Man, it would be an understatement to call this man’s 2025 career extraordinary. From the moment I discovered him till the very last second of that year, he kept improving and evolving at a pace even I couldn’t keep up with! He’s definitely one of the most promising MC’s in the game today, and the same can be said for the producer he brought with him, who also had his fair share of bangers in the previous year, and now they come together under the same mission to create a multi-lane classic to kick off 2026. Let’s talk about it!
This is the brand-new collaborative EP by MC AU and Producer Jazzy Lion Man! They bring with them
-DJ KROOKED
-DB CONSIGLIERE
-FLYG
-ANT KELLY
The usual suspects to hop on a joint with AU and for good reason. These men have helped each other over 2025 elevate and emphasise each other’s songs and records to new heights as they form a type of ‘brotherhood’ within the culture, one that always breeds the best results!
When we talk about Jazzy, regardless of what style or influence he brings to the table, you can guarantee it’s going to be technically sound and mastered in the most thorough way possible, and that’s exactly what’s happening here!
Across these seven tracks, we hear him start off with the intro, including a snippet about a specific art heist (which I should have seen coming considering the name of the EP), but anyway, it sets up nicely for the theatrical experience to come!
As the album properly sets in, we get a super surreal, moody, and textbook atmospheric vibe from this project! I’m talking about that doom style, methodical, eerie experimental brilliance that he’s executed so many times in the past, and yet here it feels almost elevated in texture and intensity! From those droning chord progressions to those short cut loop snippets, plucked strings, minimal drums, and the works!
It seems Jazzy wanted to go back to his bag of deeper material. Over the course of 2025 I heard him unleash an endless palette of sounds and variety onto us listeners but now he’s focused on the killer, left field thumping music that will force and contort your face into a mean mug involuntarily by the filth of the instrumentation!
For such a short project, Jazzy really brought his sharpest blade to the battle. It’s as if he wanted to start the new year off in his most diabolical form and remind the culture about his luring dark side that will creep up and engulf anyone who tries to risk ignoring the monstrous sounds of the lion man!
If the production is fierce, then how do you expect me to react to the MC’s tasked with spitting over the abyss soundscapes across these 7? In lies the talent and skill of AU and company. These men have made a year of trying their hand at all sorts of beats and sounds to work with, always pushing themselves and this time is no different!
Across this album we hear them giving their A+ game across these malicious beats! I’m taking brash and gritty verbal offerings, AU on his flexing bag of rhymes coming off a successful year he just wants to rub it in and I love it!
On this EP, he’s showing more explosive and sharp over complex. Hes already proven he can be the introspective/conceptual type when he’s needed to be, so instead he’s decided to focus on raw performances, in your face wordplay and flow as well as a more direct pen game that pairs beautifully with the production at hand!
His verses on here are shorter than usual with an emphasis on POWER, PRESSURE AND PRESENCE instead of intricacy and passion.
He has all year to humble himself but he wants to start the new year with the mindset being: Aggressive and I fucking love it!
Speaking of loving it, the features as mentioned above are seasoned AU collaborators and they keep the fire going all project long! All with their own unique characteristics, flow, cadence and style that is a one of one specifically to them and once again they sync with AU and his style perfectly!
At this point all these guys should just make their own custom collective! That actually would be super dope, hopefully they see this part and act on it!
Anyway, another DOPE offering to kick of the year, I have a very simple formula. If AU drops it, I cover it! Simple as that, it’s a formula you all should do right now!
https://au205.bandcamp.com/album/the-art-thief
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