Marger - Flow Flood

Ok, so I feel kinda bad for writing this as Marger's actually one of the best in the scene right now, but his first mixtape is pretty weak and I'd hate for someone to catch on to Marger's hype, download this, dislike it and then not bother with him again. So I'm here to say this one doesn't really display Marger's talents well at all.

Marger has flow on this and that's about the only thing going for Flow Flood. Back then (sounds like it was ages ago, we're only talking early 2010) he was Money Margz, and way too much of the lyrics here are concerning money, paper and stacks. Whereas on his recent singles, freestyles and EP (Kush Wave) he's great with his similies, he lacks the originality here with stuff we've heard plenty of times before like "more dough than a baker" and at least two examples of those Weezy-patented "shit/piss like a toilet" bars. Instrumentally this is interesting but doesn't quite work. I dunno how many of these (if any) are exclusive but it dots around with grime, hyphy-sounding stuff and some snap. Only one I recognised was Soulja Boy's Donk instrumental on Money Margz. Some of the hooks are pretty weak too. And then there's too much American slang for a grime MC, too much swagger, hustle, paper etc. Just feels kinda all over the place.

Some nice bassy beats (like Wow) and it's not really terrible music, just weak for an MC that I'd consider one of the best in the scene right now. Listen to some of his recent singles like What You Got or get the Kush Wave EP, he's really leading the new wave grime scene, but this mixtape isn't a good example of his talent. Skip this one and check out everything he did afterwards.

Lioness - Loch Ness Monster: It's Not a Mystery Anymore

Talk about disappointment. Lioness finally returns to the grime scene after a bunch of great radio freestyles and ringing endorsement from Bearman and gives us this - a weak mixtape of half-baked hip hop tracks with a really annoying host.

Yeah, first obvious and damning flaw is that she's rapping...over rap beats. Good beats (You're a Jerk, Comfortable, a few others) and only a few remotely grimey tracks (Good for a Girl (perhaps the best track here) and Where's My Sister (three guesses what that one's based off)). Grime MCs attempting hip hop almost always results in failure, they have to be damn good to pull off both genres equally (and as far as I'm concerned, only Ghetts and Goodz can deliver both and unfortunately Lioness doesn't have it, or at least not on here.

Her lyrics are decent, she's definitely capable, but nothing exceptional on display here. Sometimes she complains about being regarded as 'good for a girl' and treated differently because of it, then every other track sees her making a point about being female, like she can't make up her mind about whether or not she wants to use it as a gimmick. She sounds like a British Cash Money reject, throwing out some silly and non-sensical similies like "nuts like seeing Wallace without Gromit" (or something to that effect) which of course makes no sense as anyone who's watched the show will know they appear apart quite often, usually involving one rescuing the other.

The DJ/host guy is super annoying, it's like a Southern US hip hop mixtape where the guy just likes to be loud and funny without thinking things through (like saying "Okay let's knock up the tempo"...followed by a beat that's SLOWER than the last).

There are moments of interest but otherwise it's inconsistant and generic. Not worth your time despite being a free download.

Lethal Bizzle - Pow 2011

Quick rundown:-

Lethal - standard Lethal, no more no less.
JME - "well, well, well" bars from Blam, pretty cool.
Wiley - "wududududadadada", wasn't sure what the fuck he was doing at first, but with multiple plays it becomes really catchy. Bars come from a tune he released a few weeks before, one of his "ok I'm definitely back doing grime now part 228" kinda tracks.
Chipmunk - Once you go yank you never go back, lyrics about swagger and money, still, not especially bad, and definitely not the worst here.
2Face - Pretty hype but what's with the line "how can you say I ain't hard, shut up you ain't hard either", isn't that admitting that he'd not hard?
P Money -  Pretty hard yeah, quite typical P Money, he used these bars as a hook on one of the songs on the Ibeatthetune mixtape.
Ghetts - Skippy flow, pretty cool, standard Ghetts
Kano - Really shit, one of the worst verses I've ever heard. Of all the versions of pow 11 I've heard, this is the worst verse. Kano is TERRIBLE nowadays and this examplifies it better than no other. Terrible, completely loses the hype and momentum Ghetts had built up. Bullshit way to end and what's worse is he gave him a fucking 16 bar! The first four bars are "I'm old-school, I'm from the manor, I duppy every rave, bitch I'm MC Shaba". Seriously, that's his contribution, what a fucking waste.

But before that it's pretty good. Not as good as the original Pow obviously, or any of the others (Forward 2 All-Stars, Forward 2 Fire Camp, Da Bizzle Remix) or some of the other 8 bars to come out this year (Lock Off the Rave 8bar Remix, Pull Up Dat 2011, Spartan Remix) or even some of other versions of Pow 2011 (the Wales all-star version linked in StemLongStem's review is indeed much better) since the instrumental's a banger. Also youtube the remix by DJ Raph, mixes in different instrumentals that each MC is known for spitting over, it's really sick.

Pretty good tune but for sure it doesn't live up to the expectations set by the original. Still, circulated a great Silencer riddim and got grime in the top 40, can't argue with that. It's mostly a historical piece, all these MCs on one tune together isn't likely to happen again any time soon.

Lethal Bizzle - Go Hard

Well I never heard the first two Bizzle albums after hearing that they're inconsistant and littered with filler and genre hopping, but now I think I might have to cause this is fucking top. After retiring from music and then returning and then getting bottled by the crowd at Download, Bizzle comes back harder than ever. That is to say that every song here is an absolute banger and Bizzle knew exactly what he was doing on this one. It definitely covers the whole map...mostly centered around grime but there's hip hop (Lost My Mind), funky (So Addictive) and rap-rock (Rockstar), but rather than sounding messy and disjointed Lethal masters all the styles perfectly and the album flows nicely. Yes, you know how I normally am when grime artists dip into rap but Lethal handles it well, and even makes the crossover rock track a banger.

Sure, the lyrics aren't that special, Lethal's just a fun MC at this point in his career, he tries to get a bit deep on Money Power Respect Fame and Push It but other than that he's funny and entertaining. The Rockstar track will fail as a crossover track though, why don't hip hop and grime artists realise that rock fans don't want to hear brag lyrics?

Besides the unimportant lyrics though what makes this is the fantastic production. Stand outs would be Dexplicit, who here displays himself as one of the strongest and most innovative producers in grime and I'm gonna have to check out his solo stuff, but we also get some great stuff from Donaeo with his drums and horns with soulful hook sound. Silencer and Youngstar also deliver, there's really no weak tracks on here.

From everything I've heard so far, this is my pick for best grime album of '09, I really never expected Lethal to top Newham Gens, P Money and Wiley but he really delivered here and even though he might not be as strong a lyricist as those his management skills he used to organise an album of fantastic beats and hooks pushes him to the top of the pile, add to that the fact that the album is diverse enough to make it interesting without it sounding messy and that it's just the right length clocking in at around 40 minutes you can see why it's a classic. My one complaint is that the least interesting track (Flap Your Wings) is the longest here, but it's hardly worth moaning about. Great album, definitely recommended.

Jammer - Jahmanji

Don't understand why a lot of fans were disappointed with this. Pretty much everything Jammer has ever touched is gold and this is no different. Maybe I don't like it quite as much as the Are You Dumb series, but maybe that's because I'm a really big fan of pure grime and this takes influence from a bunch of other sounds (funky house and various 90s dance music), however it's all still backed by hard bass and a steady 140bpm pulse and nearly all of these tracks would sound right at home on a grime playlist. The productions are very creative, not really limiting themselves to any one sound or being tied down by the confines of a genre, nothing's pure grime or pure funky or anything. Comparable maybe to Preditah or L Starr (in neither sound nor quality but concept). Jammer himself, I've always thought, is a madly underrated MC and contender for top 5 easy. He's always had mad flows, a unique voice and cool, hype lyrics, as well as some serious diversity where he can join a bunch of other mcs on war tracks, conscious songs or club bangers and still burn all competition. He sounds a little more complacement here than usual, he's not QUITE as creative as he's been in the past but he also sounds confident in the fact that he can write catchy, free-flowing bars for days and days. The opener is brilliant and contender for best song, last verse especially is brilliant. Murkle Mode follows up hard, although the hooks might sound weird on the first few listens, they really grow on you in an odd way after you warm to Jammer's singing voice and kinda unorthodox vocal patterns. Bad Mind People and Better Than are the grimiest (lyrics are top in the latter) tracks, Party Animal is the farthest removed and easily my least favourite song here. It really bugged me when I first heard it and had me lose hope in the album, but everything else is better. I've warmed to it a bit now in context of the album it's a little better, but the album would still be just fine without it. Back to the 90s is brilliant too. I like that this album, unlike the long anticipated debuts of some other grime mcs, makes no attempt to cater to an American audience whatsoever. All influences here are from uk/euro dance music, there's no signs of hip hop on here at all, no Lex Luger beats, no Rick Ross flow. Not that Americans couldn't enjoy this, but it's cool to get a good British-produced album on the shelves that isn't ashamed of the fact and doesn't try to mimic a more popular culture. Loosen up your expectations a little, approach the album with anticipations of fun and just enjoy it.

Ghetts - Freedom of Speech

After a strong debut and uneasy follow-up, Ghetts delivers on his third mixtape Freedom of Speech. He claims to be 'back on the darkside' and I won't lie, this is pretty dark stuff and is recommended highly to fans of artists like Mobb Deep. Ghetts is a phenomonal MC, probably the strongest in the UK, and he spits very dark but real lyrics about London streets and life from British youth. The beats are often quite minimal, there aren't really any big gully bassline tracks, these ones are atmospheric and grim but still hard hitting. This just feels like the album Ghetts was supposed to make, I almost feel bad calling it a mixtape because it just feels so much stronger than that. Every line and rhyme is on point and every beat is banging, all the hooks are solid and each song has a personality of it's own.

My favourites would have to be Ghost Town, with it's great beat and hook and really solid lyrics, Mountain with it's strange orchestrated house-type beat and catchy, quotable lyrics, Convo With a Cabbie with it's touching message, and the emotionally powerful How It Is.

This is a grime essential, no two ways about it. If you're interested in any way in grime you need this.

Demon - Demon's World

What a massive disappointment. Demon was one of the sickest MCs to touch mic in grime, whenever he'd draw for "you don't wanna bring arms house!" or "gangsta toys make gangsta noise!" it would be instant reload. Tunes like One Way Flow, Gangsta Toys, Adrenaline Rush and one of the best verses on Pow displayed an MC on his way to the top. When I found out he released Demon's World at grime's peak, I had to hear it.

Shame that it's nearly all shitty rap on G-Unit style beats. Yeah One Away Flow's here, and at the end we get Adrenaline Rush and (an inferior) remix of Gangsta Toys, but it isn't enough to make up for the lameness of this weak US imitation. Some say he switched to hip hop cause he was scared that Chronik would jump him again if he misinterpretted one of his bars. Maybe that's why he stopped writing about breaking your teeth and started writing about generic shit like money. Either that or he thought he'd blow in America with a 5th-rate rap album comingout  about 4 years too late to even be significant in this lame Beg for Mercy worship. Either way it's as lame as the cover art. Released in 2006 when grime was at it's best this could have been a classic, but I can assure you it's not worth your money.

Highlight is a short recording of Demon going sick at Sidewinder somewhere in the middle. I'd sooner just catch the original set though, avoid this.

Chronik - Free Chronik

I got a bit overanalytical with this one. I was expecting a good, strong, full-length mixtape and the release was way more unprofessional than I expected. 4 grime tracks, one rap track, a love song with autotune and a poorly recorded live set? Disappointing.

But then I remember that my favourite grime moments are crudely ripped pirate radio recordings and I stop whining. I wasn't sure about Chronik on Rude Kid beats at first but I really think it works now. He does slip off beat a bit here and there but otherwise Just Do Music, Goon to a Goon and to a degree Swear Down are the Chronik that we love from back in the day. You've probably heard Swear Down and Ring where Chronik does his best Tempz impersonation and sounds evil as shit doing it. Black Glove 2 is a road rap tune using the beat from Giggs' Look What the Cat Dragged In and what do you know, Chronik sounds good on this shit too. Should be no surprise based on the strength of the rap tunes on Blaze More Dan U (Iron Eye, Don't Push Me and Hop Out of the Whip), but this is the first time I've hear him on proper trapping road rap production and he goes hard ("I ain't going back to jail, fuck Babylon!").

Rollin' Wheel is the weirdest one. It uses the beat from JME's I'm the Best but it has Chronik rambling in autotune about being struck by Cupid and falling in love. It should suck but it doesn't, Chronik sounds great over this emotional beat and even the autotune works. I mean it shouldn't but it does. Some of the lyrics and metaphors are weird as hell, in an almost Weezy's 'I Feel Like Dying' vibe, you have to smoke a fuckload of weed to open a track with "I used to chase sparrows" on the same mixtape as lyrics like "Blud don't panic, MY FRIENDS GOT THE TING ON MATIC!"

Just Jam is a set Chronik did a couple of days after he left prison, the sound qualities bad as it was just ripped from a handcam but if it's great hearing how sick and excited Chronik sounds straight after being released, Spooky's on decks being a don as usual and Footsie and a few other MCs get a few bars in too. The recordings pretty raw and you can hear the crowd louder than the MCs but it's still pretty sick.

This does have a dickload of problems as I said, but they're rendered obsolete by what is easily the most greeziest hyping in years..."I'm a goon to a goon, I'LL LET THE TING GO IN HIS FACE!"

Chronik - Blaze More Dan U

Chronik's a pretty intimidating character. Lacking the cartoony nature of Tempz lyrics and posture, something about him always seemed so much more real.

What's interesting about this mixtape is that the guests are left at a minimum, you'd expect that on a debut cd he'd fill it to the brim with other MCs, but he pretty much goes solo from track 9 onwards. It's great to hear though, fans of real, classic grime will love this. The beats are simplistic and hard as fuck, very typical Slew Dem sound, and Chronik spits simplistic, to the point and catchy bars about kicking your head in with his size 10s. There's something really appealling about his flow, especially when he clutters up his bars around one particular word or phrase, it sounds so raw and underground and anti-commercial. Despite the fact that the features are great (Jammer, Skepta, Esco, Wiley and a few others) I actually like this better when Chronik just goes off on his own. You can tell he listens to a lot of ragga and dancehall, infact while I was listening to this I was thinking "I bet he listens to Buju Banton and Sizzla and that sort of thing" and what do you know, there's a Buju Banton sample towards the end.

Domestic Violence is a bit of a misstep, I don't think it fits in so well amongst the others, although the lyrics are brutally honest ("I love you and I still make you cry, what kind of love is that? I love you and I still black your eye, what kind of love is that?"). Otherwise it's strong and mostly consistent though, it's long but never gets boring, stays interesting the whole way through. It's definitely very raw and underground sounding though, so it might not appeal to some, but if you liked Grimetapes' Slew Dem Vol. 1 this is highly recommended.

Oh yeah, and nice Layla sample in the title track.

Bruza - Tales of the Underdog

A great return from Bruza! He'd been missing from the scene for some time but now he's back with Tales of the Underdog and 14 high quality Bruza bangers! Lyrically he hasn't changed - his flow is still wonky and awkward, his slang is still overly Cockney and his lyricism is as free-flowing, impressive and unique as every. He's still funny and still comes out with those bars that make you think "shit, did he really say that?". Sometimes he comes out with something a bit too out there ("getting pissed on like you're constantly under-dogs") but it's Bruza and I can 'llow it.

He goes old school here too, real garage vibe to a lot of these beats. He draws on producers from his crew for beats mostly (D.O.K., Terror Danjah, Spyro) which is cool, as well as a banger from Scorcher on what might be the best track here ("Don't Give It the Biggun"). His voice sounds a little less exciting now, he's not quite as hype as he was earlier on, with a bit more of a calmer approach, and I think hyping it up a bit could have made this even better (for some real intensity, see his bars in the clash against Crazy Titch) but still, he pulls it off because lyrically he's strong. Bruza left a bruise on the game and he won't let anyone forget it, coming with that unique and unorthadox style, even if it means he'll always be an underdog.

Blizzard - Distorted Eyes

I should say that this is definitely worth downloading, but mostly for the instrumental material on the second half. First five tracks are...okay. Yeah the bars are good, Blizzard's talented etc. but there's just nothing standout that makes me want to listen to them. I don't really like the hooks, which feel a little forced, and when he gets too cocky and swaggerish it just gets annoying. Still, he has skills for anyone that's heard his freestyles and battles, but it's hard to make that leap from a talented MC to actually packaging your music - has a lot to do with picking the right kind of beat, bars, vibe and hook and here, it just comes off as average. Passable, decent, skilled for sure but nothing that motivates me to listen further, you know?

As for the instrumentals, that side's a lot better. Starts off with a generic bass-heavy beat but quickly turns into cool, chilled out reflective shit that isn't too out there or heavy but has a real nice vibe to it. I was high when I heard it and was pretty impressed but that shit tends to translate over well to when I'm sober. It was definitely a nice surprise though, after the rather bland first half, and it peaks with Imagine the World, a less swaggerish, more deep and serious vocalled track - not sure if that's his beat or not but it suits the vibe of the latter half and ends things way better than they began.

And now for that obligatory little bit where I say how I think the MC could improve: I'd say Blizzard should go down that deep route with mellow beats and real life lyrics, it just works so much better for him than the swagger stuff. Yeah I'm typically a fan of more hype shit but this just suits Blizzard so much better. If I was Blizzard, I'd keep listening to a mix of Burial and J-Dilla and go down that route, as the second half of this little free EP is much better than the first half (and it has much more to do with the vibe than the fact that there are no vocals).

Big H - Behind the Scenes

Big H's biggest track, and the one that turn me around to his style and made me appreciate his work more. There really is no theme to this track, the lyrics are just one big, ridiculous claim after another from the mind of a stoned, confused, misunderstood coke dealer. He really has a great niche here, no one really writes lyrics the way he does - he takes the 8 bar format of old school grime and uses it for whole songs - saying shit that sounds cool without really caring if it makes sense. This song has some really gems like "hit him in the head with a vase, 18 shots put your face on mars" "if I see feds, oh my lord, 15 keys and I'm not insured", "I feel hungry all of a sudden, go to the fridge, open the oven, go to the microwave press any button" and who could forget "had a long day, I don't wanna talk, got on a plane with no passport". This isn't some Lil B shit - the beat is strong and H can really flow, but god damn it, those random claims he makes every two bars are what makes him such a great MC.

Fire & Smoke will probably be delayed til like 2017 but when it comes out it'll be shit hot, mark my words.

Bearman - Bear Necessities

Bear Necessities is a fantastic grime album released at the genre's highest peak that demonstrates how excellent grime albums can be to naysayers that feel it should be limited to sets and singles. Bearman is entertaining and creative for the full duration of the album, including the bonus tracks, yet he doesn't stray away from grime for one moment. Let's look at why this is so great.

This album's comparable to Boy in Da Corner in the sense that not all the songs are actually 140 bmp, yet they still sound and feel grime. Some songs knock the tempo up or down a bit, not because Bearman wanted to rap, but just because the tempo suits the mood of the track, and it still maintains the hype. Take Damn for instance, no one could say that song isn't grime, yet it's much slower and allows Bearman to slow down his flow and mix up the pace of the album a bit. It works very well, just as Boy in Da Corner does. However, the Dizzee Rascal comparison ends there. Bearman bleeds with individual personality, he has a big, fun, bubbly, entertaining vibe about himself, and allows his bear personna to leak into a bunch of the songs without becoming a gimmick. Another example of a fantastic grime MC, individuality is very important, Bearman's unique and distinctive without purposely alienating himself for the sake of being different.

The beat selection is fantastic, and is comprised of exclusive riddims by mostly no name producers. I don't know who the hell a lot of these guys are but I wanna hear more. We also have a set of really great hooks, giving a lot of these songs potential to be a top 40 hit without compromising the grittiness. Not all the way through, songs like the single Drinking Beer feature an MC-only hook, but songs like So Outrageous, Bring U Down and Brown Bear Picnic are mad catchy yet still vey grimey. Every riddim has BASS, bass that any grime fan would approve of.

So Bearman's great, beats and hooks are great, what else? Well, we get features from cockney greats Fender and Bruza, funky legend Donae'o and a young female MC Lioness he mentored for a while, and a few other strong lyrical cats (Drastik's especially hard). And there's five great bonus tracks including classics like Swingers and Duppy (Doin It Again) and these feature even more five-star MCs - Wiley, Jammer, Skepta, JME, Trim, Footsie, Doctor, Shizzle, Mike Skinner...can't complain about that, even if the lyrics to Duppy are as basic as can be it's a scene classic that cannot be denied. The album isn't necessarily perfect, Drink It for instance is a bit of a weird misstep, but I can hardly complain when the rest of the material is this strong. Looking for a great and consistant grime album that doesn't fall into a lot of the trappings that full-lengths from veterans can, then you can't go wrong with Bear Necessities.

Bashy - The Chupa Chups Mixtape

So is Ur Mum Vol. 1 grime then? Bashy.com turned out to be Bashy spitting on popular American hip hop beats with a US-style flow, so in a hope to find him sticking to his roots earlier on I checked out Chupa Chups only to find it's the exact same thing. Nothing wrong with UK hip hop of course, but I don't think I've ever heard a good mixtape where a UK guy spits over Rick Ross style beats. I just hate to hear a British MC conforming to US standards, and the accent and slang don't transfer over well either.

The worst part, though, is that Bashy is a really good MC. But to hear it, you're gonna have to dig up some old Special Delivery sets from around '04 because back then he spat hard and funny lyrics over suitable grimey production. Some of his more recent tracks like Black Boys are good too, so I don't know. I didn't bother with Catch Me If You Can when it came out because of it's poppier edge but now I'm thinking it might be a safer bet. Either that or Ur Mum Vol. 1, the mixtape before this one. But this isn't really worth your time, it's just boring and fails to deliver, all these beats are as played out as his flow and we've heard all these same street tales and braggado tracks before. I don't think I've ever got through the whole thing in one sitting.

Evila - I Ain't Crazy, As I'm Aware

It might seem biased that I open my blog with a review of a rapper from my hometown Warrington, but there's a few good reasons. One, Evila's a very talented rapper, two, there are rumours of a signing happening three, and I've listened to this mixtape enough to confidently recommend it.

You might recognise Evila from Don't Flop and various other battle rap leagues as he's gone head to head with the likes of Pamflit, Calcium Kid and Baron Myndz in which he's known for spitting clever and witty verses that are always specific about their opponent, as opposed to pages of indirect mum jokes as some other battlers get by using. However, while he may be known on youtube and at events for battle rhymes, his recorded material often goes in a much more conscious direction. Earlier mixtapes like Alive in the Mirror show a younger Evila pouring out his heart in emotional songs about previous life experiences and lessons learned. However, conscious hip hop is a risky game, while a great MC can write bars their audience can relate to and reach them on a level most other music cannot, too many times they can just come off as rappers that have nothing better to write about whining about everyday life over mopey piano beats. So, can Evila overcome these common pitfalls and make music that can reach the listeners in a very real, moving way?

Yes, I'd say so. First thing that should be mentioned is that on 'I Ain't Crazy as I'm Aware' Evila doesn't necessarily stick to his usual conscious theme. He does for the most part, but on tracks like Play the Game and White Coats he deals with stress and insanity in a more witty, more compact manner, which seems to be a minor underlying theme in the mixtape as evidenced by the (admittedly rather cheaply put together) cover art, as well as a few recurring interludes about perspective and the way the universe works. The beats are more quirky during these tracks, which brings me to another point about this mixtape - the production. The whole of 'I Ain't Crazy...' is self-produced, and very impressive for an underground solo artist that is also taking care of all lyrics. No guest rappers here, although there are a few guest singers, including singer/songwriter Mr. Critic who collaborated on vocals and guitar for Wonder Woman and Take the Blame, two of the better tracks here. These are way more in line with what we've come to expect from Evila, deep and introspective tracks about atypical subjects like teen pregnancy - Evila isn't the type of MC to pretend to be from the roads or anything like that, he simply spits about what he knows and does it with a passion.

Highlight for most people, including myself, is opening track Life Isn't All Roses, where Evila covers the whole fucking map - birth, life, death, the mind, the universe, the other side and the meaning of life. I guess the main standout point I can make about 'I Ain't Crazy...' the sheer naked emotion on display, Evila is very open about his emotions and isn't afraid of showing who he really is ("to be honest I ain't so brave and iconic, I'm a kid afraid of chronic cause I think I'll die from it, hydrocondriac, see every illness I think I've got it") as it's not about appearing cool or looking like a don but about releasing penned-up feelings and turning them into art. And when Evila's on, he's dead on, and that connection between artist and audience is established, demonstrating that Evila really has the ability to create conscious rap that rises above most of his peers. Couple this with very skillful rapping (as you may have heard in his Don't Flop battles, continuous use of multis, clever wordplay, wide vocabulary etc.) and a nicely put together package (the interludes really do contribute to the flow of this nicely) and the fact that it's quite a short, to the point mixtape that doesn't overstay it's welcome this is well worth the listen.

I'm not saying it's perfect, the instrumental for Memories for instance is a little TOO cheesy for my tastes and steps more into the sappy, mushier side of conscious rap which I don't care so much for, but that's only a small misstep on an otherwise strong mixtape. This was released for free download, so there's no reasons not to check this out, and once you have, you'll surely be wanting to keep an eye on this Warrington MC's future endeavours, aswell as the work of his crew Tri Cypha, if this is a sign of things to come then the future's looking sweet.


Download 'I Ain't Crazy, As I'm Aware' Here