Browsing Tag

Lyrical Hip Hop

Get high with Adubs’ debut alt-hip hop album, The Come Up.

Posted on 3 November 2021

After his successful Halloween debut, the alt hip-hop luminary Adubs has dropped his dynamic debut album, The Come Up. In the opening track, Any Means, his relentlessly enigmatic rap bars groove to dark drill beats. The release takes a melancholic turn with track two, Baddie, which delivers pure spoken-word indie hip hop poetry over mellow RnB melodies.

Track three, featuring Gutta, brings the tempo back up and infuses hard-hitting electronica elements – showing yet another facet to Adubs’ endless stream of ingenuity that flows right through the album. The Come Up reaches visceral heights in the confrontationally direct track, I Promise, which exhibits the best of Adubs’ dynamic flow and ability to squeeze new meanings from words in a time when they can feel so meaningless.

The Come Up is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Vincent Tesoro extends salvation in his alt-hip hop track, Fix Me.

Posted on 2 November 2021

Vincent Tesoro has released his indie emo alt-hip hop debut album, Shooting Stars & Broken Halos, which deserves to be as revered as Lil Peep’s legacy of a back catalogue for the way it effortlessly obliterates genre by putting cutting emotion to the forefront. Outliers or anyone that has been down beaten and found the light from the gutter will be sucked in by the standout single, Fix Me.

Fix Me is a hooky call for salvation that comes with sniping Blink 182-style pop-punk tendencies, contemporary hip hop beats and vocals that compel you to verse the lyrics before you have even memorised them.

Along with his ability to bring resonant panache to hip hop, Vincent Tesoro is also a mental health advocate and a certified substance abuse counsellor after years of recovery between his overdose in 2014. It all comes together in his compassionate wisdom-packed tracks that we can’t wait to hear more of.

Fix Me is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

John Anthony proves why his freestyle flow is one of the fiercest in the game with ‘Sincerely Yours’.

Posted on 14 October 2021

With his standout track, ‘Sincerely Yours’, John Anthony proved that he’s got one of the fiercest freestyle rap flows in the game.

The trailblazing artist used the 7-minute duration to create an exposition of the grittiest and most frustrating factors in our warped 21st-century society; every line delivers introspective gold. From the corrupt nature of the music industry to the danger of anti-mask stupidity to fucked up abortion laws, Anthony poetically goes for the jugular on many contemporary aggravators in Sincerely Yours.

It’s beyond cathartic to hear an artist touch on so many raw issues in a chilled jazzy hip hop soundscape that practically begs for repeat attention. The producer, Logic, knew just what kind of vibe to put behind Sincerely Yours.

Sincerely Yours is available to stream on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

UK rapper Chiron Loxton takes the urban grit out of hip hop with Out in the Trees.

Posted on 5 October 2021

It’s tracks like Chiron Loxton’s latest single, Out in the Trees, that exhibit the pointlessness of facade-delivered lyricism. Out in the Trees is the first track released from the luminary Somerset-residing rap artist’s mindful lockdown-inspired album. It is also the perfect introduction to his tendency to take lyrical hip hop to the next level.

Rap and nature rarely go hand in hand, given that it was created in the Bronx, but Loxton didn’t fail to take hip hop out of the urban era and root it in nature. The meditative trap beats with ambient drill undertones make for the perfect vibe out playlist staple.

The official video to Out in the Trees premiered on September 3rd. You can check it out for yourselves on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

MoonLee brings the funk in his hip hop track, Lights Camera Action.

Posted on 28 September 2021

Any artist taking inspiration from the vastness of the universe is worth taking a chance on; we’re all too glad that we delved into MoonLee’s standout single, Lights Camera Action, from his latest album Moonrise.

With his intellectual approach to hip hop that makes reclamations from the darkness to bring vibrance, Lights Camera Action is as infectious as a dance hit as it is soulful. It is all too easy to quote good vibe tropes in lyrics but you immediately get the sense that the single came from an infinitely more mindful place that acknowledges the darkness before defiantly resisting it with a euphoric track that brings the soul around the romantically inclined sticky-sweet sentiment.

Lights Camera Action is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Alt Hip Hop Luminary XENO Waxes Lyrical in His Evocative Feat of Soul-Infused Trip Hop METHUSELAH

Posted on 25 September 2021

Finding hip hop that hits as hard as much as it inspires doesn’t happen every day, and that is just one of the reasons to delve into the sophomore album from the alt-rap revolutionary XENO.

His latest album, TRANSCENDENCE, fuses elements of soul, trip-hop and alt-electronica to feed the soul a cuisine that it won’t be accustomed to but will quickly learn to crave.

The lead single, METHUSELAH starts with minor piano keys and phantasmal vocals swathed in atmospheric effect; when the beat kicks in, it’s impossible not to get caught up within the trippy multi-layered high vibe hit. Every ounce of attitude in the mix reflects XENO’s intent as an artist; to promote positivity and passion and give power to those in pursuit of their dreams.

Nothing quite compares to an exceptionally talented artist urging their audience to feed their hunger.

XENO’s album, TRANSCENDENCE, is now available to stream and purchase on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

C.Priest proves that wit and soul go hand in hand in his latest societal exposition, Tinted Windows.

Posted on 18 September 2021

Cuttingly sharp wit and inspirational soul converge in the latest single, Tinted Windows, by RnB hip hop artist. C.Priest. With lyrics as provoking as ‘hate who I’ve become, but you’re the same ones who made me’ and ‘they respect me for the trigger, but they hate me when I pull it’, Tinted Windows is a sobering exposition on society and the pitfalls that narrow perceptions can open up beneath innocent people’s feet.

Between C.Priest’s old-school sonic style and mindfulness that allows his words to resonate as an affirmation that he is a lyrical pioneer, he has exactly what it takes to break onto the mainstream. Don’t just watch this space; jump on the hype before it goes viral.

Tinted Windows officially released on August 27th; you can check it out for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Mani Knox delivers high vibe ennui in his standout single, ‘F.M.L’

Posted on 17 September 2021

NYC born and raised alt-hip hop pioneer, Mani Knox, has dropped his sonically high-vibe EP, Demons Dilemma, featuring the standout single, F.M.L; if you are going to curse existence to any track, make it this one.

Since his 2019 debut album, Love is War, Knox has been a mental health advocate through his music. Not in the superficial, good vibes only, way more in the I’ve seen the dark and, now I’m going to show you the light way, that you can’t help getting absorbed by.

F.M.L reels you in lyrical hook, bassline and sinker. His productions are just as massive and robust as you will find from artists such as Labrinth, The Weeknd, and Tinie Tempah but it’s the intimacy of the single that uses a female protagonist to allude to the depths ennui can take you to that wins you over with F.M.L.

F.M.L is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

MMUpClan put melodicism behind the old school hip hop with their latest single, Chico Calabasas.

Posted on 17 September 2021

For their latest single, Chico Calabasas, the breaking 4-piece rap outfit MMUpClan went back to the roots of old school hip hop but took a dark turn along the way. When the beat kicks in, your rhythmic pulses will be powerless to surrender to the minimalist instrumentals that give the rap bars plenty of room to breathe in the intrinsically melodic track that will stick with you long after the fade out.

Everything about Chico Calabasas feels clever, witty, and nothing short of infectious. The magnetism of their vibe is only matched by their talent as wordsmiths. We shouldn’t need to tell you to put them on your radar.

Check out the latest track from MMUPCLAN via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Von Chini: Ground Control to ‘Major Bop;

Posted on 6 September 2021
https://youtu.be/dw48gatTym4

Get your high vibes from Von Chinni’s latest single, Major Bop, which unravels as a hybrid of party hip hop and gritty hustler hip hop. Thanks to Von Chini, I can finally say it’s a bop without feeling a hint of shame.

The big bass-drenched beats dominate the instrumental mix as the cinematic old school stylings put plenty of atmosphere behind Von Chini’s clever rapid-fire vocals that give you a multi-faceted view of his character and independent voice that has been lacing the airwaves with introspection since his debut single in 2019.

The official music video for Major Bop premiered on August 27th; you can check it out for yourselves via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast