I’ll be honest, this is my first time covering this series. Which shouldn’t be the case considering these are two of the strongest players in the game right now. Both incredible MC’s and producers in their own rights, but when they come together? It’s more than an orbit being devoured, it’s the end game.
This is the brand-new project by MC Tali Rodriguez and producer FLUDUST. Together, they drop a solid batch of seven tracks featuring the likes of -G. Fam, Black & P-Ro (hip-hop brothers if I ever saw one), and you know whenever they commit themselves to a record, it’s a big deal!
I want to discuss the rapping side of things first. Either I get partial dementia or this man keeps getting better with every drop, but every time I hear Tali on the mic, he surprises me more and more the further he goes! It sounds like he’s levelling up at a rate no one can possibly match. On this track, he’s sounded more fluent and technical than I’ve ever heard him!
Across these seven, he’s a combination of sharp, complex, raw, introspective, personal, brash, and even tries his hand at singing (on certain choruses). He’s literally turned himself into a one-man band, which is ridiculous!
He sounds like a true author on steroids. He has the vibe of those classic 2000s underground poetry rap icons such as -Illogic, -R.A.P Ferreira, -Aesop Rock, -Billy Woods, etc. To me, that is the peak of the era of hip-hop lyricism, and I hold them on a very high pedestal, but on this, it’s as if Tali is paying homage to those groundbreaking artists with his own take on super lyrically charged structures, verses of dense vocabulary, and storytelling the likes I just haven’t heard him unlock until now.
Who knows, maybe across the other five volumes, he’s incorporated the same level of pen game as I’m hearing here, but still, I haven’t heard them yet. I can say his performance across this tape has completely BLOWN ME AWAY!
Speaking of being blown away, we gotta talk about my Australian main man FLUDUST! This man is a man who needs no introduction if you’ve been following the underground! He hit a groundbreaking year in 2025 with nothing but a higher future in the horizon! This project being a strong example of that!
Across these seven tracks (very similar to the path of Tali), I feel FLU is incorporating the sonic equivalent of those 2000s poetry rap albums with the same ambient, atmospheric, and emotionally complex instrumentals that force your brain to focus and absorb each and every single note and instrument utilised across this batch of tracks!
I’ve heard him try his hand at so many different styles and elements throughout last year but never quite like this. It’s as if he’s tapped into a hive mind of the original ‘underground’ mentality, the one that all millennials grew up on as teenagers! It sounds almost nostalgic in execution, and I love it!
This ain’t your usual boom-bap-inspired beats; instead, we get a more alternative, looming, and vivid exploration of sound and rhythm that is a wave, not a trend, on much (besides the artists from that golden era still making music today).
This is an exciting album for me! First one of the series, and it’s got me hooked! These two have fantastic chemistry, not to mention the absolutely menacing features by G-Fam and P-Ro, who, as per usual, destroy their verses! This is an album
I want everyone to try and give a spin!
The Serpent Tongue Reviews 