King Iso – “ghetto psycho” review

Omaha, Nebraska emcee/producer King Iso is back after 23 months for his 7th LP. Coming up as a protege of San Diego chopper Twisted Insane, he would only drop first 2 albums & The Insanity Plea & Autophobia under Brainsick Muzik. Shortly after, they had an unfortunate falling out & it prompted Iso to put out his next full-length DeMenTia independently in 2018. However, I was thrilled to see him sign with Strange Music the following spring & his debut on the Kansas City powerhouse World War Me has quickly become one of the label’s best albums ever. Get Well Soon as well as 8 P.M. Med Call & iLLdren all went on to be equally well received, taking us on a trip through the mind of a ghetto psycho.

“Law 6126” starts with a dedication to the ghettos worldwide talking about having to prove to the state of Nebraska that Iso isn’t mentally insane over a self-produced cloudy trap instrumental whereas the deranged “Element” discusses the environment he grew up around. “Butcher Knife” featuring Snake Lucci blends trap & rock talking about being in the middle of the map with pistols on their laps while “Hell’s Architect” featuring Matt Phoenix finds the 2 talking about keeping life in those who need them.

Starlito appears for “Giving Down” hoping to succeed for the sake of their seeds & after the “Top of the Morning” skit, “Check” gives off a ghostly trap vibe staring in the face of death to say “aye that’s twin”. “Beat Box” throws it back to the g-funk era a bit talking about those envious of his name ringin’ the way it’s been while the hyphy-tinged “Crash Out” featuring E-40 after the “Gas Station” skit finds the 2 speaking of uncontrollable anger.

“S.D.G.A.F. (Still Don’t Give a Fuck)” featuring Kuniva aggressively unites the pair so they can talk about giving 0 while “Trip” heads for an eerie trap direction instrumentally explaining the ways of craziness life has to offer. After the “Checking In” skit, “Bloody” radiates a doomsday atmosphere that I find to be suiting going through shit he wants to forget while the smoky “High” talks about smoking the finest blunts.

JB’s appearance on “Bad” doesn’t do a whole lot for me & nor does the topic of his woman’s attractiveness while “Concrete Boxspring” featuring Don Trip only slightly improves despite the theme of keeping their souls in tact. After the “On the Way” skit, “Travis O’Guin” gives his flowers to the Strange Music CEO himself & the founder of it’s subsidiary It Goes Up Entertainment while “Talk to Me” explains to his woman that he’s going ghost to count paper.

“Normal” starts ghetto psycho’s final act by assuring that it’s usual for all of us to have our unusual quirks while the title track embodies the core theme of the album over a booming trap instrumental with some keys. “Against the World” takes a moment to deliver a heartfelt lyrical tribute to his whole entire family & “W.O.O.T.S. (Writ Out Of The Script)” featuring Taebo tha Truth ends with both of them advising not to be omitted from the game plan.

Pushing himself out of the darkness & ignites his own light, ghetto psycho simultaneously embraces King Iso creating his own sound handling the production much like the rest of his discography except he’s incorporating more live instrumentation & adding his own unique sauce to any different style of beat you’d want from him. Conceptually, what he considers to be the most important work of his career engages in lyrical homicide on a massive scale whilst his mask of sanity is slipping.

Score: 4.5/5

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King Iso – “iLLdren” review

This is the 6th full-length album from Nebraska emcee/producer King Iso. Coming up as a protege of San Diego chopper Twisted Insane, he would only drop first 2 albums & The Insanity Plea & Autophobia under Brainsick Muzik. Shortly after, they fell out & it prompted Iso to put out his next album DeMenTia independently in 2018. However, I was thrilled to see him sign with Strange Music the following spring & his debut on the Kansas City powerhouse World War Me has quickly become one of the label’s best albums ever. Get Well Soon & 8 P.M. Med Call both went on to be well received too, so it makes since to have Iso cap off Strange’s 2023 run by putting out iLLdren during the final weekend of the month.

After the “Welcome to iLLdren” intro, the first song “Feel” featuring Tech N9ne co-produced by Matt Phoenix works in some twangy guitar passages & hi-hats talking about how he wasn’t even a teen yet until he started puffing on that green whereas the title track talking about forming a society of outcasts over a dreary trap instrumental. “Stoned” blends a cinematic loop & hi-hats explaining that his father was never there for him, but then “CPS” featuring X-Raided gives off an eerie trap vibe talking about how murder was all they saw growing up.

“Voices” featuring Redro reflects the first time he could start hearing voices in his head over some hellish guitars & hi-hats just before “Midwest Baby” featuring Snake Lucci is an acoustic trap ballad ending the Baby Blues talking about growing up in their hometown of Omaha. “T.F.O.G. (Town Full Of Ghosts)” starts the Teen Trauma section of the album morbidly reps his set while the haunting trap hybrid “Young” talks about feeling like Pac.

Meanwhile, the suspenseful piano chords mixed with the hi-hats on “Teen Suicide” detailing the leading cause of death today leading into the grunge rap “Nightmare” praying that he’ll wake up from the suffering one day. “Holes” featuring Taebo tha Truth finds the 2 taking it back & keeping it current at the same time over a rowdy trap beat while “Run Away” gives off a smoother vibe talking about running from his problems.

“P.T.P.A. (Party The Pain Away)” featuring Tinywiings goes into trillwave vibe for a fun club banger & Iso showing off plenty of charisma. Especially the “Face Off” reference during the first verse as much I still don’t like The Rock’s verse on there respectfully. “Love Me” ends the 2nd leg of the LP with a pillowy trap vibe telling y’all to prove it that you love him prior to the Adult Adversaries starting off to a heartfelt tribute to “My Kids”.

Being born with Asperger’s syndrome myself, hearing songs like “Way You Are” is absolutely inspiring hearing King Iso paying tribute to one of his children that’s on the spectrum while the piano-trap “Step Daddy” pays homage to 2 individuals that he loves so much. “Attack of the Clones” featuring C-Mob has these killer synth-organs on top of hi-hats calling out biters & “Dear Mama” ends the album with a warm tribute to his mother that he reconciled with earlier this year.

Since 2019, there is no question in my mind that this dude has become the best artist on Strange Music other than Tech himself for the way he addresses topics that aren’t covered too often in hip hop today like mental health. But in comparison to Get Well Soon, iLLdren is easily Iso’s most introspective work to date. He takes us through chapters of his entire lifetime & beyond with some eclectic trap production & tight features near-flawlessly.

Score: 4.5/5

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King Iso – “8 P.M. Med Call” review

King Iso is a 32 year old MC/producer form Omaha, Nebraska who up as a protege of San Diego chopper Twisted Insane. But he would only drop first 2 full-lengths The Insanity Plea & Autophobia under Brainsick Muzik, falling out with his former mentor & putting out his next album DeMenTia independently in 2018. However, I was thrilled to see him sign with Strange Music the following spring & his debut on the Kansas City powerhouse World War Me that came out when the COVID-19 pandemic started quickly become one of the label’s best albums ever. He just dropped Get Well Soon earlier this year & I happened to like almost as much as World War Me. So when Iso took to social media saying he recorded so much music for his last effort that he’s giving us the leftovers in the form of his debut EP, it intrigued me enough to check it out.

Tech N9ne & X-Raided tag along for the trap opener “R.A.P. (Really A Psycho)” talking about that’s exactly what they are whereas “Happy” works in some somber keys to wonder if he’ll ever find happiness again. “N.A.A. (Not At All)” returns to trap turf calling out someone for not listening to him, but then Taebo tha Truth comes into the picture for “F.W.T.T. (Fuck What They Think)” shoots for a moodier aesthetic down to the finger-snaps & hi-hats talking about not caring of what others say of them.

“I.M.H. (In My Head)” brings in the acoustic to let y’all know where he spends way too much of his time while the song “Speedy Recovery” is a twangy trap banger admitting that his road to recovery isn’t happening fast enough. The penultimate track “Touch the Sky” has a more glistening quality to the beat giving the world a letter from the other side & “Otherwise” ends the EP by chillingly confessing his hopes.

For a bunch of outtakes, I think nearly all of them would’ve fit right it on Get Well Soon somewhere in the track listing as a little long as that album already is. His production is on par with that & World War Me with Iso’s themes of mental health will definitely continue to resonate with a lot of people who’re not alone & are also in a dark point of their lives.

Score: 4/5

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King Iso – “Get Well Soon” review

This is the 5th full-length album from Omaha, Nebraska emcee/producer King Iso. Coming up as a protege of San Diego chopper Twisted Insane, he would only drop first 2 albums & The Insanity Plea & Autophobia under Brainsick Muzik. Shortly after, they had an unfortunate falling out & it prompted Iso to put out his next album DeMenTia independently in 2018. However, I was thrilled to see him sign with Strange Music the following spring & his debut on the Kansas City powerhouse World War Me has quickly become one of the label’s best albums ever. So given that & the singles that Iso released for Get Well Soon over the fall, my expectations were very high.

The title track opens up the album on top of a somber trap instrumental confessing that he no longer feels the same whereas “0 Dark 34” weaves some hi-hats behind the sound of a phone beeping talking about being too busy to work on himself. “Today” has a more jangly ring to it pondering if people would call him if they didn’t need a favor or wanted to get money leading into “6 AM” has a darker tone sonically talking about getting high before the sunrise.

Meanwhile on “Big Farm A”, we have C-Mob & X-Raided tagging along with Iso over some tropical guitar licks & skittering drums letting the masses know we’re living in a sick market just before “Under My Tongue” takes a more spacious yet bass heavy route talking about how he was getting it in in the mental hospital. Rittz & Twista come into the picture for the rambunctious “Self Destruct” admitting they’re about to implode any moment, but then “Hellthy” talks about smiling while burning away over a downtrodden trap beat.

King Kash joins his brother for the cloudy/trap infused “I’m Okay” lying about their state of mental well being prior to jumping on top of some hi-hats & pianos admitting he’s “Not Well”. Following this, “Window” kinda has the same feel as the previous cut instrumentally except it’s more somber & detailing having so much on his mind while “Made Me Crazy” makes the sounds of Cuckoos into a trap beat with Snake Lucci & Tech N9ne talking about being unhinged.

“Big Facts” with Taebo tha Truth finds the 2 taking shots at those who be talking too much over an atmospheric instrumental whereas the guitar-heavy “My Flowers” is basically The Brazy Bunch demanding their respect. Taebo returns for the aggressive “6 PM” reminding the world that they had to run it on their lonely. The song “Cover the Scars” is an acoustic/trap banger paying tribute to all of those out there who have Iso tattoos while the penultimate track “Hypocrite” has a churchy quality to it talking about how his music has helped others yet he’s not helping himself. “Help Yourself” ends the album with an energized ballad encouraging self care.

I think it’s safe to say that Iso’s output ever since signing to Strange has been the best of his career thus far & Get Well Soon wound up being a fantastic follow-up to World War Me. His production skills continue to progress while continuing to raise awareness of how much mental health matters further & detailing the obstacles he constantly faces.

Score: 4/5

The Brazy Bunch – “Written n Blood” review

The Brazy Bunch is a duo from Omaha, Nebraska consisting of A-Wax & King Iso. We’ve heard them a couple times throughout the year with songs like “At All” by Taebo the Truth or even “Bag Up” & “Blemish” off of A-Wax’s latest solo projects but after a small debacle revolved around the pair’s full-length debut Written n Blood getting pulled within hours of it’s initial release over the spring due to proper procedures not being followed by Iso’s current contract with Strange Music, they managed to work everything out with Travis O’Guin & officially drop it under the It Goes Up Entertainment subsidiary of the renown Kansas City label.

The acoustic/trap-tinged title track opens things up about how it’s their lives whereas “Ran Up” works in some sirens to speak on being chased by the cops. “Helpless” is a guitar ballad saying that money multiplied their problems referencing Terence Crawford just before the spacious materialistic ode “Slimy”.

Meanwhile on “Spain”, we have The Brazy Bunch somberly talking about revisiting the past even though it’s hurtful leading into them telling motherfuckers to get out of their feelings for the misty “Mad For”. The pianos on “Go Brazy” are pretty cool as they come through with a riot starter, but then “Measure It” serves as an ominous coke pusher’s theme surprisingly.

“Tears Dry” has a minimal beat going on about their bitches try’na fix what isn’t broken while “Time” is a much more downtrodden cut detailing going from their harder days to where they are now. “Flooded” continues the darker vibes saying they can’t scrub the blood on their hands whereas “Corrode” is an atmospheric cut about being paranoid that everyone is with the feds.

The keyboard passages on “So Strange” fit well given that they’re telling us that fame came with a cost leading into “Omaha”, which is a decent lil homage to their hometown. The song “Trip” is a cloud rap banger about never wishing jail on their brothers while the penultimate track “Fuck It Up” atmospherically details getting these bitches to trust them again. “Packin’” finally ends things with a foreboding theme about running up checks.

If you’re expecting more of that World War Me shit, then you’re gonna be disappointed. However, I think this is a solid debut nonetheless. King Iso’s production goes into more of that trap shit than he did on the last album & the chemistry with A-Wax is pretty unique as well.

Score: 3.5/5