It’s always a fascinating thing to cover a beat tape. Because you never know what to expect. With instrumental projects, the producer has so much more creativity and options to expand with without worrying about how an artist is going to sound on the tracks or not.
With that freedom in mind, we get to hear the full extent of a producer’s mindset, capabilities, and most importantly, their vision come to life! So in that respect, here we go with
YEAR OF THE PEACOCK
This is the brand-new beat tape by Producer Demetri, who brings forth eight fresh tracks with 14 minutes of content that I’m guaranteed is going to make you feel a certain way! There is one song, ‘MANDOLEAN,’ that features MC D-Dol, but besides that, it’s all production only!
Right off the bat, on my initial thoughts. The sounds on this record reminded me of the musical act ‘Forest Swords.’ It has that same level of ambience, atmosphere, and surreal execution of sounds, elements, and overall tone that shifts your mind and soul into a whole new dimension!
These beats are beyond ‘Hip Hop.’ It takes you into a new realm of mythical perspectives and grand tales that you wouldn’t get otherwise. This whole record feels like 14 minutes of a spiritual exploration that travels through your whole body and brain and captures you right until the record is over.
Even with that one song with the MC on it, it doesn’t break focus at all! This is one constant notion, one that is the sonic equivalent of taking a healing excursion to go pray with some Buddhist monks inside a holy temple to unleash your inner chakra. It’s truly that intense!
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what Demetri does on this project without hearing it firsthand, but he incorporates the most elegant and methodical designs and approaches you could possibly imagine to create this sonic landscape that straight up just gives you goosebumps!
I would have to say the only song that really feels like a ‘Hip Hop’ song is the outro track ‘ZAYS OUTRO’ that feels more like a ‘Samurai Champloo’ take rather than a grand spiritual experience, but besides that, every other track is a clutch on your life force, and again, the only thing I can compare it to is ‘Forest Swords’
So. So, if you’re ready to open up your body, mind, and soul to a music world composed to godly levels of creativity, then tune in and watch as your perspective on life shifts!
What started off as a less fortunate day with me forced to work my job solo on account of my casuals calling in sick on the busiest day of my week turned to one of my most memorable because of this album drop.
I decided, fuck it, I’ll listen to it as I got to work early, waiting for the store to open, and that turned into one of the most mind-blowing listening experiences of 2025 and specifically the hip-hop genre. This is
BILLY’S REVENGE
This is the brand-new mega collaboration between two of the most elite names in the underground as we speak! That being said,
MC BlueHillBill, whose discography speaks for itself this year, and Producer Grubby Pawz, whose same statement equally applies! These two men have blazed trails that I can’t see anyone else following with their blend of charisma and originality, and when that comes together for a full length, you’re bound to get magic!
In this 13-track, 39-minute record, you have the likes of
-Kil The Artist
-Al Divino
-The Hidden Character
-INF
-Writeous Ruler
-Jiles
-Borirock
And that in and of itself is a ridiculous line-up to have on any record. Since we all know Blue can more than handle himself on a record with no features, this just catapults the record to even greater historic heights and helps this album go from a 10 to a 10,000 on principle alone!
Now, I want to start with Grubby’s production. As I stressed to him in his DM directly, he simply can’t be human. How this man keeps evolving and progressing his style after dropping some of the most classic albums this year has heard yet is beyond me.
But on this record, we hear a new, even grander side of Grubby that I haven’t heard to this extent since his Estee ‘IWANNAFUCK’ series; those two had the same cinematic and elegant style and instrumentation, and this one is similar to those two but with a more darker and minimal approach!
Imagine an all-supreme overlord sitting in his castle surrounded by all his gold and precious possessions, knowing he’s the man and production music! This is how that sounds, like a man who has absolutely no doubts or concerns about his talents and is able to build on that!
Some of my favourite beats are track 2 ‘Mona Lisa’. We’ve got that wavy and plucked guitar strings that have this infectious draw-back echo sound effect towards the end of the chords, as well as these high-pitch chords and one of the most mesmerising drum patterns I’ve heard this year!
Such a simplistic combination that somehow sounds surreal in execution!
Another one of my favourites is the lead single ‘Die On The Hill’, which I already reviewed, but I stand by it nonetheless. This is one of the most beautifully crafted tracks I’ve heard in a minute; this is some Dr. Dre-level quality shit. This is the kind of track that gives me goosebumps no matter how many times I hear it!
I’m telling you now. If you’ve followed Grubby’s career so far, you ain’t heard NOTHING yet. This is somehow even better than the other records he’s dropped this year. He’s an ever-growing behemoth as a beat maker, and it’s a scary thought to imagine just how much more he can improve!
That exact last sentence can equally apply to the MC here, Bluehill. I don’t know how he maintains his untouchable swagger and charisma, but he has a certain aura to him that can only be explained as ‘pimp swag’, the kind that Frank Lucas had.
When he walks into the room, the world notices, and when he spits on the mic, the culture has no choice but to absorb every single word!
Across this project, we hear Bluehill take advantage of his god given influence and deliver 39 minutes of verses that can rival anyone right now! His flow is just so fucking smooth that he sounds like a ninja’s blade cutting through the competition but done so slick that you’re dead before you even find out you’re cut!
He has that 1993 Snoop Dogg vibe to him, soothing texture while maintaining maximum effectiveness and potency.
Of course, he would have perfect chemistry with the men on board here. All his brothers in one form or another and they’ve all featured on each others shit all year so it runs as smooth as you would expect on this one!
I was suprised to hear a more based and less energetic (at least to me) Borirock verse! And hearing him say ‘I’m a Zinger, making a transition to a true MC’ I found that a very interesting line and curious to see what that means going forward!
Regardless, every feature verse slapped with no real ‘best’ to speak of. But one thing I do want to point out is that outro track! That track blew me away! That instrumental and the sample that I can’t quite identity gave me goosebumps when I heard it!
Also makes the perfect vibe for the finale with BlueHill using a more methodical pace to slowly close everything off, it was the perfect ending.
If you’ve been a fan of either of these two then you will LOVE IT and I’m certain even if this is your first time with either that you will fall in love with this record as soon as you hear it!
Man, yet another artist I have the privilege of discovering! That’s no joke, probably my 100th new artist of the year, and my list will only grow! This man intrigued me with this project, and after a recommendation from a man I heavily fuck with and respect in the industry, I knew it was going to be something special, and it was!
This is the brand-new EP by MC & Producer Al Unique, who decided to drop this 26-minute extraordinary performance that has so many highlights and amazing qualities about it that I was drawn to it immediately!
So right off the bat, the production had me spinning. It felt like a throwback to the golden 90s in terms of that beauty balance of cinematically grand sounds and a minimalistic approach of using a small handful of elements to create magic!
Thinking of the 90s East Coast scene. Your Wu-Tang’s or Mobb Deep’s in the fact of using the ‘less is more’ practice to create gold! Although not exactly the same stylistically, I felt that same application work here!
This man is taking things such as long, elongated chords, chopped vocal samples, thudding drums, and striking bass (just to name a few) to formulate an EP that gives you the best of both worlds (fun and eccentric) and (raw and rough around the edges). This thing has something for everyone, and I love it!
After only one listen, you can tell just how creative and masterful he is behind his production, the care he takes, and the crafting of his beats to create a memorable EP to sink your teeth into!
Now onto the MC side (also done by him). Again, I feel he takes inspiration from the more classic/old-school venues with his concentration on proper and precise flow, his intricate and well-worded lyrics, and techniques!
The kind of bars where he enunciates every word perfectly and has excellent breathing control to go with!
Whenever I heard his verses, I couldn’t help but feel hints of nostalgia for a time back when rappers used to stick to a more ‘traditional’ style with a mix of different charisma and textures, but left the art of rapping intact, and that was like a breath of fresh air in the ever-evolving climate of experimental phases and contrasts.
Not to say I hate all the variants; some I absolutely adore, but when you hear someone as technically gifted in the basics and the fundamentals of rap the way he is, I can’t help
but respect his style and approach to the art!
Overall, I found this a fascinating EP! It was groovy, original, raw, and yet paid homage to the ones who came before in sounds and verses! Definitely worth a check out!
The official Jay Electronica Remix tape is out! We’ve heard a single or two leading up to it, but now we get to hear the EP and see just how far he’s willing to take the concept.
And I mean, after getting a like from the man himself, it’s only logical he’d try to take it to the furthest extent, and now here we are! So let’s talk about it!
This is the brand-new EP by MC Gustavo Louis, who has released a fair amount of remix tracks over this year, starting with his work on the Freddie Gibbs album and covering many artists until we arrived at the god himself.
This is a four-track project covering all Jay Electronica beats and looks (I said this to Gustavo himself) where it concerns ‘lyricism’, he can’t out-lyric the KING himself. That’s not a dig at the man; there are certain artists that NO ONE can beat as far as vocabulary goes, and the good thing is that’s not his concern or intention!
He’s out to do him, and that’s exactly what he accomplished on this project. I actually found it funny on my first listen because here he is rapping over these surreal and cinematic instrumentals talking about sex, drugs, and violence, which is the opposite of what Jay himself would rap about! That made me laugh a bit.
But regardless, as expected, what’s the main thing I’ve been preaching about his style this whole time? It’s his CHARISMA and ENERGY! His individuality that sets him apart from everyone else in the game!
Don’t get me wrong, he ain’t a trash lyricist either! He definitely has the fundamentals on lock! Sharp wordplay, precise timing, and consistent flow! He’s got the whole package; it’s just what he excels in is his eccentric approach and colourful personality that he’s able to convert into his music and make every song he’s on feel fun, entertaining, and engaging in a specific way most can’t!
He’s like a wrestler doing a promo. The same level of crowd engagement, character work, and talent on the mic applies here! It’s just lately he’s been doing his very best improv work inspired by other artists, and I’d say it’s been a success so far!
So, I’d say this was yet another success by the charismatic enigma himself! It’s vibrant, surreal, and overall an excellent addition to his ever-growing REMIX series!
Man, what a wild name for a track. But that aside, seeing a new song with these two on the same project has me more excited than anything! Arguably two of the best going right now, so I had nothing but high hopes. As expected, I was 100% correct!
This is the latest single by MC Juggernaut, Bub Styles, and Producer Wino Willy, with two minutes and 30 seconds of pure aggression that only these two could create!
Starting with the production first, we have Wino creating this distinctive fusion between eerie/horror-based chords and gritty boom bap! You’ve got those creepy, fast-paced piano keys that remind me of a ‘Friday the 13th’ movie soundtrack. Ontop of all that, you have those heavy drum patterns and the occasional subtle chord progression that sits in the background and adds that little extra bit of ‘skin-crawling’ energy to an already scary vibe instrumental!
I also found it interesting how in the last 50 seconds or so, we just have a passage of the beat slowly fading out and Bub just talking amongst himself. It’s a fascinating way to end such an intense track and speaks to Wino’s track record of creative and artistic ways to make a track pop!
Speaking now of Bub, it’s been a hot minute since I last covered his music, and somehow he sounds even more intense than I’ve ever heard him! He brings with him the trademark aggressive nature that he’s always had but amplified tenfold and drowned in testosterone to create the most powerful and monstrous bars yet!
If this instrumental is horror-inspired, then he’s Jason always behind you ready to kill, he’s Freddy haunting you even when you sleep, or Mick Taylor causing terror in the deep outdoors waiting to strike.
There’s no escaping the madness and chaos that is Bubs! Whether it’s album form or just singles, he has the capacity of a nuke to blow up the track and anyone else on it taking centre stage always. It’s fucking rare (to say the least) to find an artist that even has a chance of standing toe to toe with him on a song, and even rarer for one to keep up with him!
He’s strong, powerful, relentless, and hungry for bodies in this one, flexing his superior pen game and dominating flow and rhythm with a blast radius to topple cities! Let alone other MC’s!
This is a track you can’t afford to skip. Whether that be for your respect of the culture or your life. You decide!
Man, what a year it’s been for this producer! This man is truly HIM with a handful of albums and EP’s that have stood above the rest and remained some of the illest examples of what 2025 has brought to the table, and now he’s back with a small little snippet with more undoubtedly on the way! Let’s talk about it!
This is the brand new EP by MC Navi and Super Producer Vinyl Villain, and together they drop a three-track that was reportedly recorded, mixed, and produced in less than 24 hours, which is fucking insane!
So, we start with track 1 ‘EMOTION’ that has what sounds like alternative RnB meets jazz. It’s heavy in ambience, surreal, and engulfing the atmosphere around it!
You’ve got those light vocal harmonies in the background, that subtle bass, intricate keys, and those soul-style drums with an effortlessly soothing singing chorus that takes over the body! Absolutely marvellous!
On the MC side of things, Navi showcases a rather nonchalant demeanour and attitude on the mic. He’s unbothered, confident, and crisp with his deliveries, vibing with the beat in total harmony.
He raps methodically and with precision and one of the most relaxing flows you could find! Great way to start the EP off!
On track 2 ‘COASTAL CRUISES’ we follow that same soulful route with those angelic piano keys, jazz horns that come through to the end of the track that takes your heart away! It’s so fucking beautiful!
The drums on this track are a lot more hearty and powerful compared to the opening track, which I fuck with!
Also noticed that on each track, towards the end, there’s a small ‘pause’ moment on the songs. I mean, it was made in less than a day, but it is interesting! The first track had that wrestling promo to cover it, but this track doesn’t. I’m sure there’s a reason for it, but it’s just something I noticed!
Once again, Navi kills it on this beat! Chemistry is at its most finely tuned. He comes in with his trademark melodic rhythm that is equal parts graceful and killer! Because he has the skills of a dominant MC, he just uses his power in a more subtle and gentle way.
Like how you’d expect an ‘Earl Sweatshirt’ or ‘Open Mike Eagle’ or even ‘Quelle Chris’ to rap. These are some of the most important and impressive rappers in our culture, but they don’t have to shout to show their brilliance.
The same can be said here; his vocabulary is strong, his verse structures are potent and on point, and his charisma is exceptional! No complaints to be made!
On the third and final track, ‘A BETTER LIFE’, we start off with this speech that quality transforms into a beat that feels more jazz-inspired than the other two! Because right off the bat, we have those high-pitched jazz horns mixed with those elegant chords and strings to capture the gorgeous essence of soul and harmony into one short closer track!
It really is impressive this was done in under two minutes, let alone under 24 hours. It goes to show you just how strong of a producer Vinyl is! Across the board, but especially this year, he’s been killing it on all fronts!
Navi closes his section off with a verse that feels a tad bit more energetic and powerful than the other tracks! He carries with him a certain bit of swagger and determination behind his verse that is perfectly suited for the outro song.
He’s bold, hard-hitting, and deadly with the pen game, giving us a quick burst reminder just how deadly he can be on the track one more time before leaving while showing a small glimpse of his potential!
For an EP that can’t be more than eight minutes all up, this thing slaps. It’s angelic, masterfully crafted, and executed with passion and love for the game! It would be a shame to skip on this one!
It’s always exciting news whenever this producer drops new music! Album or otherwise, he’s one of those names that generates hype regardless of what he puts out, and this one is sure to explode as they all have! Get ready for
PREVAIL
Brand new single by iconic producer Giallo Point, who has been a staple in the underground for years now and has made projects with the best the culture has to offer! On this track, he’s accompanied by MC J. Scienide, and together they help make this 2 minutes and 47 an explosion of energy and colour unlike anything else going right now!
Let’s start with the beat. This thing bares resemblance to the 90’s era of hip hop! You’ve got those trademark scratches and cuts reigning through the track! Ontop of all that, we have that traditional drum pattern, light, delicate keys, and what sounds like a sharp violin string running through every now and then!
This beat is a lot more stripped back and minimal compared to what I’ve heard Giallo work with in the past, but beats like these, I feel, prove the worth of a producer more than anything because they have to utilise more with less, and the audience can see how they handle the pressure, and in this case, he absolutely nails it!
This instrumental reminds me of a Gang Starr or a LL Cool J type vibe; it’s raw, skeletal, and yet infectious as hell with the elements!
When speaking on the rapper J, he’s someone I’ve never come across until now, and yet when he hopped on this beat, he leaped straight into someone I’ll definitely be on the lookout for in the future!
Similar to the context of the beat, he showcases that ‘old school’ structure of the verses. I love how straightforward and no-nonsense his rhythm is yet at the same time filled with charisma, conviction, and passion that not everyone in the game possesses!
He’s lethal lyrically as well. Every bar set up has vivid imagery attached with elegant street poetry and introspective social commentary that makes you feel like you have a direct entry into his mind and his most personal thoughts and feelings!
These two are one hell of a team with boss chemistry, and I hope this is a teaser for an upcoming album together!
That’s probably the longest title I’ve covered this year! You best believe I’m copy and pasting that shit from my notes to my website for publishing, fuck writing all that again!
Anyway. We are back with another single by a man who has one of the more consistent discography’s of the year with plenty of EPs and Singles to match.
As the year draws nearer to the end I have no doubt this single will be far from the last we hear of him and he’s going to remain plentiful till the end! So let’s talk about it
This is the new song by MC FLYG! This time with Producer Bojar and together they drop a track that’s 4 minutes and 50 seconds (which is one of the more longer songs of his release so far!)
Now as far as the production goes. When I first heard it I was reminded of an Earl Sweatshirt ‘Doris’ type of beat. I couldn’t exactly pin point which song but I could hear those familiar vibes and I fucked with that heavy as that’s one of my favourite albums!
This track has these beautifully wailing synth chords with some groovy piano keys and light jazz similar drums that all come together to create a ambient type hip hop track that will take you away into a blissful alternate reality if your not careful! It’s that angelic!
As far as FLYG goes. You could tell me really worked hard on the one liners, but for the first time in a while or ever I have to call out a bar I really didn’t like (because I thought it was mad corny) that being
‘The first Apple had a bite, carrots are good for your eye sight’ I get the pun (first bite, biblical and comparing vegetables/fruits) but I didn’t like that at all! I love that his creativity hasn’t stopped and he’s always looking out for new opportunities for bars and it doesn’t guarantee everyone will feel the same as me but that’s just how I felt.
The rest of the bars though I loved! So many examples such as
‘I bet a lot of you still believe, Yokozuna was sumo’ or ‘I can definitely split up in 5 ways, migraine’
As per usual, he’s showcasing his ever growing and evolving skills and characteristics on the production by (for better or worse) experimenting with new rhyme schemes and lyrical compressions as well as his curious pen game that never lacks creativity and I fucking love that regardless of how it turns out in the final product!
Although one line didn’t resonate with me, this track was still incredible! Has the juice to keep your attention glued for almost 5 minutes and the pair have incredible chemistry! Definitely worth checking out!
Talk about a remix tape I didn’t know I needed until I saw it. As someone who has collected a handful of this man’s remix tapes (and loved every version of them), I never thought I’d ever see him do one on this specific MC, and now that I have, I can’t hear him any other way.
This is the brand-new remix tape by Producer Thelonious Coltrane and featuring MC Slumlord Reek Osama! This man has had an incredible year so far, so it’s only fitting he’s gifted this level of tape to his discography!
The names associated with this tape are:
-Hus Kingpin
-Snotty
-Estee Nack
-ETO
Those four names alone are enough to rock the foundation of any record, let alone one with both Reek and Coltrane!
Now, as has become notorious status with Thelonious over the years, across this tape we get his meticulous brand of psychedelic jazz tapped over those gritty, muddy boom-bap beats that Reek is so trademark for using!
Even right from the gate in that intro remix, we hear those trippy, manipulated horn samples over those thudding and heavy drum beats that are so fierce they’ll kick you in the chest for not acting right!
This combination of minimalistic approach and savage, eerie jazz fusions makes for the perfect way to start the record off!
As we hear the album continue, we have cuts like ‘Malandro’ which has this slightly off-key, chaotic nature to it that I fucking love! There’s these skittish and sharp piano keys that takeover the track by running wild across the instrumental!
There’s also the ever-so-reliable hypnotic drum patterns, and for the chorus rhythm, we have a more refined and distorted piano track that is equal parts strange and bloody infectious! As well as a small jazz interlude to send the track off!
These are the kind of tortured and experimental performances that Coltrane has prided himself on in his career. Taking the already established joints and making them that much more ‘colourful’, ‘epic’ and ‘explosive’ in representation, and when working with an artist’s catalogue like Reek’s, these ideas only strengthen his overall sound!
As far as the MC work goes, these are already established tracks given a more flourishing and alternative sound than its original (as is the context of remixes), so if you’re a Reek fan, you’ve heard all these verses before, and they all mesh well with the new beats in hand!
If I’m not mistaken, the opening track is a song off his album ‘Things Will Never Be The Same’, as the personalised lyricism is a key giveaway of the more recent development in his music.
The features go extremely well as the pairing of him and Hus goes batshit! Snotty, a natural collaboration made in heaven, and even the likes of Estee, who generally has the same vibe as Reek on tracks, makes this a smooth transition on the remix side of things!
Even though these aren’t new verses, I can’t help but feel they’ve been amplified and brought back to life under these new production feats and brought out the best of themselves! They pop unlike any other time before, and it’s making this specific remix tape probably my favourite yet!
What do you think of this album? Dope? Ass? Listen for yourself and be the judge!
First and foremost, I love the title. Roc-a-fella all day, every day! That’s my shit. So this EP already had me in a good mood, and it only got me better as the record continued because essentially this is a blast to the past in the best way possible! Let’s talk about it!
This is the brand-new EP by MC God Gotti, produced by himself! It features the likes of
-Delaware Chuck
-Homi Mulaa
-Fresh Realah
-Heat Chekk
And accompanied by this list of names, God runs into his 2000s Jay-Z/Memphis Bleek shit, and it sounds sick!
The production on this project is, as the intro says, it’s that XXXXL large, Roc-a-fella shit in all of its glory! I’m talking about those delicate keys, dramatic vocal cords, heavy bass, and those classic horns that you’re so used to hearing right before a classic DJ Drama or mixtape Weezy in his prime era!
Each track feels like paying homage to a different time period or person of that era. Whether you’re talking about that ‘Black Album Hova’ or ‘Carter II Wayne’ or even ‘Thug Motivation 101’ by Jeezy, there are so many different inspirations to hear and consider across this EP!
Hell, I could even argue there’s some early 2000s Clipse in this EP as well! That banging, thugged-out crisp beats that we all spent our formative years listening to that helped shape our taste and memories to this day!
I love the sonic direction God decided to take on this record as it’s a refreshing refinement of classic sounds and well-executed beats!
As far as God Gotti and company on the vocal side of things, they try their best to inherit the Coke/Bling era as much as possible, and I have to say they do a fucking solid job at it!
You can hear the passion and street poetry in their voices, the harsh tones, and over-the-top performances that help define the artists of that era are breathing through them on this one!
You can feel the cold bars, the unforgiving written structures, swagger-filled flows, and solid penmanship on display. I can feel that in their hearts and minds; they are inspired by the Hovas and the Nas’s of the day and using that as fuel for their verses.
God has never been one to shy away from a dope bar, but these just sound that extra bit slick and aura-filled, as is the theme of the record. Although I’ve never personally heard of the feature guests until now, they all feel like having any number of the clicks back in the day on the record from
-LOX
-Dipset
-Clipse
-Ruff Ryders
-G Unit
-M.O.P
In their own ways. Although separate in executions, they bring the same feel of the groups in their heyday when the multi-man features always stole the show! Same energy just done individually!
Another solid EP under the belt for my main man, God Gotti. Among all his conceptual efforts to date, this might be my favourite yet!
The Serpent Tongue Reviews 