Tag: The 4 Owls

Verb T – “Good Evening” review

Dublin, Ireland beatsmith Pitch 92 from The Mouse Outfit fully producing London, England, United Kingdom emcee Verb T’s 8th solo LP. A member of The 4 Owls, he would also make his debut in mid-late 2000s off Bring It Back to Basics as well as Broken Window & Verbs with a Vengeance. These would be followed by Serious Games, which later resulted in T making his High Focus Recordsdebut with Morning Process & I Remain. Coming off The Man with the Foggy Eyes produced by Illinformed, I felt it would be exciting to hear Pitch 92 fully produce Good Evening.

“Arrived Late” begins with an organ & some kicks & snares talking about finding to the worst to define your world whereas “Getaway Car” swaps out the organ in favor of a vibraphone confessing things get eerier the more his squad travels. “Mechanical” continues the jazzy boom bap vibes talking about the understandability of living mechanically while “Possession” featuring King Kashmere speaks of this being the type of shit that sinks in slowly.

Ocean Wisdom joins T during “Lie Low” sampling “Parle Plus Blas” by Dalida sending a message to those living in fear leading into the atmospherically dusty “That Sound” talks about feeling some kind of magic in the air. “Mates Rates” featuring Black Josh, Moreone & Rye Shabby finds the quartet comparing their lyrics to gold just before the crooning “When Not To” featuring BVA & Fliptrix superiorly laughs off those snitching on themselves.

“Games” combines boom bap & funk talking about how hard it is to stay sane with everything going on in this world presently while “Sends Me Away” featuring Sparkz jazzily talks about looking for tomorrow only for it to eventually come. “Everything That You Love” turns the funkiness back up suggesting a whole tightly to everything you love me & dear to your heart while “Sugar” playfully talks about him trying to stay the same since everyone’s sweet until they begin to decay.

DRS appears on “They Say”, kicking off Good Evening’s final quarter funkily remembering the late Salford John while “Many Miles” stand happily looking back at all the things he’s done in his career. The title track featuring Confucius MC & Jehst brings the trio together advising to stay seeing what they’ve been seeing while “Break Limits” wraps it all up with a motivational outro encouraging the world not to slip & pick themselves back up.

Stretching back to the days of when Low Life Records was in it’s prime & now envisioning himself as a major part of the ever expanding High Focus Records movement, Verb T uses an outstandingly fresh batch of jazzy & funky boom bap production Pitch 92 has become known for since The Mouse Outfit was around engineered by Telemachus to pen some of the most personal songwriting of his entire career & my favorite guest appearances personally being the ones coming out of the High Focus alumni.

Score: 3.5/5

Leaf Dog – “Dyslexic Disciple” review

This is the sophomore effort from Brighton, England, United Kingdom producer/emcee Leaf Dog. Known for being amongst the best UK hip hop groups in recent memory The 4 Owls as well as the 3 Amigos & Brothers of the Stone, he eventually branched out on his own in the summer of 2011 by dropping the solo debut From a Scarecrow’s Perspective under High Focus Records to moderate reception although I enjoyed what he was going for with it. Fast forward almost 6 years later, the Dyslexic Disciple has returned a month after Zack Sabre Jr. became a 2-time RPW British Heavyweight Champion.

After the intro, “The Rain” begins with a self-produced boom bap opener talking about fulfilling prophecies with the words he’s rhyming never playing the fool until he made himself one whereas “Big Egos” basically takes jabs at artists who become full of themselves due to success. “Know Myself” gets on some introspective vibes lyrically admitting that there are times where he doesn’t even know who he is just before “Today” talks about living right from this very moment forward.

“It’s on You” works in some grungy sampling chops asking what one would do when they start to feel like this music shit was never meant for them leading into “Glass Eye” produced by Illinformed talking about things seeming to be better when he looks back at it. “All in 1” ends the 1st half of Dyslexic Disciple reminding the UK hip hop movement that his squad carved a new lane in the underground while “Pro Cultivation” featuring Smellington Piff comes together to talk about weed for the stoners including myself.

Meanwhile on “My Scene”, we have Leaf Dog welcoming everyone to the part of his native country where he’s trying to build a career for himself from the bottom up & saving pennies to get by a new day prior to “Window” jazzily catching an individual who was watching the Leigh Brothers again since he made it clear that this wasn’t the 1st time it happened. “Linguistics” hooks up a classy sample shouting out all the misfits listening while “Good Times” featuring Dabbla joins forces for a soulful anthem to play during celebratory occasions.

“Last Laugh” featuring BVA finds the Real Life Drama Records founders still giving the system’s many faces middle fingers while “The Reminder” featuring BVA & Kool Keith unites the trio so they can talk about owning hip hop to this day. “The Legacy” by The 4 Owls featuring Bill Shakes, Cracker Jon, Dirty Dike, Eric the Red, Jack Jetson, Jehst, King Kashmere, Klashnekoff, MysDiggi, Phi-Life Cypher, Remus, Smellington Piff, Sonnyjim & the Task Force sends it all off with a 7 & a half minute High Focus posse cut.

Noticeably more expansive than From a Scarecrow’s Perspective was when I had finished middle school, Dyslexic Disciple marks Leaf Dog’s return to the mic for the duration of an entire full-length & one that surpasses it’s predecessor on all fronts. He only handles a little over half of the production here than he did last time, but it feels more sonically expansive than the previous LP was & Leaf’s pen has gotten sharper since focusing on producing for other artists amassing a stacked list of local collaborators & veterans to be right beside him.

Score: 4.5/5