Niko B – “Cheerleader” review

Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom recording artist Niko B following up his most recent EP earlier this spring with a debut mixtape of his own. Starting at the very beginning of this current decade off the strength of his debut single “Marry Berry”, his popularity began to grow exponentially a few months later after putting out his next single “Who’s That What’s That” & the full-length debut album dog eat dog food world last spring being well received enough where it was being recommended to me. people took a more optimistic approach altogether & only a couple months later, we’re finally getting Cheerleader.

“Beginner’s Luck” comes right out the gate with it’s best song from the cloudy New York Drill instrumental from Evilgiane to the hunger in Niko’s performances whereas the trap, grime & UK drill single “mongoose” talks about taking dustcaps almost 2 decades ago. The EDM-inspired “Shoebox” flexes that he’ll run figures with his shoes off leading into “Spawn Trap” talking about not knowing the party he’s in spending 40 on drinks.

Moving on from there, “X-Factor” has a cloudy UK drill vibe to it boasting that he’s the word around his city nowadays while my favorite collaboration “Bolbeck” featuring RealYungPhil turning dust into diamonds. “Polka Dot” instrumentally feels reminiscent of The Neptunes talking about talking about walking with patches on his knees just before “Sellit!” produced by Kwes. steps out of a Civic on Westbound dabbling with jerk.

“Ringing a Bell?” advises to check his wrist if anybody wants to know what he’s been on for the past 17 months & after the boldly boastful “Stunt Jump” experiments with rage for 85 seconds, “Take 5” featuring S5 pulls out more surprises with a fun regalia track. “Pop World” featuring Dimzy atmospherically celebrates their individual successes while “Hermes Stock” describes making 40 bands in a burglary. “They Could Fly” finishes with a glitch hop outro giving the listeners a special thank you.

Eschewing the pop rap & hip house influences of the people EP earlier this summer, Cheerleader is similar to dog eat dog food world from the standpoint of Niko B broadening his artistic palette ahead of a sophomore effort presumably coming next the year. His performances are fun as is the trap, UK drill, new jazz, cloud rap, New York Drill, jerk, rage, glitch hop & regalia production except the brevity of it makes it feel more like an extended play rather than mixtape.

Score: 4/5

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Niko B – “people” review

Brand new EP from Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom recording artist Niko B. Starting at the very beginning of this current decade off the strength of his debut single “Marry Berry”, he popularity began to grow exponentially a few months later after putting out his next track “Who’s That What’s That” & the full-length debut album dog eat dog food world last spring being well received enough where people were recommending it to me. A whole year later, Niko’s preluding an upcoming sophomore effort by holding fans off with people.

“Hairclips” was a tight hip house intro telling this woman he’s hitting on how much he loves her hair being able to tell she doesn’t give a fuck by the way she cuts it while “I Like the Way You Talk Looking at Me” fuses hip hop with house & funk music asking if his partner enjoys how he speaks when they’re making eye contact with one another. “What Am I to Do?” rounds out peoplewith 1 more hip house jam talking about optimism being amazing from his perspective.

You know? It’s actually pretty awesome that people dropped on the same day as Little Simz’ brand new album Lotus because Niko B a lot like Simz sticks out to me as one of my favorite UK hip hop artists of the current decade. The production on this one is prominently centered around the hip house sound & you get to see a more optimistic side of Niko.

Score: 4/5

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Niko B – “dog eat dog food world” review

Niko B is a 23 year old recording artist from Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom emerging at the very beginning of this current decade off the strength of his debut single “Marry Berry”. His popularity began to grow exponentially a few months later after putting out his next track “Who’s That What’s That”, now finally ready to unveil his full-length debut album only 3 years & 7 more loosely released songs later building up anticipation for this very moment to come.

“Trespass Coat” is this EDM-driven opener talking about learning a couple steps despite not really liking to dance that much whereas “I’ve Smoked Weed 9 Times & Have Had 1 Good Experience” playfully breaks down why weed simply isn’t for him. “ur a bundle of joy!” takes the groovier route instrumentally calling Milton Keynes the city of roundabouts, but then “boarded the plane” bringing a quirkier vibe talking about sitting in row 9 of a flight.

Moving on from there, “tom did” mellowly asks if anyone wants it prior to “miniclip” featuring KIRBS mixing cloud rap & UK drill so both of them can talk about winning any game they play. “it’s not litter if you bin it” delves further into smoother sounds saying that he’s fighting too many fights pondering if they would make him lose by filming him fighting while the pillowy “i’m just a pretty face” talks about being too hardcore.

“dagenham to barking” kinda has this deconstructed club quality to the beat referencing former 3-time WWE world champion, 5-time WWE Intercontinental Champion, WWE United States Champion, 3-time TNA World Champion, ΩCW Heavyweight Champion, 9-time WWE Tag Team Champion, 3-time WWE Hardcore Champion, ROH World Tag Team Champion, HoG Tag Team Champion, 2-time ΩCW Tag Team Champion & 2-time TNA World Tag Team Champion Jeff Hardy while the rythmic “what counts as fine?” talks about not doing things because he dislikes it. The delicately produced “14 days” nears the conclusion of Niko’s debut explaining how hard these past couple weeks have been without seeing an unnamed person in his life & the melodic “who’s in designer” closes the LP addressing someone he doesn’t recognize anymore.

Stemming from being in awe of everyone around him, the UK hip hop scene’s newest face makes his introduction to a wider audience enjoying his dog food because he likes it as opposed to everyone else around arguing & in competition. The versatility ranges from UK drill to indie pop & his storytelling is reminiscent to The Streets’ first couple albums, yet he very much meshes it all into his own approach & style.

Score: 3.5/5

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