(If If Bleeds.. Vol.1 Kayfabe Is Dead)

It should be no surprise to anyone who knows me personally that I’m a sucker for a wrestling-themed album (still yet to find a NJPW-themed one), but I still hold out hope. Now, this one features an MC I talk with day and a producer I respect above most! Combine that together, and you get a recipe that can’t fail! Let’s talk about it!

This is the brand-new album by MC Sha-Elemental and producer BoFaatBeatz, and together they drop seven fresh tracks with the likes of 

– Tone Spliff

– Honey Dinero

– Dirt Rustle

– Poe Mack

– Len-Dor

– Barbaric

– Alverez Masterminded 

– Mickey Bourbon to lend their hand on the record!

Now, as this is a BoFaat production, I had some idea as to how it would sound, and I was right. We are talking in the realm of cinematic takes on the underground Boom Bap genre. 

I’m talking heavy drums, theatrical vocal snippet loops, intricate piano keys, and thick bass lines that go through your whole soul and out! 

For an album with only seven tracks, it’s masterfully done. Each song not only flows into one another like water but also stands out individually as a handful of unique and memorable songs that can be enjoyed on their own and as a full listen!

As seems to be commonplace in underground albums these days, this album ends with a cypher-style track. I don’t know if this is coordinated with each other, but I swear this is my fourth or fifth I’ve come across this year alone that has the perfect instrumental for that type of track!

Those long chord progressions going in and out with those 90’s drums. Such a minimal yet effective way to keep the vibe and cypher format going! This is the kind of beat you could listen to for an hour straight and not get sick of it! Fantastic choice!

Also, have to shoutout my main man Tone for his incredible work on the cuts! A pure legend in the industry!

Onto the MC side, Sha does his job well at complementing those harsh and raw beats with his own brand of in-your-face, no-nonsense bars that are equal parts unforgiving and introspective!

He has a deep and raspy vocal style that makes his verses that much more gutter and gritty to further complement the beats!

I love the fact they decided to have him start right after that infamous wrestling shoot (based on the album cover), such a badass moment that is forced to be followed by its own badass track and Sha does just that!

Across the seven tracks, he showcases his diversity in rhyme manipulation, flow execution, and rhythm. His bars are always on point and stand strong!

As far as the features go, he seems to have found men and women who complement his style well. From the various names in the finale track to the few spotted on the rest of the album. He does well in holding his own and maintaining a strong presence while also letting the guests do their thing and drop pure fire on their respective parts! 

Overall, another dope collection to a vastly growing number of wrestling-themed albums. The production is obviously banging, the cuts incredible, the features on point, and Sha himself has proven why he deserves to be recognised as a top-tier MC in the game!

https://sha-elemental.bandcamp.com/album/if-it-bleeds-vol-1-kayfabe-is-dead

(Diamond Cut Instrumentals, Vol 1)

I feel for this producer; the title matches what I expect from this tape. A man who has the capacity to lock in and create some of the most elegant and powerful albums of the modern era! A man who has been on countless projects and has helped make critical acclaim with his name and work alone! 

So, to hear he’s released an instrumental volume just makes me excited to see what kind of magic he’s letting us in on! 

Brand new beat tape by Giallo Point. 10 tracks and 25 minutes of instrumentals guaranteed to make you feel some kind of way. The beauty of a man like this is you don’t know which side you’re going to see!

Will you be getting the experimentally groovy jazz splash of his ‘PAPITAS’ series with Estee? Or maybe his more theatrical and deep cuts like on ‘THE ANOMALY’ from NOWAH THE FLOOD. Either way, he’s got a sound for any mood, and this time around, when out for himself, he’s made it a point to deliver some of the most lavish, delicate, and soulful cuts I’ve EVER heard him handle! 

Across these 10 tracks, he utilises such fantastical elements as 

-Glistening synth chords

– Funk-inspired drum patterns

-P Funk rhythms

-Shimmering notes

-Gorgeous vocal snippets

-RnB/Soul production

-Plucked guitar and more.

All the inspirations he’s decided to use on here just make my heart melt. It’s an album you can play at the end of a hard day as you can feel your troubles shifting away as you’re transported to a mellow, alternate pocket dimension courtesy of the majestic music!

Listening to this album becomes an atmospheric experience similar to astral projection. The music itself is perfectly balanced and complements each track that comes before and after! While also sounding original on its own with each track providing something different and unique! 

I love how this album feels like it’s in a dimension of its own. I don’t care about any pointless, over-the-top mastering or polished product that’s scrubbed so clean it’s impossible to distinguish the techniques used on the album! Yes, it’s absolutely beautiful, but it’s done in his own style. 

Everything on this album feels natural, grounded, organic, and pure. 

I can feel the effort and emotion equipped into this album at every point. The time he spent making these beats and, of course, my mind wondering and picturing different types of rappers for this project! 

Although only 25 minutes, this thing is nothing to sleep on. It’s perfectly produced, sweet in execution, and memorable in all the right ways! Make sure you go support the brother and check it out now! 

https://open.spotify.com/album/0InY8Ip8BmPmmlzjThcRbR?si=uM6KbHfiQt6pN1JUcHbsrw

(Handing Out Samples)

If ‘FEED THE FAMILY’ ain’t on your radar by now, then you just ain’t tapped into the real underground, and it’s as simple as that. These men have spent the last few years building and dominating the field together as a collective and even more so as solo artists! 

This man, earlier this year, released ‘Hooter Hyena’, which was admittedly my first introduction to the Family and their artists, and with that incredible performance, I was waiting patiently for the next edition of his discography, and the time has finally come, and all I can say is, I’m blessed he’s decided to start.

HANDING OUT SAMPLES

This is the latest full-length project by Feed The Family soldier Top Hooter! With production from the likes of 

-Rich Tayo

-16BitSpit

-Tremendiss

-DJ Kerosene

-Michael Angelo

And bars from

-Mondo Slade

-Pro Dillinger

-Dun Dealy 

Now, I will say this. I was rather surprised at the tone shift of the record. I was placing my bets on what I expected it to sound based on other members and their sonic projections so far. But I was wrong; this thing is one of the smoothest and most mellow performances of the Family’s work to date, and I was down for every second of it!

Across this project, we see the various producers utilise such things as 

-Delicate plucked guitar strings

-Chipmunk-style RnB vocal arrangements

-Slick bass lines

-Classical violin notes

-Soft spoken keyboard

-Funk-inspired drum patterns and more.

Compared to ‘Hyena’, this feels like ‘Divine Feminine’ to his previous ‘GO:OD AM’. A more surreal and soulful outlook with more natural and organic instrumentation, structure, and clarity in the production.

To me, the score brings an atmospheric release that wasn’t present in the last one. Don’t get me wrong, on his last effort, there was a more hard, tougher exterior with more emphasis on that muddy ‘boom bap’ experience, but I feel for this one he was aiming for a more polished and instinctive approach where he’s becoming more in tune with himself and music.

Although a change of pace (at least to me), for the man, it remains a solid-sounding record with plenty of depth, flavour, and complexity to go around, and I hope the loyal fans respect this for what it truly is! 

As far as the man on the mic goes, he’s as strong as I’ve ever heard him. Since we last heard him on an album, he’s been building his confidence, his abilities, and his pen game to a point of no content. To such a level that makes him undeniable no matter who he might be up against, and it shows!

You can hear the refreshed hunger in his voice over these phenomenal beats. You can hear the evolution of his lyricism with more introspective lyricism and wordplay that showcases his various takes on street poetry and his fresh vocabulary to suit.

He’s got those lethal bars, verses, and puns on standby, ready to throw, and his naturally born wavy aura floods the tracks with enthusiasm, passion, and conviction! Across the ten tracks, he makes sure each breath he takes is done on point with the beat so that every song sounds like perfection! 

As further proof of his self-confidence, the small roster he’s hired to accompany him on this album journey are three of the best in the world, period. They all spit some of the hardest verses to date, and he stands toe to toe with the best of them! It’s no surprise his chemistry with Dun as they are both family members, but his equal brotherhood standing with Pro and Mondo shines just as strong and evident on their respective tracks!

After months of waiting for the next solo album, I couldn’t be more happy! It’s got everything I could have wanted. Dope production, solid features, incredible performance by Top, growth, and quality all around! 

If there’s any album you shouldn’t sleep on, it’s this one! 

https://open.spotify.com/album/7HIni2aEj9RtywKOwya1Yl?si=1-XN6XJARYOZu7aKW7Q3IQ

(RATS ON COCAINE)

Who the fuck decided this man should be let loose into the culture and run wild! This artist is one of the most wild and creative people I’ve ever heard, and now he’s gone and made his own full-length LP? Everyone watch the fuck out, because it’s gonna feel like… 

RATS ON COCAINE 

This is the brand-new beat tape by vigilante producer Soul La Flare, who as of late has been killing the minds and ears of underground fans alike with his consistent work on many of the Al Divino tapes, where he’s allowed the freedom to create to his heart’s content, which often means genre-bending, sound manipulation, and downright bat-shit takes on influences you didn’t even know could be done, and yet with every new production credit across those EP’s he’s drilled himself into the brains and hearts of us die-hard fans!

Now, that he’s let loose going solo across this 16-track, 28-minute effort, he’s unleashing a wave of momentum, atmosphere, and energy into this underground shit the world just ain’t ready for, and we get this unprovoked unpredictability from track 1!

Right off the bat with ‘MINNIE THE MOOCHER’, we get this ridiculous sci-fi meets western fantasy score with wobbling synth chords, deep keys, a skeletal drum pattern, and sporadic sounds that make you feel like you’re stuck in outer space watching a cowboy bebop-style turf war take place! It’s insane.

As the album continues, you have cuts like ‘THE ADVENTURES OF BRICKY’, which actually does sound like what I imagine a Rat high on coke, running through 1970s New York would sound like. You’ve got those distorted jazz samples going off as if the Rat is running past dozens of live jazz clubs accompanied by a 90s-era hip-hop drum pattern and those maniac synth strings going crazy over the beat! 

Another mind-bending track is ‘RETURN OF THE SOUL LA ARKESTRA’, which sounds like the final boss in Earthbound turned experimental hip-hop. It’s all over the place sonically. Those notes sound like a hive of bees going ape shit flying around non-stop, then you have these high screeching synth chords and a marching band-style hypnotic drum pattern that ties it all together!

Again, if Giygas went the rap route, this would be his theme sound; it’s absurd but glorious all at the same time!

This album is full of chaotically beautiful cuts and episodes of frantic melodies and lucid rhythms that would put the actual drug acid to shame. Soul La Flare isn’t merely a producer; he’s an avant-garde painting come to life. His music is always off the cuff and against the grain, and this album makes me so fucking happy that music of this magnitude and originality still exists in the culture! 

https://open.spotify.com/album/0KAn37EEcKwoLEU0zDra4h?si=Hot2uKuMR4Go0j6SJ6D20Q

(Griot)

The day has finally come. The day when the anticipated team of MC Jiles and Producer Grubby Pawz come together to put the underground on lock and remind the culture what REAL grime is. Let’s talk about it!

This is the brand new collaboration between the two. 11 tracks, 40 minutes with the likes of 

-AVENUEBLVD

-Rugby Losport

-BLUEHILLBILL

-Kil The Artist

-Van Buren Records to come help push that hardcore agenda to its peak!

Jiles. This man has the sound of death with every bar he spits. He sounds like Hip-Hop’s grim reaper going door to door to all the fake cats with his scythe in hand, mic in the other, killing off all the dead weight in the game right now. He sounds legitimately pissed off. 

He’s come into this record as the underground’s judge, jury, and executioner, and he’s laying down a new standard in this era!

His vocals are absolutely guttural. Rough, raw, and rugged fluctuating delivery that’s accompanied by some of the most aggressive and graphic street poetry you will ever hear! He’s here to tell his story and his experience in life and in these streets and to tell it in the most eerie, detailed, and compelling way possible!

Although he doesn’t need it to pop, when he’s accompanied by any of the names provided, they help elevate and evolve the track from muddy to downright torrentially pouring grit! Especially the track ‘Beef Stew’ with one of the dopest verses I’ve ever heard by BLUEHILL!

At this rate, he’s gonna force himself into the culture hall of fame by pure grit alone! Ain’t nobody sounding like him right now, and with these productions behind him, it’s no exaggeration to say he dropped a classic!

Speaking of the production, we have Grubby, who has had one of the most consistent few years any producer can ask for! From working with the who’s who in the industry, from The Hidden Character to Estee and Al Divino to now Jiles! He’s the definition of a mastermind behind these projects, making sure the beats match the intensity and style to the artist themselves, and in that respect, these beats are some of the most filthy, sadistic, and gritty I’ve ever heard him lay down!

I’m taking thick drums, heavy bass lines, methodical chords, deranged synth melodies, and more. This project sounds like ‘The Street Corner reincarnated’ into a sonic equivalent with hip-hop beats! 

If anything, I’d say Grubby is a walking, breathing amplifier! Whenever he’s in the studio with an artist, they plug into his mind, and he, in return, creates exactly what they want to hear on a large scale!

When you listen to CCE that came out earlier this year, those beats come ALIVE for that iconic splash style that Al and Estee innovated! When you listen to Hood Alchemy by ???  And you listen to that cinematic street opera come to life! That is ??? in a nutshell!

These harrowing, dark, and twisted instrumentals are exactly what Jiles needed to go off on! It’s tailor-made for him, and that’s why this project speaks not only volumes for the combination but for the culture as a whole!

As expected, this project was flawless from start to finish with some of the hardest beats you’ll hear in 2025! Don’t miss it!!

https://open.spotify.com/album/4NMRRuFn1PpDCfLIhMhmnQ?si=kcbiaWkGQOKBfdaLGk8CYw

(Vessel)

With this new release, I’m reminded of a legend in this game. One who has gone severely under the radar and one I associate most with the underground legend Illogic, helping in making some of the best albums of his discography, and yet his own career is one full of gems and underrated classics that can content with anyone in the game before or the present day, and with this new record, he reminds everyone what ‘Real Hip Hop’ sounds like. Let’s talk about it!

This is the brand new album by Columbus, Ohio MC and Producer Blueprint. The man who has decades to his name and one who has undoubtedly helped create what the underground is today and one who has become your favourite artist, favourite artist for his level of craftsmanship, skill, and quality control across all his projects, and this one is no different! We have 11 tracks with 40 minutes and the likes of 

– Shepard Albertson

– E-Turn

– Angelica Lee on the album to help elevate this record!  And boy is this absolutely incredible, and here’s why!

Let’s start with the production. As someone who has been incredibly familiar with his beats for albums that are at least a decade old at this point, he’s renowned for his creative and artistic approach to the ‘underground/art rap’ genres and putting his specific spin on beats that make all his production feel recognisable by sound alone! 

Across this album, we see his trademark originality across the beats, with elements such as 

– Soul

– Soft Rock

– Jazz

– Experimental

– Neo Soul

– Avant Garde

– Funk

– Traditional Hip Hop

And with these various sounds and inspirations, he makes magic. He makes sure each track has its own unique and structured score and set combination of instruments to make it both distinctive from the other tracks and to flow smoothly within the context of the album. 

He makes sure not to overload his album with too many elements to jumble the listening experience, but instead isolates a select few things and works and evolves said choices until he delivers masterful music that sounds more like a cinematic experience than an album!

For example, that opening track ‘God’s Plan’ with those electric guitar strings powerful in the background, that infectious drum pattern, light piano keys, and that sweet and delicate vocal harmony that wraps the track up in a beautiful sonic bow!

And then look at the outro track ‘Back To Church’ with what sounds like sticky church organ keys, heavy bass lines with a subtle drum pattern, and what sounds like a maraca lightly in the mix!

He’s set the tone for the opening and the outro, and within those two tracks, you have a palette of various styles, themes, and characteristics that, as I said, makes each song feel like its own and not a repeat of any other track on the album!

It’s the masterclass in discipline, structure, and creativity that makes this and all his previous albums such gems to listen to. He’s a man who makes each second of the music as surreal, sharp, and lively as one can and makes the music itself run throughout your whole body and make you feel it unlike any other producer can! It’s something you have to listen to experience!

As the MC work goes, not just a dope producer but a prolific and highly respected writer in his own right, he puts down some of the best-written verses across this album!

He carries with him his trademark smooth and elegant flow, delivery, and intricate and intellectual bars that make him sound like a Harvard teacher, giving a lesson to his students on how to write the perfect verse.

He’s always a special level of charisma, passion, and enthusiasm on the songs to make each word he spits feel like bars of knowledge full of insight, wisdom, and grace! Like the words of a preacher trying to enlighten the rest of us!

When he drops his verses, they feel so in depth and detailed that I feel like I was there In person witnessing what he went through and saw right next to him!

The track that stands out most to me is the finale track ‘Back To Church’ as he describes the painful situation with his sister and his trials and tribulations with his faith and an event that happened after that incident with him! The way he describes the situation and the amount of context, description and emotion is absolutely unreal and definitely a deep and profound way to close the record!

That’s the thing about Blueprint. Whether it be with his beats or his words, he always speaks volumes on levels that most couldn’t touch! He’s been one of a kind his whole career an this album further proves why he’s one of the greatest in the industry, period. This is an album you can’t sleep on! 

 https://open.spotify.com/album/1AmxMaRN4A5EIZpMEAE4rh?si=BtDxF9RcQSWe9RY8kzLAxQ

(Reason For Being)

It’s been a minute since I last covered this producer who is now associated with a different MC than who I usually associate him with, but this new duo is making waves in the underground and for all the right reasons! Let’s talk about it!

This is the brand-new collaboration album between MC Kamron Bahani and Producer Goodphella, and together they drop ten tracks, 22 minutes, and the likes of 

-Mondo Slade

-Daniel Son

-Snotty

-Marcus Hunter 

A powerful roster to be working with, and with GoodPhella on production, this thing is bound to be a banger!

What I love about these beats is the versatility of it all! You’ve got those trademark boom bap influences, but you’ve also got elements such as

-Ambient/Acoustic

-Soul

-Chipmunk RnB

-Electronic/Synth 

-Classical

-Funk

And as expected from a beatmaker of his calibre, he finds a way to mix and balance each sound so that no song sounds either overwhelming or underwhelming in the same breath. No song has too much or too little variety, so that the ten tracks provided all sound equally balanced and consistent, which most artists don’t do!

If I had to choose a favourite beat, it would have to be ‘REISLING’ due to its angelic female vocal loop over that skeletal track with those classic violin chords, those subtle keys, and bass lines! A very relaxing vibe that stands out for all the right reasons! 

Each track feels beautifully crafted, smooth, and composed! It’s soaked in masterful technique, organic sounds, and beat patterns that turn this album into a memorable score that will surely be remembered for years to come!

Now, onto Kamron. The man I first discovered on Snotty’s album ‘The Blue Carpet’, and now to hear him on a full-length album is a treat and a half! What makes him stand out initially is his deep, raspy vocal performances! Somewhere in the middle of Bub Styles and Pro Dillinger. Very rough and rugged and above all ‘memorable’.

He lays vocals across this project like multiple lines of TNT. Each verse feels like an explosion of words, bars, puns, and stories that leave vocabulary shrapnel in the brain! He has an almost battle rap energy to him, like each verse is a stab or a shot at someone who’s inches away from him on the other side, and his goal is to destroy the person with the harshest bars he can think of!

This metaphor only strengthens when he’s got any of those roster I mentioned above with him on a track because the intense, bully energy grows tenfold, and it makes me envision a lyrical massacre by Kamron and any of the four features on the track! 

I love how he can go from introspective stories and reflection to hardcore in your face, fuck your life energy in a heartbeat! Each track can provide a different side of him, and I feel that’s a talent in and of itself for a MC! Definitely respect that!

What a collaboration to witness! One of the strongest MC’s with one of the strongest producers! It’s a match made in the dirt that rose up to a gem! 

https://open.spotify.com/album/4GFHtWSYRKX2ojtPY8xhS9?si=7aKCMDKTTN2wHGYlRHvUcg

(Alfredo 2)

2025 seems to be the year of the returning OG’s. We’ve already had new albums by

-Clipse

-LL Cool J

-Ice Cube

-Xzibit

-Raekwon

-Snoop Dogg

-KRS One and more.

Now we have this legendary duo back. A sequel to their 2020 classic, they are headstrong in making sure the magic hasn’t faded across this one, and I’m happy to announce that this record is a hell of a ride! Let’s talk about it!

This is the brand new album/sequel by the combination of MC Freddie Gibbs and legendary producer The Alchemist to give you ‘Alfredo 2’ with the likes of 

-Anderson Paak

-Larry June

-JID contributing to the record!

Right off the fucking bat, we gotta mention Alchemist’s production because although he’s had a tailored career already and a few years back had an insane run trying to make an album a month (if I remember correctly?) with a variety of different artists, and now he’s focused on the sole purpose of elevating the sequel to just as good if not better than the original, which is never easy to do!

BUT I feel if anyone made a better sequel, it’s him! This thing is incredible! I’m talking about the smoothest beats you’ve heard of with

-Jazz

-Ambient

-Soul

-RnB

-Lo Fi

-Trap

-Boom Bap

And when he fuses these elements together, he creates sonic bliss. Not many producers can blend that many elements so smoothly and organically the way he can. Everything sounds crisp, mastered, and yet raw and rugged to create a true authentic ‘Hip Hop’ sound for the ages.

The whole album blends in fluently with the rest of the tracks. There’s never an awakes break or moment on the album. Again, he’s found a way to blend all the various characteristics from each song and make it so that they stand out individually but also speak as a team across the record! 

On the first few listens, I’d honestly rank this production not only better than the first but on the same level of Freddie’s record with Madlib (Piñata), it’s that good! 

Freddie Gibbs: The man who was on my radar since his ‘Piñata’ album and the run of records post that one within a few-year span, he was owning everyone in the game, and now he’s back to take back his crown!

I will admit, I felt like his last handful of records felt stale and repetitive. Which made me sad because, as I said, for a moment he was at the top of my list, but with this new one, he sounds gritty, hungry, and cold as he used to in his former years, and his bars and flow haven’t sounded better!

He brings his trademark slick and sharp swagger-filled performances with his unmatched street poetry, incredible vocabulary, and unfiltered bars and verses that don’t give a fuck who he offends or upsets! He’s speaking HIS truth on this record and doing so over some of the most ridiculous beats I’ve heard in a minute!

His fluent flow across this album is divine! He doesn’t miss a beat (literally), every breath lands exactly where it’s supposed to. The amount of words he can fit within a bar is insane, and he sounds calm and collected while also giving off the ‘savage/untamed’ aura at the same time, like a lion in the jungle unphased  by the lower animals, knowing he’s king.

Between that phenomenal production and Freddie regaining his ‘prime’ performances, this could easily be ‘AOTY’ contender. It’s fluent, infectious, raw, and memorable! If you ain’t checking this one out, you’re tripping! 

https://open.spotify.com/album/5WrpCQmbTUZuzNxGCPUFSV?si=u838udyfT36pACaxQdwbrA

(Big Worm)

I could tell from the artwork and song title alone that it was going to be fire! Whenever an artist goes out of their way to represent a theme, representation, or idea from movies, TV shows, or comics, very rarely does it fail, and this is a perfect example of that success! Let’s talk about it!

This is the latest full-length single by MC God Gotti featuring producer ‘Prod By P’, and together they drop this track, which is vastly different in aesthetic and sound compared to the last one I covered!

Compared to the last one, this has a strong ambient, lo-fi element to it. The instrumentation itself feels heavy and submerged, almost like you’re listening to this song underwater! You can hear the bass lines clearly and some subtle keys going off in the background, but so much of it is drenched in muffled and mysterious energy, which honestly I fuck with!

It has a strong experimental approach to it, unconventional methods, and kind of sounds like a darker, more sinister version of jazz! Like if you took a Miles Davis or Herbie Hancock spot and flipped and manipulated it, this is what it would sound like! Very interesting and very unique!

As far as the MC work goes, again compared to the other, this feels very methodical and diabolical in execution! From his last ‘Gospel’ inspired track to this, it’s literally night and day.

We have his tough and precise flows, his sharp lyricism and pen game, as well as his pinpoint rhythm and delivery that makes him sound like a drug dealer waiting for his money! An intense and powerful take on his verses this time around!

One thing that’s similar to the last song was how the last 30 seconds is just talking, bragging! Him

just talking his shit to remind everyone why he’s the one to look out for and putting the game in its place!

I love his cold performances with the street poetry; it goes hand in hand over this type of beat and makes him stand out again!

Whether he’s trying to enlighten the masses with gospel or trying to shake you for what he’s owed over experimental shit, he shines! This product is cold and unpredictable just like Gotti, and hisbars perfectly match! 

https://open.spotify.com/album/3surXBjXdpp9Zs0KkGsb1r?si=tzti_Z3_Q8m2eCMTK6INZg

(Shuffle With The Left)

Man, what a year this man has had already. From a dope album in March to a dope compilation album that dropped on DSP’s at the end of May to now this! It seems no matter how often or little he drops, the world stops to pay attention— that’s just the artist he is! Let’s talk about it!

This is the brand new album by MC and Umbrella Collective member Daniel-Son, which I just featured DJ Moya on production with 10 tracks, 27 minutes of content, and one standout verse by Napoleon Da Legend, and this one is truly something else!

What I noticed from the production side of things was that there were more than a small handful of tracks which sounded like 90’s House of Pain or Cypress Hill-inspired instrumentals, which shocked me to hear Daniel-Son on. Until I heard this kind of lively and upbeat production is what he used to rock back in the day, and he’s chosen to return to it (in some form) on this album!

Regardless, I thought it was a dope change of pace for Danielson while he also makes sure to add in his more methodically paced Boom Bap dark art pieces as he’s more traditionally known these days.

There seems to be a nice blend between the two, as if Daniel-Son wants to try his hand back in the old ways and remind the new audiences (like me) what he came from, which I found super refreshing! But of course, what is an album

by him without those grime, muddy, and heavy beats with those powerful drums, eerier keys, and notes as he’s so notoriously known!

I also love how the album started. That instrumental 90’s-influenced track I didn’t expect, and considering it led into that funky, more groovy beat, it was the perfect way to start the album!

I love the variety DJ Moya presents on this record; he’s balancing a fine life between the two inspirations and doing so with ease! Respect to him for that!

Onto the MC side! It should come as no surprise what Daniel brings to the table. The production may have flipped up, but I can guarantee you that raw, in-your-face street poetry hasn’t gone anywhere, and if anything, it’s amplified. He’s taken his vivid and visual stories and situations to the next level with his in-depth vocabulary and magic of wording, making it feel like we are right there next to him performing or going through said acts!

He’s as vicious as ever, sharper lyrically and with a more intense delivery than we’ve heard him previously. Don’t let the switch-up or the production make you feel a certain way; he’s here to take over, and with his cold monotone delivery combined with his infinite swagger and street smart attitude, he’s the perfect ringleader for that underground shit and goes toe-to-toe with the likes of Napoleon! Which, TRUST ME, isn’t easy to do!

Make sure you go check this album out ASAP! It’s dangerous yet groovy at times! It’s cold yet energetic, and it’s everything you could want from a Daniel-Son album and more! 

https://open.spotify.com/album/5Mrv4VMFFOY82E1DnR9YcS?si=YkRzQsfQTxOJUEDYPxufug