Across the entirety of 2025, I’d say (for me) one produced stood out amongst the rest and had me hooked since my first discovery of his production. A man who turned every release into a grand score of epic proportions and a man who set a new standard for how production is supposed to sound!
This man is BONEWESO, and he is back with one more release before the new year: a beat tape (the second of the year), and with a strong Christmas theme running through it, we are given an example of what can happen when a mastermind handles the fusion. Let’s get into it!
Brand new record, 12 tracks in total. And I gotta say, while most albums like to put a ‘thug’ twist on the records, such as -Borirock -Gucci Mane, etc., on this occasion, he’s putting an almost ANTI Christmas concept, which I found badass and original as hell!
Just as the artwork suggests, this is truly the Grinch’s album! If the Grinch had access to a studio in his garbage cave, this is exactly the type he’d make!
A record full of angry, hateful, anti-messages that go against the traditional Christmas themes we are used to! He uses a variety of skits and snippets from a whole range of Christmas movies to make up the dialogue, including, of course, the Grinch!
What I found pleasantly surprising was the handful of tracks that were used from the HIDDENSPLASH album earlier this year! One of my favourites, and hearing those beats was amazing (brought back dope memories). He did the same thing on the first beat tape with some of the Infinite Wave beats!
As per usual, you get unrivalled technique in all of his instrumentals. Absolutely crisp & powerhouse interpretations of Jazz, Soul, Boom Bap, and more! Although the ideas and messages themselves are more an untraditional anti-Christmas theme, this still presents one of the strongest fusions of Hip Hop & Xmas that I’ve heard yet!
One of the songs – MISTLE TOE WITH YOUR HOE stood out to me as a track I could picture an MC like Mickey Diamond crushing! I heard his voice all over it and, of course, with the rest, picturing all my favourite MC’s on the album and how they’d sound on top of these luscious yet raw and splashy beats that are good enough to be made into a modern-day classic record if it had vocals!
In the most out-there way possible, I feel this is the ADULT’s perception of a Hip Hop/Xmas album. One about the reality of the holiday, when the magic is gone, the bills pile up, the greed shows its face, and the adults are left fronting the cost.
I love this more gritty, almost nihilistic approach to the holiday portrayed on this record! It’s refreshing, creative, and above all, original!
Trust me, this is a Bandcamp album worth buying! You won’t experience another like it, and it’s going to leave an impression on you whether you want to or not! BONEWESO STRIKES AGAIN! His undefeated streak continues!
https://boneweso.bandcamp.com/album/the-beats-that-stole-christmas
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