(Hooter Hyenas)

Going from an unknown artist to a most anticipated album release based on one single has to be the fastest I’ve jumped on a rapper bandwagon in recent memory, but the album is finally here, so let’s talk about it!

This is the latest studio member by ‘Feed The Family’ member TOP HOOTER, and the production is handled by legendary producer MichaelAngelo, who has already worked on one of my favourite records this year with CRIMEAPPLE and Primo Profit with ‘ESCAMA’, but he’s back to capture lightning in the bottle twice!

Across this project, you have a list of who’s who including

-OT The Real

-Borirock

-Estee Nack

-Mickey Diamond

-Shaykh Hanif 

On top of the other ‘FEED THE FAMILY’ members, you have easily some of the greatest underground rappers ever, so you can already tell this one is going to be D.O.P.E.

Starting with MichaelAngelo, once again, he’s bringing his Masterclass of technique, samples, vibe, and creativity!

He’s the kind of artist who understands what sound suits which rapper and how to utilise the sounds accordingly!

On this project, he’s bringing beats that are raw, crisp, atmospheric, cold, and even theatrical at times with the use of ‘larger than life’ instrumentation on certain songs.

Like the track ‘No Crowns’, featuring the combination of that subtle vocal loop and those folk-inspired strings on repeat with that violin synth sound to give it that cinematic vibe!

Or the track ‘Look For The Crook’, with that ambient, drone sound with that crowd/gang mentality in the background as if there’s 100 people standing in the studio during this track. Reminds me of the early Wu Tang Clan would do. Of course, to have Estee Nack be on this one makes so much sense due to his ruthless, cold-hearted nature!

My point being, Michael makes sure each track is perfectly balanced and crafted for the person. He’s one of the best going, and it’s no mistake that he’s made two ‘album of the year contenders’ already. 

Now, onto the newcomer (for me anyway) TOP HOOTER. The man who’s been making waves across my social media and now after listening to that single and this album I see why. His confident style is infectious.

He has pinpoint accuracy with this flow, wordplay, and penmanship. No matter who he’s on the track with, he maintains his status and reminds us all that he’s the man on this project.

A lot of times you can hear a feature track where the album rapper gets cold feet compared to the one he’s on the song with and gets washed up.

But on this record, he’s always solid. Sound and collected, raw, crisp, and never wavered! A solid MC.

I absolutely loved this record! Whether you’re talking about the immaculate production or the quality features or the terrific performance by Top, this album has everything going forward, and I just know it will be on everyone’s tongue in 2025, including the serpent tongue! 

https://open.spotify.com/album/2mk4kXQpsrAaYoje7jKqp9?si=06AkyJ3hTfmIeSTJT_S7KQ

(Genie In The Bottle)

Well, this is something I wasn’t expecting. A metal band loosely covering the ‘Christina Aguilera’ song ‘Genie In A Bottle’ from 1999.

From those opening piano keys, the band ‘Amerakin Overdose’ starts the song off with an industrial metal vibe sound with that mix of metal and electronic elements. Especially that auto-tune note played at the very beginning.

I do love how they have pretty much kept the sonic concept alive of the original just using metal elements. You can obviously still hear the song’s rhythm and identity if it were a clear cover. This is also more melodic than I expected it to be for a metal version! 

Most metal covers I’ve heard, such as ‘Cradle Of Filth’s Hallowed Theme’ or ‘Children Of Bodom’s Hit Me One More Time,’ cover it’s all about the heaviness and less about the melodic elements, but here they do both, which I honestly respect!

And of course, there are some lyrical alterations, such as ‘You Have To Rock Me The Right Way’ instead of ‘Rub Me The Right Way,’ among other small parts, but still overall, as far as covers go, this band I feel nailed the metal/pop fusion and made a fresh original take while keeping the classic alive and well! 

Definitely check this one out! 

https://open.spotify.com/album/3V2ieFNOWzy2qa2IyD9BrW?si=VI08tbDYROunTw22org8Dw

(The Outcome)

This has been quite a year already for Black Soprano Family with some quality drops from their roster, and now it’s time for the label’s magnum opus! Let’s get into it.

This massive album is 14 tracks with 45 minutes in length, all beats produced by Ill Tone Beats and executively produced by El Camino, and features some of the heavyweight of the culture such as:

-WestSide Gunn

-Conway The Machine

-Rome Streetz

-Jae Skeese

-Benny The Butcher

-El Camino

-AZ

-Ghostface Killah

-Flee Lord 

-Gully

-Player K

-Smoke DZA

-Chase Fetti

-The Black Abstract

-Stove God Cooks

-OT The Real

As I said, a MASSIVE album, and this release feels like Benny’s version of a ‘Hitler’s Wears Hermes’ drop. With dope features, dope production, and dope execution of the roster provided.

Starting with the production, Ill Tone brings his best on this one, utilising and understanding how to create the best beats depending on who’s on what track and uses his masterful techniques to create an album that’s not only banging but cohesive and structurally perfect.

The various sounds across this thing are: 

-Grime

-Boom Bap

-Soul

-RnB

-Jazz

-East Coast 90’s Era.

Each track is crisp, raw, smooth, and deviant for all the right reasons! In some tracks, you get that beautifully hypnotic vocal loop beat, and in some, the hardcore in your face Boom Bap that will slap your face right off! Depending on the feature, the atmosphere will change accordingly! 

As you’d expected there’s no bad feature! All these legends are on their best game. I was a tad bit disappointed that Ghostface was only on an interlude on an actual verse but it’s still dope to hear his voice on the project!

I love Smoke DZA’s verse and that gorgeous Jazz track he was rapping on!!

Seeing the likes of AZ and Rome Streetz was a pleasant surprise and the usual roster of artists from Griselda to Jae Skeese all leave nothing on the table and deliver memorable verses!

Overall, a dope compilation album by BSF. Larger than life and perfectly composed. Go check this one out! 

https://open.spotify.com/album/1AzkpCmGSHSPknAqf5Jv9L?si=i_2ITLolS5GfRGbQ6FLdLQ

(Hymns In Dissonance)

After 4 years since their last studio album. The Deathcore legends who have spent the better part of almost 20 years building their infamous legacy, this time around they aren’t fucking around! They’re back with a vengeance!

This latest project has 10 tracks running at 43 minutes in length! Right from the very opening track ‘Prisoner666’, we get this unforgettable and purely savage 5-minute performance by the band that sets the atmosphere for what it’s to come! 

Those haunting opening guitar notes in those first 40 seconds until it escalates into this riveting anthem with brutal drum patterns, heavy guitar, and Phil giving some of his best vocals I’ve heard in years!

From there, the album only gets heavier and better with the next track ‘Hymns In Dissonance’, which features one of the most sickening death growls I can remember hearing from the band or any other! Combined with  the fast-paced fury of instrumentation, this track throws all ‘concept’ out the window and just goes for the kill in this thrashing thriller of a song!

Across these 10 songs, there are moments where the band tries for a more ‘theatrical’ approach with certain sounds, melodies, and chords. Such an example is the third track ‘Diabolic Slumber’, with its cinematic opening sequence that then ties into a more methodical stride before it evolves into the animalistic deathcore entry we all know and love from the band in the past! 

Although this band is known for their distinctly ‘heavy’ sounds, I feel this album pushes that boundary even further, showing how far you can take things. Also, considering since their last album, they’ve brought on ‘Brandon Zackey’ on the drums, who at his earliest was touring with the band in 2022, and ‘Kin’ came out in 2021. 

So maybe he’s the perfect piece of the puzzle to this album’s ‘Magic’, so to speak, but regardless, 

If you’re a seasoned Whitechapel fan, this will be the long-awaited album you’ve been waiting for! If you’re a new fan and just a metalhead in general, I feel this will please and surprise any type of fan of the genre! 

I’d definitely recommend giving this one a try! Absolutely unreal! 

https://open.spotify.com/album/7lnkxd7w0YcE18CZ6COEJj?si=5UMh8QY3TRO_Oe34RCs8_w

(Auto Trigger)

My Australian home boy is back! After his impressive release earlier this year, I’m excited to see what he has in store for us this time around, so let’s talk about it!

So, this is the latest album by rapper ‘Artwork Kennedy’, featuring production by Russian producer ‘KeiRy’. It’s described as inspired by anime and A.I.’s ability to destroy humanity.

Across this project, you have features such as

-Big Cheeko

-Jimmibones4president

And right off the bat, I fuck with this production-heavy! It has this electronic, synth feel to it. Exactly like an old-school NES game soundtrack would have, those eerie, apocalyptic sounds and doomed atmosphere are sick to hear across a hip-hop project! 

I also love the fluency of it all; there are very few pause moments between the 7 tracks; it’s just like a consistent, non-stopping song with various parts and sections to divide it. Considering this is the first time I’ve heard of this Russian producer, he absolutely nails his part! Fantastic and infectious as hell!

Artwork, first he needed money for a Porsche, now he’s trying to avoid an auto-trigger while providing dope, hypnotic, and cut-throat. A lot of droned, repetitive chorus statements as if he’s stuck in a game glitch and trying to process himself out of it.

He’s always had a solid flow and penmanship, and when given a concept to follow, he’s even more so! Slick bars, intricate lyricism, and sticks to the concept narrative! 

Overall, a fantastic visionary album with theatrical production, dope features, and top-notch MC content from Artwork! Another successful drop! 

https://artworkkennedy.bandcamp.com/album/auto-trigger

(The Estes Method)

THE UNDERGROUND 🐐 is back on his top-tier grime shit. He had some of the best drops of 2024 with 

-Northside

-BUSHMAN BODEGA

-Hare Brained Schemes 

And now, in the first LP of the year, he’s back with producer ‘Ghost Notes’ to drop what could be considered one of the hardest drops of 2025.

8 tracks with just under 20 minutes, with 19. With only one feature in fellow Umbrella Collective family ‘Pro Dillinger’, Daniel-Son is back on his solo shit and proving to everyone once again that he’s the one taking names in the underground and putting everyone on notice.

What I love about ‘Ghost Notes’ is his manipulation of those piano/jazz notes and fusing them into a string of tough, bloodthirsty Boom Bap bangers with a slight Dixieland twist. 

Every beat on this short project is cutthroat in nature, with your traditional loop samples and intricate and raw drum beats to create some

Of the most infectious and banging instrumentals you’ve heard in a minute!

Daniel-Son, who has spent the last few years utilising, grinding, and sharpening his skills until he’s at the point in his career where he’s one of the top 5 lyricists you can find in the game. His chilling monotone, dead serious style has become infamous. Every bar he spits sounds like he’s walking the streets as he’s talking, never any nonsense, just straight business.

His versatile wordplay and down-to-earth attitude and flow make for the perfect match with these ultra-grimey beats provided throughout his career and this album being no exception!

As usual, and as one of my favourite artists as of late, it’s always a treat to hear the high-energy, malicious aura of Pro Dillinger on a track. He always sounds like he’s two seconds away from coming out of your phone and mugging you in your own home. Absolute boss shit, and of course, he’s still the underground kingpin across this one.

My anticipation and hype for his first project of the year was well worth the wait, as expected. He hasn’t taken an L yet, and he’ll probably retire without ever knowing the meaning! 

https://open.spotify.com/album/6b5WBALGvWU1C9bJMJGKsy?si=RJcndHoBTbGhRG0mEx0_fA

(MAYHEM)

I’ve always had the theory that whenever ‘Pop’ goes stale and ends up in a cycle of boring repetition is when Lady Gaga comes to save the day.

Every release she’s dropped in her career, regardless of the outcome, has stood as a symbol of ‘change’ and ‘innovation’ the likes of which this modern era hasn’t seen since. And once again, she’s come back to shake the industry up with MAYHEM.

This is the latest 2025 album release by singer, songwriter, and Art Pop icon Lady Gaga, who since her debut record ‘The Fame Monster’ has ushered in an era of music that I’m not quite sure anyone has done since. Her creativity, originality, image, and various open opinions and stances have made her one of the most memorable and pulverising figures in the music industry of the 21st century.

With this record, she breaks out strong with various styles and elements such as: 

-Dubstep

-Electronic

-Pop

-Dancehall 

-Rave

– Singer-songwriter

-Soft Rock

-Soul

-RnB

-Synth Pop 

She’s literally a walking music board with endless possibilities and ideas to choose from for her songs. Of course, the world was rocked with her lead single ‘Abracadabra’, which was an infectious Electronic Pop fusion that left us all in a dancing trance around the world to her hypnotic choruses and chaotic energy as she’s so often known.

But there are also many amazing cuts off this project such as ‘Zombieboy’, which sounds like a multi-verse take on a Synth Pop thriller song. It has a strong 80’s club hit vibe with soft rock instrumentation and equally throwback singing melodies by Gaga to match that era.

There’s also the track ‘Disease’, the opening track that I absolutely love! It has this dubstep-type beat that just flows throughout your whole body, and Gaga sounds as possessed as ever, slave to the production’s groove and acting accordingly. 

The only song I didn’t feel fit this album’s narrative was the finale ‘Die With A Smile’ featuring Bruno Mars. Which is by no means a bad song! But I felt stuck out like a sore thumb due to the album’s more malice and chaotic nature that song feels too ‘tame’ in comparison.

But besides this, once again Lady Gaga has used her talent to shake the music world once again and prove why she can never be replaced! She is one of a kind! She is the world’s ‘Fame Monster’

https://open.spotify.com/album/2MHUaRi9OCyTN02SoyRRBJ?si=Ach9OuPoR9GYiVvXUGSIdg

(Dopamine)

I don’t think it will be a stretch to say this could be the hardest 7 minutes of your life. Just hear me out.

This latest EP by Hank Dope features 5 quick-paced songs produced by my main man KHEYZINE, who has produced more than a handful of my favourite records of the year already, and he’s back to present another modern-day killer.

Across this project, Hank hires a list of MC savages such as

-Tragedy Monroe

-Reek Osama

And this trio absolutely redefines the meaning of ‘Grime’ with their cold-hearted flow, precise lyricism, and mean-mugging flow. No matter which one of them is on the beat, they all bring out the same street energy that only the real ones have, the kind of aura that you can’t fake, the vibe of OG’s certified.

The production side of things is, of course, terrific. KHEYZINE hasn’t missed yet, and I’m not sure he knows how to take a L if he tried. Across this one, he masters the art of Boom Bap Grime. It sounds like he captured the real-life atmosphere of the streets and somehow managed to convert that to an MP3 file, split it into 5 parts, and used it for the instrumentals.

It’s raw, unforgiving, ruthless, and neck-splitting. An audio mean-mugging with the intention to kill.

If you don’t like this album, it just means you couldn’t handle it. Only haters of this EP are bitches who had to face 7 minutes of authenticity and fled. Trust me, check this shit out!

https://open.spotify.com/album/1fUVEx2KFwOITgw2DeBp9Q?si=hS_pOgBLQr6mTwsi_rKeMw

(Caviar Music)

I couldn’t find a better name for this EP if I tried. This truly is the definition of ‘Caviar Music.’ Let’s get to it!

So, this is the latest EP by rapper The Musalini and producer SwuM, who has done more than his time in the industry to prove his worth in gold. This time around, this duo is here to make more than waves, and it would be in your best interest to be swept away by it!

5 songs, 12 minutes. From the very beginning, you can hear just how magnificent this album is in its sound and nature. You can tell they’ve put in the work to make sure this sounds as bougie and high-end as possible. From the funky instrumentation to the crisp, clean-cut production,  and to do all this in under 15 minutes is praise-worthy indeed!

Whether you’re talking about the track ‘1800 CALL ME,’ which sounds like a 70’s fever dream with those synth keys and that female vocal loop sample playing in the background! 

Or even that opening track ‘Large Pro,’ that sounds like a deep soul cut from the 80’s with those elegant, smooth, organic instruments  as if the band is right behind them playing live something I can imagine Bootsy Collins would play!

My point being. This is definitely the definition of ‘luxurious’ sounds, and to be done so masterfully is even more reason to be impressed!

Now onto Musalini, the man who is every part fancy as the album sounds and production. His extra-smooth delivery and flow. His effortless wordplay and penmanship across these tracks melts like butter on the page.

His velvet-like voice just becomes one with the sensational beats, and it makes for one of the most memorable EP’s of the year! 

Across this project, he also has

-YL

-Willyynova

-Revenxnt

-Putwork

-Silent Snipers

All invited to join this luxury exhibition and all put their skills in to help add to the splendour of the EP as a whole!

Overall, a hype-worthy project that may only be 12 minutes but feels like a rich ride you won’t forget anytime soon!

https://open.spotify.com/album/5N6OLXagAe3yDqsNhZ5fYi?si=HP8P2b0YTtC4Kfk2goyowQ

(Elevator Music)

The wait is finally over! The highly anticipated instrumental release by one of Hip-Hop’s most critically acclaimed producers is here, so let’s fucking talk about it!

This is a 15-track, 49-minute endeavour by Apollo Brown. A man who in the last 3 years alone has released some of the greatest albums made in the last decade. 

Philmore Greene -The Cost of Living

CRIMEAPPLE -This, Is Not That, to name a few. But this time around, not only is he going solo but also completely instrumental! Something I’ve been excited about since I heard the news because of just how high-calibre of an artist he is. I knew this would turn out fantastic, and I was right.

I’m not lying when I say this album gave me goosebumps. To hear Apollo dig into an unknown territory with the inspirations of 

-Ambient

-Lo-Fi

-Chill Wave

-Soul

-Glo-Fi. Most of these I’ve never heard used by him, but combined with his mastery of production, you get a tranquil and beautiful soundscape unlike anything you’re likely to hear this year or the next few.

The gentle and serene atmosphere that’s created on this experience is nothing shy of extraordinary. It’s the type of album you’d use to reduce stress, gather your thoughts, let your imagination wander, and your mind calm. 

There’s never a break in the patterns. From one moment to the next, nothing is done to snap you out of this marvellous fever dream that will take hold for the 49-minute duration.

Such a bold and wonderful statement to make for Apollo at this stage in his career. Dare I say, despite the instrumental aspect and no vocals, that this could be seen in time as Brown’s magnum opus? 

I ask all hip-hop fans alike to give this album a chance and experience for yourself the magic of ‘Elevator Music’.

https://open.spotify.com/album/0jf8OZSYK80DHzMBfMv3gr?si=IAq6u2JSRfSCoBDDvg-WSA