We truly are starting 2026 with a BANG! After an absolutely insane year we had previously, I’ve got high expectations that we can continue the momentum and ride out this year with the same energy and momentum!
We already got a new single by Recongize, Ali & D-Styles, now to follow, we have four of the most prominent names in the underground coming together to showcase their abilities! So let’s go!
This is the brand-new single by Producer Stu Bangas with cuts by Tone Spliff and MC work by Born Unique & Benny Watts as this massive collaboration of just over three minutes comes to fruition and we are gifted with an absolute BANGER!
Starting with that beat, we have Stu absolutely destroying that instrumental, bringing his trademark powerhouse instrumentation to light, making the audience’s headphones overheat!
We have a combination of those glistening keys that go off in that delicate loop throughout the song! We have those subtle bass strings that are elegant yet raw as hell!
On top of all that, we have those rhythmic drum patterns that act as the ‘skeleton’ of the track and form all the layers into place!
Of course, we can’t ignore Tone Spliff and his cuts that run through the track, proving his legendary standard of excellence and infectious 90’s homage that he’s spent decades perfecting! An absolute killer chemistry and combination for the beat!
As far as the lyricists go. We start things off with Benny Watts, who brings forth his trademark charisma, sharp wit, and unstoppable verbal slaughter to this dominating track, and he’s never sounded better!
I’m talking bar for bar, beat for beat, he ain’t missed SHIT! He’s hitting on all cylinders, fusing with the rhythm of the instrumental with his dope wordplay and incredible enunciations that’s on par with the best of the best in the game! Couldn’t be more impressed!
On the second verse, we have Born Unique, who is not a man I’m overly familiar with, but he serves as a fantastic closer to this banger track. He brings a cold and ruthless energy to the sound that matches the beat ever so fluently!
He has a savage verse that’s equal parts intricate, cold, smart, and complex! With excellent verbal techniques, smart uses of his bar structures, and intense flow, that has this unique (pun intended) level of grit and animosity that is rare to hear in this day and age!
An incredible combination by the MC’s, an even more stellar performance by Stu and Tone, as this could easily be the hottest single of the year! Check it out below!
It would be very easy for anyone to pick this man as having the best run of 2025. Every project he dropped was ridiculous and further pushed the narrative of him being one of the dopest we’ve heard in the underground.
As the new year comes around, we are given this teaser that serves as a sign of what’s to come and if it’s anything as good as what we got last year then count me as excited! Let’s talk about it!
This is the brand-new single by powerhouse MC Recognize Ali and Producer D-Styles and together they drop a solid 3 minutes and 13 seconds of pure, unadulterated fire!
Starting the track off with an epic intro snippet of a woman interviewing ‘ninja man’ dancehall legend! who asks ‘How many children do you have?’ And the man replied 23, with 22 baby mothers, REAL BAD MON’ and this is the intro for the song!
As the beat kicks off we have this heavy-handed, in-your-face gritty instrumental that reminds me of that 90’s East Coast shit fused with modern-day underground boom-bap! You have those high-pitched synth chords that play on a loop alongside those rhythmic drum patterns, and slick bass strings that are ever so subtly going off in the background! There’s also some acoustic-style guitar strings as the song hits its middle chorus part and this whole track comes together in a minimal yet dope execution by one of the dopest beat makers we’ve got!
Not to mention those cuts provided throughout the track to further emphasise that 90’s feel! He’s got the whole vibe checked!
Of course when talking about Ali you can expect absolute, relentless aggression and power and that’s exactly what we got here!
As expected, he showcases his unforgiving & cold display of sharp flow, incredible wordplay with his impressive versatility and knowledge of vocabulary to give us some of the earliest examples of dope bars in 2026.
I always love hearing Ali’s killer aura, his classic rhyme structures that pay homage to the 90s and early 2000s as he’s used his time and experience to perfect his craft and create killer bars that resonate with the audience and culture alike!
He’s so fucking deadly with his one-liners, his set-up bars, his vivid imagery and undeniable charisma; he’s got everything locked and he utilises it every single time he’s on a track, and this one is no exception!
You’d be a REAL BAD MON if you weren’t interested in fucking with this track! It’s old school meets the best of the new school, and both production and performance go HARD! Check it out below!
I don’t think this man gets enough credit for his remix work. If we’re talking specifically about that lane, who else runs it better? Who else has been as iconic as him? I can’t think of anyone. Covering your favourite artists and more specifically dropping some of the dopest projects in 2025, and now he’s back to give an artist who is beyond well-deserved for the time in the spotlight, and with that in mind, let’s go!
This is the brand-new remix tape by iconic producer Thelonious Coltrane, and this time his artist of choice is none other than Umbrella Collective soldier Trip Money! And on this project, it consists of 14 tracks with the likes of:
-Ty Farris
-Mickey Diamond
-Mvck Nyce
-Snotty
-Jamil Honesty
-Jovo
-Chavis Chandler
And now I’ll be honest, the main thing that draws me to this man’s production is his heavy JAZZ INFLUENCE. Anyone who chooses to use this genre as their main inspiration will have my support and interest, and across all the tapes I’ve heard, that seems to be the main source, and I fucking love it.
To hear Trip’s vocals on such jazz-heavy instrumentals is a dream fulfilled for me! So many tracks gave me goosebumps and left me speechless with the chemistry between the music and Trip’s vocals.
It’s hard to choose a couple out of them all, but devil’s advocate, we have -Proud Ambitions. This track was unreal! It started off with a more classical music interpretation that evolved into this cinematic experience with larger-than-life instrumentation!
You’ve got those fancy and sharp chord progressions that, combined with those raw drum patterns and enough bass to kick you in the face from the headphones!
It’s minimal and bare but still finds a way to destroy you from the inside out! Not to mention that SAVAGE Mickey Diamond verse!
What about that track -Underplay & Overlays, which has one of the most infectious Boom Bap fusions I’ve heard in a minute! This beat consists of some funky piano keys that force the body to move!
We’ve got some more heavy drum beats, and starting halfway through the song, we have one of the most glorious jazz horns I’ve ever heard in a rap song! It legitimately made me jump up in happiness! So fucking slick! That part had me making the exact same sound Big Trip makes at the start of his songs!
And are we not going to talk about the legendary Ty Farris rapping on the back end of this one? Nah, he KILLED IT! No BS in his bars!
I’d say the final track – GOLD MOUTH had such an interesting impact and beat to close the project off! Maybe I’m retarded or tone-deaf, but this beat sounds haunting! It has a Dracula feel to it in the way it’s constructed! (Maybe it’s to represent the two lyrical monsters of Trip and Mickey on the song.)
It’s got some lively piano keys, some funky chord progressions, and what sounds like jazz-style drums! A truly remarkable performance to end it with another classic verse by Diamond!
I guess this being a remix project, it should be expected that we are going to hear the cherry-picked verses that highlight the strengths of Trip the best, but even with that in mind, he went so fucking hard on this album. I’ve never heard him in his light before, surrounded by production of this magnitude, and it was beautiful to hear!
We heard him at his most refreshed, his most hungry, and powerful.
His most keen to kill anything in his path and take no names, the most willing he’s been to represent Umbrella and RE REMIND everyone why they are one of, if not the top, collective in the underground today!
From his brutal utilisation of his trademark sound to the fluent and sharp bars, his one-step punch set-ups, his gritty storytelling mixed with street poetry, and his larger-than-life persona, all comes together to create a masterpiece portfolio of skill, experience, natural charisma, and passion all coming together to create the verses you hear today!
It’s crazy to me just how well he pairs with this production. I shouldn’t be surprised because I know the master of Coltrane and what type of production he brings to the table but fuck me this is next level shit.
It feels like a real brand new album, not a remix record. It’s so harmonious and smooth and well rounded with immaculate synchronicity that it’s blowing my mind!
Although all I’ve heard are spectacular, if you’ve never experienced a Coltrane remix album THIS IS THE ONE TO START WITH! I want everyone to click the link below and experience the same excitement and cinema level execution that I’m feeling right now!
This is actually a review no one asked me to do. I just saw it on my Spotify feed and remembered how much I loved the previous time these two linked up and knew I had to be a part of what they had cooking this time around, so with that in mind let’s get into this!
This is the brand-new collaboration project between MC Father Don Juan and Producer bop phrases! Together they drop a seven-track, twelve-minute extraction of the purest artistic direction and style. No features, just the two of them combining their efforts to create hip-hop magic!
May as well start with the production for this one. As was the case for the previous effort, we hear bop utilise his sharp and powerful ambiance that engulfs every aspect of the instrumentals. I’m talking about that type of production that opens a portal into the soul and makes you feel a certain way!
So many tracks maintained my attention! For example, we have the track -Heart Under Blade interlude. This track sounded absolutely gorgeous! You have this melodic flute sample, combined with some ambient chord progression that sounds like subtle violin and some delicate piano keys that come together with some very skeletal drum notes that work underneath all the sounds!
There’s the track -Sun Bright which provides the listener with a more acoustic/abstract approach to the beat. With those plucked guitar strings, heavy-handed vocal sample snippets with two different parts to it!
There’s also what sounds like a maraca? Either way, a lot more of a bold and raw instrumental compared to others!
Even if we look at -Mature2Endure Freestyle which takes a dive into the section of Jazz mixed with angelic choir-style vocal harmonies! We have those iconic Jazz notes on a loop with some subtle piano keys and that above-mentioned vocals on a tasteful loop!
This track also contains some subtle, almost non-noticeable glistening keys that can be found in the background!
We are getting a diverse taste of infused and genres this time around, and with someone as masterful as Bop, it’s all I could ever ask for!
As far as the MC side goes, this is the one area I feel is different compared to the first album! The contrast being the first record he had a more poetic essence to him that I felt has been replaced with a more aggressive and raw take on the mic that has the intention of being more spontaneous and lively!
I also have to point out the fact that at the end of these tracks it does state – Interlude or Freestyle, so perhaps I shouldn’t be judging this change too hard if this is merely a quick off-the-top project not meant to be taken too seriously and more focused on the energy and authentic live performances, in which case, that’s awesome!
I do feel Father is showing us what he can do with a more freelance lane, and if this is him just spitballing, I can’t imagine (well, we did see on the last one) but puts into question just how ridiculously talented he is when he’s locked in!
Across this tape, we do see small glimpses of his poetic potential with thought-provoking messages and borderline spoken word passages thrown in with the gangsta, brash talk, and I feel it did turn out to be solid and well-rounded!
He still maintains his sharp flow, his incredible pen game, and income wordplay, as well as a distinctive charisma that I haven’t heard anyone else utilise before! A true one-of-one personality!
So, although different to the first one, it has enough strong qualities to make this a project worth checking out below! The chemistry is still strong, and both men bring something new and exciting to the table!
Slime Luciano. A man, the more I research, the more sway I see he has on the culture. A name that appears consistently enough throughout the various artists’ projects, dropping fire verses and forcing the industry to take notice.
As that is the case, it should come as no surprise that I was extremely excited to cover and hear what this album had to offer, and with that in mind, let’s get into it!
This is the latest December release by MC Slime Luciano and producer D. Mitchell! Together, they drop a total of eight tracks, no features, just pure, unadulterated storytelling and some of the most premium I’ve heard yet!
I feel like I have to discuss SLIME first because after hearing how he presented himself across this album, I was left godsmacked. On here, he reminded me of Scarface meets Billy Woods. The level and depth of his wordplay, the way he executed his bars, his attention to detail, his use of precise pronouncements and enunciations make every breath he takes on this album that much more heavy and heartfelt!
Every track on here is a mini masterpiece story told in a uniquely theatrical manner that makes you feel like you’re listening to a movie! I love how on certain tracks, such as -Born Into This Hell, he repeats the chorus in such a way that it has a hypnotic effect! Because the line he was spitting -I’m a falling angel’ had such a detrimental impact on the song that him repeating it made the lyricism that much more serious and powerful!
That’s what I’m trying to say here, only master level MC’s understand the importance of everything combined. Not just the bars themselves but how they are formed, how they are said, how you should utilise the choruses and tones, etc. He’s thought of EVERYTHING, and that makes this album phenomenal!
I also love how he went the ‘no features’ route. Which adds even further value to his skills! Knowing he can pull off a conceptual effort solo? Not many would attempt that, and yet he did it effectively and effortlessly to the point it looked TOO EASY!
As far as the production goes, if SLIME is the pen, then D is the Aux chord to translate Slime’s feelings and emotions into a sonic state of mind, and he does that with absolute finesse and brutal efficiency!
Across this tape, we hear a heavily cinematic experience. The instrumentals feel less like ‘songs’ and more like a developed film score that is filled with so much personality and character that you’re left with a project that actually feels alive, as if it has its own soul!
Although only eight tracks, it feels like more. The way he’s able to draw out the instrumentation within such grand layers is magical. I’m talking about those melodically paced drum patterns, those glistening piano keys, the plucked bass strings, and the overall feel of grit attached to larger-than-life ideals makes this the perfect soundtrack for a ‘Sopranos’ episode or one of the classic mafia flicks!
If I had to choose a favourite track of the bunch, it would have to be -Born Into This Hell (not only because of the execution of the chorus and verse), but the music itself is absolutely diabolical! It’s vicious and raw.
You’ve got those heavy synth chords on loop, those in-your-face drums, and some other harrowing chords that sound distorted in the background that sound fused with the bass! This sounds like a horror movie come to life! Absolutely insane!
I highly recommend that everyone check out this album! It’s gritty, sharp, masterfully produced, and rapped with true storytelling abilities and contains a chemistry most would die for! Go check it out below!
There will never be a time I see a new release by this man and not get hyped. He’s a man who’s built a reputation on tough, grimy raps that have put a chokehold on the underground, and with this new tape consisting of tracks (old and new), we hear once again why he has one of the biggest bullseyes on his back! Let’s talk about it!
It’s always insane to hear AYOO rap. He’s one of those cats, scratch that. One of those LIONS that compels every bone and atom in your body to shift and stir at the sound of his voice. He’s not just raw; he’s god damn atrophy incarnated! He’s Hip Hop’s Goliath, and he ain’t here to fulfil no bullshit fairy tales either. Try to step to him with a fucking rock and a sling, and that’s the last you’ll ever do!
This man makes music to get violent to! Music to access your inner rage and take it out on the world! He’s utilising his inner strength, his overcoming of pure hell and struggle, to showcase his overwhelming verbal strength to the point of overkill.
Upon every single song, he uses his bars like sledgehammers! Each breath makes the ground shake, and each scribble of his pen ensures another fake contender gets knocked the fuck out with his rhymes! He never just ‘raps’; he ‘manifests’ the spirit of vengeance across the album and forces the listener to stay glued to the headphones until his very last word is pronounced!
Although it’s not easy, he did find a handful of MC’s to wreck shop with, such as
-REEF HUSTLE
-KING GEORGE
-PETE POWERZ
-TERROR VAN POO
-DANIEL SON
-MONDO SLADE
-LOE BADGETT
-SAUCE YIN
And these men don’t just accompany AYOO; they share the same sadistic malice as he does on the beats! Each man has the goal of massacre and slaughter using their verbal swords, causing similar carnage wherever they go, and they make for a very effective collective for AYOO to go to war alongside!
This might all sound incredibly dramatic of me to describe AYOO (and company) this way, but anyone who thinks that hasn’t heard his music. He doesn’t rap as much as he pushes his wordplay and flow forcefully across the music in such a harsh and brash way that you can’t help but mean-mug every word he says! On top of the fact that behind all that intensity, he is an incredible lyricist and MC! So it’s a pairing made in hell, one where he rules!
As far as the production is concerned, we also have a few names accompanying this slot, such as:
-Alcatraz Ed
-Navi The North
-Johnny Slash
-Tone Mason
-Nar
-Vinny Idol
-Raminbeatz
-King Bandalero
-Fendi Pendergrass
(As well as cuts from Tone Spliff)
And as is expected from anything AYOO chooses to lay his vocals on, these beats are equally HARD AS FUCK! We are talking about some of the most impactful and underrated producers we have going right now (as well as the legendary Tone) providing the cuts. How can you assume this can be anything but golden? News flash, it’s exactly that!
As this album goes on, we hear some incredible beats, such as my personal favourites in:
-Black Mask, which has this incredible haunting/boom bap experience to it! You’ve got those dark and eerie piano keys that are filled with some sharp synth horror movie-style chords, methodical drums, and heavy plucked bass! An absolute monstrosity of a track!
Or we can look at the track -Powerful Impact, which starts with this spoken word snippet that evolves into this absolutely filthy late 80’s/early 90’s East Coast vibe track! You’ve got those shotgun-style drums, sticky piano keys, and what sounds like a crisp and sharp violin sample going off into the background!
I also love the chorus on this track! A homage paid to, I believe, a Busta Rhymes verse but deeper and distorted! Absolutely brutal and infectious as hell!
These are just two of 13 tracks that I don’t want to spoil for you but are equally as ferocious and deadly that will leave you out of breath if you ain’t careful! The production and the minds involved are gutter, raw, atmospheric and overall filled with masterful techniques as expected by the names involved!
I find it quite ironic that my first review of the new year happens to be a collective record! I’ve gone on record multiple times to admit I’m not the biggest fan of this style album as generally the mass who make these just substitute quality with a fuck ton of random features and bland beats that make the whole album sound boring.
BUT I’m happy to admit that this record breaks free of that common consensus and creates a record that is not only memorable but original in creation, let’s talk about it!
This is the brand new album by ‘Crew LV’ which consists of
Producers -Sky Vintage & Killa Mac
MC’s Leo Da Gawd (From Southside Jamaica Queens)
Free3ky Quis (From Stapleton)
And Nobody From Nowhere (From Staten Island) and together they come through with a solid collection of 15 tracks with over an hour of content to get through and yet it doesn’t feel half as what it is due to it’s entertaining nature!
Interestingly, there’s a wonderful contrast between the production and the performances. In one end we have the production which is the definition of smooth! It’s atmospheric, soulful and full of ambiance that relaxes the body and mind! The kind of production you’d listen to while walking on a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky!
A few stand out tracks are as follows. -Keyzer Soze which has one of the most gorgeous instrumentals on the whole record! A combination of this flute sound loop, this humming sample that runs consistently throughout the record! We have a snippet of plucked strings that have a more infrequent rhythm but still equally infectious as well as some super subtle drum selection that all comes together to create an angelic sound that I could listen to for hours!
We have the track -Eloquent which has one of the more funky rhythms on this album! Sounding like some late 70’s/ early 80’s soul samples with those slick guitar strings, funk inspired drum beats and some light in the background chords that help provide a skeleton to an already powerful structure!
This song also has a super refreshing chorus progression that adds to the overall vibe of the song!
Even if we look at the track -Out The Way which has a more underground boom Bap flavour compared to the rest! You have that classical voice sample loop that runs through the whole song! Ontop of that you have those sticky piano keys, subtle bass and minimal drums that all come together for a gritty and raw instrumental that’s as ruthless as it is bare boned!
The contrast I talked about above is the other side of the coin is the rapping. Because as smooth and beautiful as the beats are, we have such intense and savage verses that it feels like a verbal invasion ontop of those gorgeous beats! These men come storming the instrumentals like prime era Onyx causing leaving nothing in their way but damage and violence!
Across this tape we hear the trio of MC’s releasing a vocal assault of charismatic bars, in your face performances and an overall dominating pack mentality that forces you to focus on their sharp and unapologetic pen game that lights up each and every track mercilessly! A thing I loved about these guys was the fact each MC had their own unique and individual character and skill that was seperate to them!
It wasn’t like you were hearing 3 of the same voices and flows but instead 3 different vibes and cadences that brought their own ability to the forefront but also had impeccable chemistry and shared one vision of how the record should sound!
I loved how fucking fluent they were on this project! Never an awkward or uncomfortable conversion between each man switching up verse to verse, just straight smooth pacing the sonic baton to the next guy as they maintain the heat that the one before them captured and elevated it 10x fold before passing it to the next!
This level of synchronicity (while maintaining different rhythms and styles) ain’t easy to do. It’s so easy for a group project to get lost in the process of it all but I’m glad to announce that everyone working on this album came together to create absolute and unforgettable MAGIC!
What a first album of the new year! An incredible effort by the producers and MC’s alike! If you ain’t heard this one yet then you better do it NOW!
Oh shit, what a surprise drop! Two of the hottest artists in the underground at the moment coming together for a full-length? Nah, that’s too good to be true, and yet here we are! We gotta get into this ASAP! Let’s talk about it!
This is the brand-new project between MC AU and Producer Lo Katana! And together they drop a solid 8-track offering featuring the likes of
-BlackMugen
-067Red
-Ant Kelly
-Lo Katana
And I feel like I gotta discuss Lo first. I’ve made the statement in his other joints that this man is gonna be someone to look out for in the coming year as he’s been growing at a ridiculous rate, and this album confirms my theory of his advancement in such a rate that he’s going to be THE powerhouse producer in the next few years! He’s been dropping underrated gems all year, and this is the way he decides to end 2025? Absolutely phenomenal!
This production reads like a Jazz X Soul infused fever dream! Listening to this album sounds like you were teleported to the drama of the 70s and 80s, with the instrumentals mirroring the theatrical soundtrack of the chaos of that time period in the most gorgeous way possible.
This album somehow sounds like the combination of
-Lethal Weapon
-Old School pay-for-sexting advertisements
-Infomercials
-Jazz Clubs
-Art Rap and more, all combined. This production feels like an album and more like a revealing score of past indulgences that rushes through your soul the minute you press play.
My favourite aspect of these 8 tracks is the heavy Jazz elements. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a sucker for Jazz-infused Hip Hop, and this album does it on a whole different level! From those grand horns and manipulated piano keys that sound plucked in this distorted, elegant fashion that I absolutely fell in love with!
Combine that with those minimally layered & skeletal track executions, and you have a recipe for greatness that I can’t get enough of!
I knew prior to even listening to this that this would be an unbelievable project, but I didn’t expect it to be THIS GOOD! Maybe it’s just me being easily impressed, but I swear it’s scary the amount of progress and quality of this new generation of cats in the underground. There are so many just like Lo who I’ve heard rise and elevate to new heights that I swear were unheard even 5 years ago! He’s going to show you next year just how good he can get, MARK MY WORDS!
You know who else is part of that scary, fast growth generation? AU! I’ve been keeping track of him for, I’d say, 4 months? Maybe more? And even in that short amount of time, he’s impressed me more and more with each new single, EP, and album.
Initially, what impressed me about him was his creative and versatile mind! The fact that each single or record he dropped sounded different from the rest and he was confident enough to explore an array of sounds, genres, and influences!
As I’ve continued to follow his progress, I’ve noticed his quality control not only being steady but improving with each new drop! He’s starting to drop an underrated record with each new album as he is honing his skills, testing the limits of his originality, building up a larger-than-life atmosphere, and building friendships with men who have been able to match his enthusiasm and energy on previous singles and EP’s/albums and now onto this one!
Across this tape, we hear his performances get stronger and more crisp. He’s sounding like a million-dollar rapper on this project as he flaunts his incredible verse complexities, his incredible vocabulary, his smooth and brash flow, as well as his adaptability with any production he’s on (especially a score as renowned as this one). He can create natural synchronicity with anyone or any beat!
He has a certain confidence about him that I’ve felt growing ever so slightly over his releases, he’s always sounded dope to me but I could sense that untapped potential way back then and to see it unfold the way it has and explode into an MC that I firmly believe can stand toe to toe with anyone? Is an incredible feat!
Such is the case when he raps alongside Ant Kelly and 067Red! Two unbelievable MC’s who brought their best foot forward and yet AU was able to match them effectively and effortlessly! Not to mention the producer himself had a verse! He’s an all rounder!
This record might be AU’s ‘Magnum Opus’ so far. I felt this was undeniable considering who he partnered with on production but this shit is next level! I was having a profound astral experience while sober! If this is a sign of things to come then these two (along with a handful of others) are gonna make the underground one of the, scratch that THE PLACE TO BE for modern day classics going forward and maintaining it’s iconic history and culture! Listen now below!
Man, this has to be the most ridiculous title to an album I’ve seen all year! Trust it to come from this duo! Alone, they’ve made their own unique lanes, but together? They’ve made history. With the finale edition of their series as a pair, they leave 2025 swinging, hitting anything and everything in their way! A true BRAWLER, let’s go!
This is the finale edition and brand-new album by MC Action Figure 973 and Producer Wulverine, and together they drop their final batch of nine songs featuring the likes of:
-Lukey Cage
-Apito Goiez
-Ali De Leon
-Lo From The Lead
-Tree Mason
Aside from Cage, this is a whole list of features I’ve personally never heard of! But in saying that, they absolutely SLAP!
Without the rest of the world knowing, Action has been treating 2025 like his own personal ‘Continental Classic Tournament’ with a specific few in his sights to beat down and gain points from. He’s left the year undefeated! He made it all the way to Worlds End and slaughtered the champion!
He’s got his verbal rainmakers and lyrical one-winged angels to take out all his opponents clear and decisively!
Despite his slight heel turn earlier in the year as he stood toe to toe with Superman! He’s been a culture Babyface, gaining cheers and sold-out physicals every time he drops!
He has the rhythm and swagger of an established legend as he walks around like he owns the place!
AEW? WWE? NJPW? ECW? Nah, this is LUCHA UNDERGROUND, and I ain’t talking Mexico! I’m talking Action taking the W nine hundred and seventy three ways over with a record-long title reign that isn’t going anytime soon!
He’s honestly one of the most fluent we’ve ever seen! The Independent Scene’s Sin Cara gliding through the game, never missing a beat or a foot out of place! The type of cat to be the secret mentor of Okada and your favourite rapper’s favourite rapper!
Over this year, he’s proven himself time and time again as one of the most consistent, powerful, and entertaining characters we’ve seen in this hip-hop shit with rhyming promos that could put MJF to shame!
On this journey, he’s not alone! As he’s accompanied by his own personal Paul Heyman or Don Callis! The definition of an ultimate opportunist in the form of Wolverine! Whoever this man works alongside creates modern-day classics, and this record is no exception!
With these nine tracks, we hear the sonic equivalent of one of the greatest managers in our modern-day history. A man who, using only his music, can tell a greater story than any of your favourites and ten times as vivid!
The type of music that pulls at the heartstrings, makes you feel a certain way, and rivets the audience to an uproar, cheer, or boo! Depending on the context of his production!
He can either make you nostalgic as he incorporates his ‘comic book aspect’ albums! Or bring out the ‘gangster’ in us all with a throwback to ‘The Sopranos’.
Or, as we see here, take us on a wild, colourful journey in the form of a sonic wrestling PPV that features a who’s who of independent wrestlers that could outshine any of the mainstream names any day of the week with Action leading the pack!
You shouldn’t look at this as an album! But as the latest audio WK! Featuring Action as the in-ring draw (the Okada if you will) and Wolverine as the pivotal figure behind the scenes making it all run smoothly (the Tanahashi), together they make an unstoppable duo whose presence won’t be forgotten long after the event is done!
What a fantastic way to end the year! Shoutout to the features involved, to the production, and to Action, who proves once again why he is ‘THE BEST THERE IS, THE BEST THERE WAS (and maybe) THE BEST THERE EVER WILL BE’.
I’ve been telling you all! Haven’t I been telling you? That this man has an infinite glass ceiling. There’s never a point too high for him to cap at, and this album proves it! I can’t say I’m too surprised as I have been covering his progression from the start of the year, but even so, this is levels beyond what the game! Let’s get into it!
This is the brand new (and last offering of the year) by MC FLYG and Producer Bojar, and together they drop a solid 18 tracks featuring the likes of
-King Adroit
-Emcee Millz
-Drew Prince
-Lo Katana
-THE REBEL SKY
-God Gotti
-MISKEEN HALEEM aka K. UNLIMITED
-Ant Kelly
-AU
And this thing is the DEFINITION of cinematic. I’ve heard him on some pretty impressive stuff before from the likes of -Lo Katana & -Drega33, but honestly, this thing is ridiculous on a different plane!
Across this album, we have every kind of instrumentation you could want, done in the most masterful way possible! Such as
-Rock
-Soul
-Funk
-P-Funk
-Classical
-Hip Hop and more. I can’t stress this enough; this whole score feels like a movie in audio form. He’s been increasing his production value throughout the year, but this is a different beast entirely; this somehow feels like his ‘magnum opus,’ after I would have sworn his last few drops had been that also!
Each melody, vocal loop, minimal layers, plucked strings, methodical drums, synth progression— it all comes together in the most heartwarming and angelic execution you could ever ask for! This is beyond ‘good music’; this is next-generation shit.
I feel like FLYG has a unique skill where he can extract the very best of any producer he works with because I don’t understand how this man can keep releasing banger after banger with some of the most beautiful instrumentation I’ve ever heard? It doesn’t make sense.
This level of skill and advancement is not normal. He’s on a rate that I can’t see anyone else touching, and he’s becoming a killer with it, infusing the natural charisma and eccentricity of his own abilities into the producers, who in turn shine brighter in his presence!
I advise the listener NOT to pick and choose the songs from this album. Sure, I have no doubt any song by itself would be fire, but this score is meant to be played as a whole. This man, Bojar, took time and effort to create an atmospheric, steady record that flows like a river from start to finish, and in that respect, I can’t really pick a favourite song as I’m counting the whole soundtrack as the perfect experience in and of itself! A truly magical sonic offering!
Speaking of ‘Magical Offerings’, we have FLYG himself. Truly going out of his way on this one to not only outdo himself but RE-INVENT the wheel of lyricism and wordplay. I’m not joking; this is some verbal Einstein shit.
Across this massive 54-minute album, we hear (what I would consider) the perfect fusion between creative and lyrical. As he’s been hinting at with singles like ‘MASTERFUL’, he’s open and prone to go a more creative direction with his art, and I feel the payoff is on this record, where honestly, I feel he pulls off what many mainstream cats failed to do!
For example, the mainstream flops such as Kid Cudi’s -Speedin Bullet 2 Heaven’ or Lil Wayne’s -Rebirth record from almost 2 decades ago now. They both tried to FORCE the synchronicity between multiple influences and hip hop and failed miserably.
But on this one, FLYG uses his genius musical mind to sidestep those flaws and naturally curate the variety of influences into one harmonious record where his vocals lay smoothly on top in a gorgeous connection of bars and beats.
Speaking of Bars HOLY SHIT. That’s all that came to mind when I was listening to this record, he goes beyond what is required in the usual ‘one liner’ rapping lane. He’s not only created his own lane but his own standard to match and it’s one I can’t imagine anyone else in the field being able to match!
So many times I was listening to the complexity and layering of the verses and bars I found myself tracking way behind by 3-6 bars at a time trying to process a bar that took me at least 20 seconds to understand and unpack before I finally got it!
I don’t remember the last time I felt this way over lyricism. The only answer I can come up with was prime Eminem? Or at least 2010’s Eminem and his super wordy bars and verses that had you pausing the song just to dissect what he just said and I feel that is done to absolute perfection on this album!
We are talking exquisite flow, Aesop rock level complexity and vocabulary. Heavy set charisma paired with a smooth yet powerful performance to draw everything together!
I’m trying to write this but honestly this album has me lost for words. As someone who has followed his career and arguably all his 2025 releases (if not most) and seeing his progress, seeing him pair with a variety of different producers AND features.
Seeing him lock in with his unique rapping ability and seeing how far it’s gotten him is just so fucking incredible to witness and this album is the cherry ontop of the cake.
You couldn’t ask for a better final album of the year, hell you couldn’t ask for a better discography throughout the whole year! He’s proven himself time and time and TIME again that he’s not one to mess with or underestimate or sleep on. He’s the real deal and if this is his potential after one year I can’t wait to be blown away for next year!
Don’t fucking sleep on this one! Check it out now below!!
The Serpent Tongue Reviews 