Nottingham, East Midlands, England, United Kingdom emcee, producer, graffiti writer & b-boy Frisco Boogie making his Hidden Hobby Records debut with his 7th LP. Dropping his solo debut in 2020 with The Internal Masquerade the sophomore effort Masks of the Morning Son a few months later, he would go on to release Rainbows in the Rubble as well as the COVID-19 themed C.I.R.C.U.S. (Conditions In Reality Causing Us Stress) or the optimistic Sunflowers in September. Coming off 50 From the Cradle last fall honoring his 50th birthday, he’s found himself Lost in the Loophole.

“Lost” begins with a self-produced beat that reminds me of something Dr. Dre would’ve made in the 2000s essentially serving as the title track whereas “Same Ol’ Same” takes the boom bap route instrumentally talking about feeling like life’s repeating itself. “Silence” works in some pianos & woodwinds explaining that keeping your mouth shut is the best answer when realizing it doesn’t value your words leading into “March” featuring the Local Healers taking a smoother approach to talk about a woman who won’t give in.

To get the 2nd half going, “Karma” returns to the boom bap hooking up a prominent vocal sample telling the story of a woman he knew by the name of Susie while “No Answer” orchestrally suggests maybe he would be asking different questions. Frisco later waits for the human race to disappear the “Field of Crows” in a breeze over a vocal sample but once he observes some “Turmoil in the Trenches” all the way from a park bench, the final song asks “1 Question” & that being whether one would push their children.

Known for being the UK hip hop scene’s equivalent to Skyzoo in terms of everything he does having it’s own different concept, Frisco Boogie preludes his forthcoming 8th album celebrating this new era of a career spanning 3 decades when he started out as 1/2 of Lost Island. Topically, a lot of Lost in the Loophole continues the maturity of Frisco’s last couple offerings using dizzying wordplay to ponder whether or not those listening are stuck in a loophole of their own over old school boom bap production.

Score: 4/5

Keep up with @legendswill_never_die on Instagram & @LegendsllLiveOn on Twitter for the best music reviews weekly!