Going into this EP, I can honestly say I didn’t know what to expect. This was a new artist reaching out, and with no prior information or background, I was excited to see what was lying in store for me. What did I think? Let’s talk about it!
This is the brand-new EP release by MC AU, featuring producers such as
-Ghowste
-sp1tone
-Bailey Daniel, and with these three names, AU dropped some of the most infectious and smooth rap songs I’ve heard in a minute!
So, the opening track ‘H.T.T.H’ has a beautiful combination of jazz/classical and hip-hop. You’ve got those intricate piano keys, heavy bass, luscious horns, and funk-inspired drums!
This kind of instrumental reminds me of ‘A Tribe Called Quest’ in its genre fusion brilliance!
Track 2 ‘SURVIVAL’ has a more ambient, lo-fi, heavy inspiration to it with drowned instrumentation that feels heavy and thick in the air!
You’ve got these manipulated/distorted piano keys, even heavier bass than the last song! And an overall thick atmosphere that you feel like you can cut with a knife!
Also, I love how towards the end of the track, you have this little skit that breaks the heaviness quite nicely!
With track 3 ‘SOUL’, which is approximately named because this track has the most soul influence across all the beats so far! You’ve got these smooth and subtle vocal harmonies that are just loud enough to be heard but not loud enough to overwhelm the track!
Then you’ve got those infectious bass strings with a loop so funky you can’t help but nod your head too!
I also love those jazz-inspired keys and drums. Reminds me of some early career Herbie Hancock in his more experimental years with colourful instruments and flavours!
Speaking of that. We have the fourth and final track! ‘PSP’. Talk about colourful and vibrant flavours because this has that in spades!
This song has some high-pitched what sounds like distorted bird chirps to open the track, then we have some heavy bass lines that felt like they’ve been amplified by 100x on this song!
As well as that, we have some plucked strings and towards the end, some more ambient/noise-feeling parts that remind me of Clipping or Death Grips!
Overall, the production is very diverse and satisfying to the ears! I love projects that expand and try new things, and this is definitely one of those situations!
As far as AU goes on these said beats, he’s an absolute monster! He has this ‘old school’ charisma and energy to him that has me thinking of artists in the late 90s or early 2000s!
He’s precise with his wordplay, his flow doesn’t miss, and he’s fluent as ever. His words have a classic era feel to them that I like! These days, artists love to experiment and attempt to switch up how flows can work, and while I appreciate the boundary-pushing mindset (and love some of the attempts), it’s also refreshing when an MC like this keeps the formula routine/inspired by the golden era artists, which I love!
He also impressed me with his vocabulary and expansion of words! He wasn’t out there spitting the same type of sentences or phrases; he was pushing himself to tell short stories within his bars and using his introspective social commentary to paint a golden picture to the audience that I personally appreciated!
Although the project was only eight minutes, his utilisation of the rhythm and his execution of his verses made it feel a lot longer with loads of depth and originality, not to mention enthusiasm and conviction in his style!
I didn’t know what to expect, but he really surprised me! It was funky, memorable, and dope on all fronts! Definitely worth checking out!
https://open.spotify.com/album/6bZrLtrKqCD0mICUe7BL7Z?si=BoC4n3H8Qgu_ZK6fiGa_Mw
The Serpent Tongue Reviews 