd half. “Enemy” with JahVybez & King Moe finds the trio over a trap instrumental asking if you see the villain when looking into their eyes while D-Rell & Rodey Cali’s Remedy tag along for the 3rd installment of the “Street Politics” series returning to the boom bap with some gangsta bars.

The penultimate track “Drugz” brings it back to the trap for the first half prior to the beat switch during the 2nd talking about coming in hot just before “Violence” finishes the EP off by enlisting Negash Ali & Showrocka to assist in him on top of a boom bap instrumental basically summing up the whole theme of the EP by praying & scheming at the same time.

I still stand on 6 Piece being the best Chicken Spot installment yet, so it had me intrigued about where Nvy would take it on a future solo project. Now that we got a 3rd EP from him, I think the fans will dig it ahead of his opening set for Conway the Machine next month. The boom bap/trap production that Accosta delivers is his strongest to date & Nvy lyrically continuing to step up.

Score: 3.5/5

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Pasto Flocco – “#TWLG” review

This is the 6th EP from Queens rapper Pasto Flocco. Coming up as an associate of Lil Tecca, he’s seen quite the success off his own once branching out on his own by dropping his first 2 albums March Madness & Dreams 2 Reality along with a debut mixtape Surf to Kill (SGBSTK) as a member of the Surf Gang collective. Pasto rang in 2022 by dropping sophomore tape R.O.A.M. (Rich Off A Mic) under his newly founded Ghetto Luxury Entertainment & continued to build upon the sample drill sound on March Madness 2 in the spring & then Walking Glitch over the summer, so it was only a matter of time until he celebrated fall in the form of #TWLG only a day after his 19th birthday.

The intro is 2-minute kickoff to the EP with a futuristic instrumental admitting being in a certain mode as of late whereas “Off da Porch 2 takes a triumphant route picking up where the loosie “Off da Porch” left off as far as content goes. “mhm mhm” embraces a sample drill sound thanks to J6 talking about how that’s the exact noise he be making when a fuckboy tries to run his mouth to him prior to the airy yet booming “Joy Ride” letting y’all know he ain’t giving no 1s.

Meanwhile on “My Fault”, we have Pasto diving into cloudier turf so he can get unbottle his feelings towards a recent breakup while the song “Can’t Stop Now” brings a hazier vibe provided by Harrison talking about his refusal to quit. The penultimate track “Believe It” to things end with a remarkable sample drill-laced sequel to song that got Pasto where he is today: “Shawn M!”.

We’ve gotten a total of 4 projects from Pasto throughout the year & The Way Lyfe Goes has to be my personal favorite one of them all. Primarily because of the the fact that he throws it back to some of his older styles & mixes it with the sample drill sound that he fully embraced on the last EP he put out only a couple months back.

Score: 4/5

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Pacewon – “Good Dope Sells Itself” review

Pacewon is a 48 year old MC from Newark, New Jersey who came up with Young Z as one of the 2 founding members of the now defunct Outsidaz collective that once included the likes of Rah Digga & Eminem. He would also go on to drop 4 solo albums & 3 EPs, with the last one being the Daniel El Campeon-produced Invincibles nearly a little over a year & a half ago this point. But to coincide with what would’ve been the 49th birthday of the late D12 de facto leader Proof, Pace is enlisting Detroit veteran DJ Butter behind the boards for the majority of his 4th EP.

“First Impression, Last Impression” is a jazzy boom bap opener produced by DJ Butter with Pace referring himself as the one you wanna rap like prior to Bizarre & B-Boy Reg tagging along for the futuristic “Holdin’ It Down” promising that they ain’t going nowhere. “The DJ (Tribute)” dives into trap territory giving his flowers to all the DJs that our culture has seen, but then 4-Ize comes into the picture for the dusty “Watch It Smoke” to spit some charismatic battle bars.

Meanwhile on “Adventures of…”, we have Pace going into a moodier direction thanks to DJ Dez getting on the more romantic side of things while the final song “Get Blunted” with Davey Diggla a.k.a. DJ King David finds the 2 talking about weed of course over a funky trap beat. The penultimate track “Grow House (Outhouse) is a more instrumental cut with a little bit of an electronic dance groove to it & the outro “Chattin’ with Young Z” sends off the EP with a 10-minute phone call that Pace had with Z when he was still locked up at the time.

Now for those’ve you who enjoyed Won along with The Only Color That Matters is Green & The Only Number That Matters is Won as much as I do, then you’re gonna wanna give Good Dope Sells Itself a listen because it’s one of Pace’s best efforts to date. He can still very much rap his ass off at this point of his career as proven on his last EPs & further proves that here, but the production that DJ Butter brings to the table with the help of DJ King David & DJ Dez is more consistent in my opinion.

Score: 4/5

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Rafa – Self-Titled review

This is the eponymous 2nd EP from Detroit rapper Rafa. Coming up as a member of the WRLD Tour Mafia a couple years ago, he would also begin a solo career of his own starting on Thanksgiving 2020 with his debut EP Not for Household Use & followed it up earlier this year in the form his full-length debut Dog$hit & Ammunition. But with the Mafia coming fresh off Tourmania a couple weeks back, Rafa continuing to apply pressure by dropping a self-titled effort.

“Tighten Up” is an acoustic/trap opener produced by Carlo Anthony with Rafa talking about how that’s exactly what he had to do before going out & getting it whereas “Cat n da Hat” takes a more rawer route with it’s deathly instrumental & the lyrics essentially shit-talking. “Hoe Need Jesus” has a more wavier vibe to the beat talking about getting fly for no reason, but then “Last Dump” works in some foreboding piano chords & hi-hats addressing that they don’t wanna see him winning.

Continuing from there with “Touch the Sky”, we have Rafa over some more mellow production exposing a rat & telling a hoe to get the fuck out his messages prior to “Prophet” returning to the Detroit trap sound declaring himself as such. “Wrldtour17” has a little bit of a West Coast flare to the instrumental confessing that he thinks God’s blessing him for his mother & he doesn’t deserve it because of how wild he can be just before “LIL Stro” almost gives off a cloudier tone to the beat opening up about this rap shit taking him to new heights.

“King Tut” switches up to a peppier sound admitting that he feels like the titular Egyptian pharaoh leading into the horn-laced “Dover Street” delivering some braggadocio. The song “Lean” laces some synths in responding to those asking what’s in his system while the penultimate track “Welcome to My Wrld” gets more personal lyrically with a drowsy trap instrumental. “Pushin’ On” though serves as a soulful closer to the tape talking about continuing to move forward.

Now for those’ve you who recently got put onto WRLD Tour off Tourmania & are looking to get into Rafa’s solo stuff, you’re gonna wanna check out self-titled because I happen to like it more than both Not for Household Use and Dog$hit & Ammunition even though that’s not to say either of them are bad whatsoever. Even though it almost feels like an EP running only at 25 & a half minutes, I can’t deny that it’s well produced & that Rafa’s performances & songwriting are both at their strongest.

Score: 4.5/5

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