Axel Holy – “Magic’s Real” review

2nd extended play of 2024 & the 12th overall from Bristol, England, United Kingdom emcee/producer Axel Holy. Originally known under the moniker Baileys Brown producing for several local underground hip hop artists, he would eventually make his full-length solo debut in the spring of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic with WonderWorld followed by his last 11 EPs. My favorite of which are the Micall Parknsun-produced Got It Down as well as the Badhabitz-produced Persian Grillz & the self-produced Extra Sauce, enlisting Dr. Zygote in explaining that Magic’s Real.

The title track hits us with a spooky boom bap instrumental talking about learning spells & trying to get a label deal whereas “Allen Iverson” has somewhat of a funkier beat assuring that polarizing personalities make for great writing. “Purpose Built” blends elements of boom bap & rap rock talking about not paying attention to shit since he’s on his own path prior to “Sudden Death” describing that he had to find his ground when he fell slippin’.

“Deezus Nice” continues the 2nd half of Magic’s Real incorporating some buzzing horns to boast about him causing levitation every time he picks up his pen to write rhymes while “Ropey” gets ready to unload a whole clip at this group of individuals that Axel deems to be inadequate compared to him. “The Mission” spends the final minutes of the EP talking about people looking lost because he & Zygote got what they’re missing.

Hidden Knowledge was a decent combination of abstract hip hop & dubstep even if Chess proved to only be slightly better, but Magic’s Real makes up for it with what could likely be Axel Holy’s finest collection of material to drop in 2024 & most definitely another standout EP in his discography. It’s not very often that you hear Dr. Zygote producing for UK hip hop artists for a song let alone an entire body of work these days & his signature style suits Axel’s lyricism.

Score: 4/5

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Axel Holy – “Extra Sauce” review

Bristol, England, United Kingdom emcee/producer Axel Holy self-producing his 10th extended play. Originally known under the moniker Baileys Brown producing for several local underground hip hop artists, he would eventually make his full-length solo debut in the spring of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic with WonderWorld followed by his last 9 EPs. My favorite of which are the Micall Parknsun-produced Got It Down & the Badhabitz-produced Persian Grillz, hoping Extra Sauce would be more enjoyable than On My Life & Ancient Rhythm respectively.

“Ferris Bueller” hits us with a soulfully drumless intro talking about how anything can happen on a rad day prior to the title track reaching the midway point of Extra Sauce going for a boom bap sound making something outta nothing. “Sunset Over Okinawa” kicks off the 2nd half talking about being in front of those who doubted him even if it took as long as it did & “All I Do” takes up the final minutes admitting that he’s been trying to maintain lately.

It was only a matter of time until Axel Holy gave us something that was entirely self-produced, so I went into Extra Sauce thinking I’d enjoy it more than On My Life & Ancient Rhythm much like how Persian Grillz was a significant improvement above Welcome Back & Chess. Sure enough: That’s exactly the case. He goes significantly harder than his last couple EPs saving himself a stellar collection of boom bap, drumless & chipmunk soul beats he made.

Score: 4/5

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Axel Holy – “Persian Grillz” review

Here we have the 7th extended play from Bristol, England, United Kingdom emcee/producer Axel Holy. Originally known under the moniker Baileys Brown producing for several local underground hip hop artists, he would eventually make his full-length solo debut in the spring of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic with WonderWorld followed by the Jack Danz-produced God Comflex as well as the Micall Parknsun-produced Got It Down & Welcome Back. Coming off Chess however, hearing that Badhabitz of the Split Prophets was fully producing Persian Grillz sounded promising on paper.

After the intro, “Flava” samples “Big Sur Suite” by Johnny Hammond to get things going shouting out all the people who’re still by his side today whereas “Runnin’” goes for a piano-driven boom bap vibe talking about switching up the pace. “Grillz” instrumentally has this nostalgic feeling to it boasting of going toe-to-toe in a battle & after the funky “Bwoyyyy” talks about stealing the show, the outro “Bitch Don’t” ends with a warning not to fuck up his mood.

Welcome Back & Chess both have their individual share of songs that I still enjoy, but Persian Grillz lived up to my expectations that were set when it was announced & joins Got It Down to become yet another crucial EP in Axel Holy’s growing discography as an artist. The production Badhabitz cooked up here’s significantly rawer than last couple EPs we got from Axel & lyrically, he goes a lot harder than he did compared to both of it’s predecessors.

Score: 4/5

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Axel Holy – “Got It Down” review

This is the 2nd extended play from Bristol, England, United Kingdom emcee/producer Axel Holy. Originally known under the moniker Baileys Brown producing for several local underground hip hop artists, he would eventually make his full-length solo debut in the spring of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic with WonderWorld & went on to follow it up with his previous EP God Comflex produced by Jack Danz the following summer. However, he’s decided to enlist Micall Parknsun to solely produce Got It Down in it‘s entirety.

The title track opens up with a bloodcurdling boom bap beat talking about making his own rules whereas “Loop Digger” sonically brings a funkier vibe to the table discussing that he’s flipping more paper than origami these days. Kicking off the 2nd half, “Boomboomdahdah” instrumentally puts a cavernous spin on the traditional boom bap sound talking about him always winning & the outro “Talkin’ Landscape” finishes up on a cloudier note explaining he’s not around much since time’s money.

As someone who appreciates the contributions Micall Parknsun has made for both Low Life Records & his recent Boot Records output, I went into Got It Down expecting it to surpass God Comflex to become Axel Holy’s greatest solo EP as much as I liked the latter & am hopeful this will only be the beginning of what’s to come. Axel holds down the verses by himself compared to WonderWorld’s inclusion of guests & sounds great over Micall’s production varying between boom bap, cloud rap & funk.

Score: 4/5

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