Tag: The Lost Tapes

Mike Shabb – “The Lost Tapes” review

New surprise EP & the 8th overall from Montréal, Québec, Canada emcee, producer & engineer Mike Shabb. Emerging in the spring of 2018 off his full-length debut Northwave, he would continue to make his presence known by putting out his last 7 EPs & a few mixtapes before gaining notoriety for engineering Boldy James’ 5th album Fair Exchange No Robbery along with producing “Switches on Everything” off Hitler Wears Hermes X & enlisting his mentor Nicholas Craven to fully produce his 5th EP Shadow Moses from top to bottom. Hood Olympics & Sewaside III were both solid in their own rights, following up Shabb Van Gogh as well as Fight the Power! & Vrai Rap Keb! to have Drega33 produce The Lost Tapes.

The jazzy “Don Gargon” officially kicks us off talking about how he can’t be seconded out by anyone while “Nike Tech” goes for a boom bap vibe instrumentally wondering why people acting like he isn’t pushing hip hop culture forward. “Kiss & Tell” embraces a more psychedelic sound talking about keeping shit to himself just before “Evidence Flicks” hops over a bare saxophone loop whacking up anyone who fucks around with him.

“Dudududu” continues the final half of The Lost Tapeson some soulfully funky shit talking about dying for this shit since he’s way too deep into it & once “Jet2” continues the crooning sampling techniques calling out someone who’s acting all tough when everyone knows that isn’t the case with him, the closing track “World Go Round” wraps things up combining chipmunk soul & jazz so he can talk about money making the globe spin.

It was already announced earlier this week that he’s working on Sewaside IV & I have no clue whether that’s coming before or after Hood Olympics 2, but I wasn’t anticipating Mike Shabb to drop another extended play so soon after Vrai Rap Keb! became some of the greatest French hip hop I’ve heard recently. He takes a backseat from the production so Drega33 can pull inspiration from drumless, boom bap, chipmunk soul, jazz rap, psychedelia & funk all for Montréal’s finest to body himself.

Score: 4.5/5

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

Ghostface Killah – “The Lost Tapes” review

Ghostface Killah is a 48 year old MC known for being a member of the almighty Wu-Tang Clan. He’s easily the most consistent member of the group with albums like Ironman, Supreme Clientele, FishScale, Apollo Kids & 12 Reasons to Die just to name a few. Last time we heard from him was in 2015 when he dropped Soul Soul & 12 Reasons to Die 2 but now, he’s finally returning with his 14th full-length album & he has enlisted Big Ghost Ltd. to produce it in it’s entirety.

After an intro from Michael Rapaport, we go into the first song “Buckingham Palace”. Ghostface on here links up with Benny the Butcher, KXNG CROOKED & 38 Spesh to tell you to watch how you talk to his goons get over a soulful beat with some triumphant horns. The track “Majestic Accolades” with Hus Kingpin & Planet Asia sees the 3 bragging about their skills over an instrumental kin to the Wu-Elements while the song “Cold Crush” with Chris Rivers, La the Darkman & Ras Kass is filled with battle bars an eerie beat with a prominent grimy guitar-passage.

After the “Put the Ghostface on It” interlude, we go into the song “Saigon Velour”. Where Ghostface gets with E-40 & Snoop Dogg to talk about the code of the street over a soulful beat. The track “Constant Struggle” with Bishop Lamont & Killah Priest sees the 3 vividly describing life in the hood over a soul sample with thunderous drums while the song “Done It Again” with Big Daddy Kane, Cappadonna & Styliztik Jones gets romantic over a piano & some horns.

After the “Reflections or C.R.E.A.M.” interlude, the penultimate song “Watch ‘Em Holla” with Raekwon, Cappadonna & Masta Killa feels like a classically gritty Wu banger with some horns. And before things end with a Michael Rapaport outro, the final song “I Think I Saw a Ghost with Sheek Louch & Vic Spencer is a rap rock anthem that’ll make you wanna flip your table over.

While it is short & I wish there were a couple tracks where Ghostface is rapping by himself, this is another solid effort. Big Ghost Ltd.’s vintage production style perfectly suits Ghostface’s lyricism & the guest verses are great, too.

Score: 4/5