Bisk – “Cream Soda” review

London, England, United Kingdom emcee/producer Bisk enlisting Sam Zircon to produce his 5th EP in its entirety. A member of the Cult of the Damned collective as well as the duo Swamp Harbour, he would precede his full-length debut album Don’t Piss It Off! with Raw Sh!t under Blah Records as well as Free Morphine & Figaro3000 respectively. He recently put out Yasuke along with the sophomore effort XXXX & Gutter City, preluding Bsidegoose by using natural ingredients to make some Cream Soda.

The title track opens up talking about people he doesn’t even know claiming to be homies with him over a boom bap instrumental & after the “Bubblegum” skit, “Grape Juice” blends trap and chopped & screwed grinding for the P & remaining gangsta. “Parashoot” goes for a cloudy boom bap vibe telling clout chasers to go home & the final song “Snow” preceding the “Hasta Luego” outro talks about moving like royalty these days.

Gutter City remains my favorite LP of the Bisk has dropped so far, but Cream Soda could be another one of the strongest EPs he’s made in the past year & a half of embarking on a solo career. Sam Zircon’s eclectic production drawing inspiration from boom bap to trap, cloud rap and chopped & screwed paired with Bisk’s lyricism for almost 10 minutes can only make me imagine the amount of potential Bsidegoose has of dethroning Gutter City in 2 weeks.

Score: 4/5

Bisk – “Yasuke” review

This is the 4th EP from London, England, United Kingdom emcee/producer Bisk. Known for being a member of the Cult of the Damned collective as well as the duo Swamp Harbour, he would precede his full-length debut album Don’t Piss It Off! with Raw Sh!t under Blah Records as well as Free Morphine & Figaro3000 respectively. He recently put out the sophomore effort XXXX & has enlisted Lee Scott to fully produce Yasuke ahead of Gutter City, Cream Soda & Bsidegoose.

“Sensei” begins with a 93 second intro kickin’ back cold saggin’ swamp side over a nostalgic boom bap beat whereas “Nina” featuring Salar finds the 2 maintaining the dustiness instrumentally hitting us with a couple of hardcore verses. “The Art of Raw” continues the boom bap vibes rising up from the dead spitting blood with a gash on his head while “Ronin” ruggedly tells a funny muhfucka that shit ain’t a game to him out here since he stays ducking strays.

Salar joins Bisk again on “Tzunami” continuing the hardcore lyricism over jazzy boom bap beats while “Ravioli” advises against being caught slippin’ in the middle of the evening. “Sushi” featuring the Antiheroes & Milkavelli starts the deluxe run referencing Tuco Salamanca from my favorite show of all-time Breaking Bad & once the soulful “Kabuki” featuring Lee Scott advises not to push them swings they’re kinda crazy, the final bonus track “Noh” sends it off talking about robbing people if his music doesn’t sell.

Yasuke marks the 3rd solo project that Bisk has dropped through Blah Records succeeding Raw Sh!t & Don’t Piss It Off! respectively, surpassing both of them in becoming the Cult of the Damned’s greatest offering for the local label although he plans on putting out 3 more extended plays before 2017 ends. Lee Scott’s production is a huge improvement above Don’t Piss It Off!’s & lyrically, Bisk delivers some of his strongest performances in his individual catalog yet.

Score: 4/5

Sean Peng – “Controlled Experiment” review

Bristol, England, United Kingdom emcee Sean Peng preluding his debut solo album with an extended play of written material. Known for being 1/3 of the Creatures of Habit & 1/4 of NLP, he would go on to drop the Crazed Conductor beat tape a year earlier preceding the formation of Lost Scroll Records. In preparation of an upcoming debut album, we’re getting a taste of what the UK hip hop movement can expect from it with a Controlled Experiment coinciding Sean signing to the previously mentioned label.

“Devolution” produced by Illinformed starts with a glistening boom bap intro wanting to know where the evolution’s at whereas “Crooked Luck” by the Creatures of Habit featuring El Grobbo talks about poverty as well as keeping it raw. “Snakes & Ladders” basically takes a few minutes to observe the game of life over a Micall Parknsun instrumental while “Addicts” featuring Glacia dustily talks about being junkies for beats to rhyme over. “The Industry” finishes up the EP at artist slaughtering themselves down for success.

So far looking at this extended play compared to his full-length debut, i’ve been finding myself leaning towards Controlled Experiment between the 2 projects & it gives me a feeling that this next album Sean Peng has in the works could make more waves than anything here or Crazed Conductor already has. Illinformed nails his 60% portion of the production & I’m clearly happy Sean’s actually rapping unlike Crazed Conductor, but I feel like he has the capability of pushing himself further from a songwriter’s point of view.

Score: 3.5/5

Cult Mountain – “The 616sons” review

Cult Mountain is a quartet from England, United Kingdom consisting of London producer Sumgii, Sheffield emcee Trellion, London emcee Milkavelli & finally Runcorn, Cheshire, emcee/producer Lee Scott. Dropping an eponymous debut EP & a sequel, the latter would form the duo HAPPYPPL with Trellion a few months ago & introduced themselves providing a list of Things to Do in Happy Land When Ur Dead. However, the other half are joining them for the 3rd extended play from the Mountain preluding 2.5 ahead of the trilogy chapter.

“Yugen Pie” gets the ball rollin’ over a slow boom bap instrumental asking where the wisdom goes whenever they drop knowledge whereas “Mzungu Poa” finds everyone getting on some hater shit dabbling with trap a bit. “Life’s So Hard” reaches the halfway point spitting some arrogant pimp shit while “Cult Sweg” comes through with a cloudy Cult of the Damned anthem. “Brink” talks about those who think they give a fuck being sorely mistaken & “Spell It Out” ends with them turning their arrogance up.

The HAPPYPPL’s introductory EP a few months earlier Things to Do in Happy Land When Ur Dead was an experimentally dark prelude to The 616sons, but Milkavelli continues rockin’ mics beside Lee Scott & Trellion with none other than Sumgii behind the boards recapturing every aspect of the last couple entries in Cult Mountain’s discography whilst homaging the Fox Corporation’s longest-running animated series The Simpsons.

Score: 4/5

HAPPYPPL – “Things to Do in Happy Land When You’re Dead” review

HAPPYPPL are a duo from England, United Kingdom consisting of Sheffield emcee Trellion alongside Runcorn, Cheshire, emcee/producer & Blah Records founder Lee Scott. Both of whom make up 2/4 of Cult Mountain, dropping an eponymous debut EP with Milkavelli & Sumgii as well as a sequel in only the span of 3 years. However to warm us up for The 616sons in a few months & the trilogy chapter of Cult Mountain’s eponymous saga, Sumgii’s soundtracking the Things to Do in Happy Land When You’re Dead.

“Heart Shaped U” experimentally begins with both of them over this talking about not wanting to rap anymore because they’ve become bored with it giving middle fingers to everyone whereas “Tony Called” finds the 2 taking pride in being scumbags who’re out of their minds. “Hey Hoe” references アイアンマンヘビーメタル級チャンピオン, TNA World Tag Team Champion, WCW World Television Champion, WWE Hall of Famer, 2-time WWE United States Champion, 7-time WCW World Tag Team Champion & 4-time WWE Intercontinental Champion Scott Hall just before “Manzell” by Cult Mountain shrugs off the bitches on their dicks talking shit.

Starting the other leg, “Swayze Point” talks about doing this music shit for each of their children rather than the money leading into “Timon Squared” declaring themselves to be the modern version of Kid n’ Play when I can’t even dispute that claim. “EBB Tide” continues the experimentations representing Earth 616 from The Walt Disney Company subsidiary Marvel universe & “#Sad” ends Things to Do in Happy Land When You’re Deadtalking about wanting to be joyous.

Giving fans something to hold them off until the next Cult Mountain EP when summer comes, Things to Do in Happy Land When You’re Dead introduces us to this newest side project from half of their lineup that would satisfy fans of either Lee Scott or Trellion. Sugmii’s production sounds more experimental than usual & both performers ironically take a more depressing approach to their songwriting in an ironic twist of the HAPPYPPL’s concept being laid out.

Score: 4.5/5