Lately, very few things get me as excited as a new Wulverine-produced album. He’s been on my radar ever since I heard his production on the Here’s Johnny album and then when he was on the latest Dot Com album. Since then, I knew he was the next to blow up, and I wanted to be there for all of it, so let’s talk about it!
This time around, he’s working with MC The Rebel Sky. Someone who is new to me, and so I had curiosity going into this to see what he’s like, and let me just say, he definitely surprised me!
Starting with the production of this 4-track EP. It has a very raw and skeletal grime effect. This time around, Wulverine has chosen loops that are very reminiscent of golden-era East Coast Hardcore Wu-Tang shit. Classical/Foreign music loops with various vocal snippets and an overall menacing vibe and atmosphere using, I think, snippets from the 2013 Wolverine film where it’s set in Japan (ironically the only one I haven’t seen), so the unfamiliar dialogue can only be that in my opinion.
Regardless, I love the dirty, ruthless, and rough-around-the-edges production style on this one. He’s keeping it messy and sharp instead of polished and boring. Hell, in track 3, ‘FUNERAL,’ halfway through the track, it’s just war and screaming with gun sounds and then transitions back to the rapping, that’s tough as fuck.
What’s interesting is after 3 conceptually paired tracks, the outro track ‘ECW’ just features Joey Styles commentary about Sabu (which is also dope because that was my favourite promotion as a teenager). It’s just wild how we go from 3 quarters of the album to be war and Japan-themed, then ends on pro wrestling.
It’s this level of creativity, originality, and mindset that I saw in him a few projects ago, and to hear how chaotic and off the chain he can be makes me happier more than anything, and I really hope he goes down this rabbit hole of experimentation because very soon he will be the one on everyone’s mind. I’ll just be the first to document the rise!
Now, onto the man of the hour, The Rebel Sky. A man who is tasked with bringing the magic words across this controlled chaos. I would describe Rebels style as ‘sharp, precise, and passionate.’ You can hear in his voice that he’s here to slay, and his hustler energy and dominant personality over the tracks make him a force to be reckoned with.
His flow is fluent, his wordplay is clever and pop culture heavy (which I love), and his penmanship is solid and definite.
I love his confident cadence across the bars and verses; he sounds like a man who came into the booth ready to destroy the project and leave the pages burning.
There’s no features on this EP, so it’s up to him to maintain the quality and consistency across this production, and he does that with no issues at all. You can tell he and Wulverine have excellent chemistry together, and I hope there’s an album to come out of this short record because I’d love to hear more coming from this duo!
Overall, a short and sweet project with tons of replay value. With Wulverine brandishing his adamantium beats while Rebel hoisting his symbol of ‘anti clone’ together, they are here to drop the industry on its head, and if you’re not careful, a couple of blood-soaked Jordans could be your fate; don’t fuck with the BERZERKERS.
https://therebelsky.bandcamp.com/album/berzerker
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