Best of The Month December 2023

2023 for The Umbrella Collective will certainly be a year to remember. The consistency, determination and solidity of their works has begun to bear increasingly juicy fruits. The fan base is expanding visibly. In some cases, the most avid supporters resemble disciples ready to go out of their way to grab the various  vinyls and merchandising of their individual releases. The Umbrella brand is now recognized among the underground scene as synonymous with guaranteed quality and each member on their own projects continues to vigorously wave the flag with the umbrella, guaranteeing visibility for the brand and, at the same time, demonstrating the compactness of the whole fleet. All of that is obviously due not only to the talent of the individual artists that make up the collective, but also to the vision that Snotty first had together with Pro Dillinger. The NYC rapper has not only proven to be an excellent strategist, but as Boy George Dreams testifies, he is an excellent MC also capable of putting together excellent beats and albums.

Before listening to this album we immediately noticed the caption that Spanish Ran wrote to highlight the intent of this project. The well-known Bronx producer, member and founder of the collective The Church, explained how he wanted to reproduce the atmosphere of a typical 90s mixtape with a touch of modernity and adding that most of the artists had recorded at his home to contribute to the raw atmosphere of the product. In fact, he couldn’t have described this tape better, because the vibes we found are completely those described, with some dope Boom Bap atmospheres  that take us back to the mid-90s with some refined touches here and there that keep us in our era. The large team of performers, belonging to the collective The Church or in any case to the usual circle of Spanish Ran, puts their best efforts, completely immersing themselves in the part, including some songs’ intros with short spoken monologues like in the old cassette mixtapes of the 90s. If you want to experience the true essence of Hip Hop you can’t miss this album, peppered among other things with the masterful scratches of DJ III Digits!

Washington D.C.-based producer (and occasionallyl emcee) LOOK DAMIEN! with his latest album with fellow citizen Rahiem Supreme, entitled BROWN ALPACA, proves again to be one of the strongest and most original beat makers in the US underground rap scene. Equipped with a refined musical ear, he digs into his secret repertoire of soul and funk rarities, cutting and sewing samples, for the flow and rhymes of Rahiem Supreme like an Italian haute couture tailor. The latter however seems born to perfectly wear the garments designed by the producer. Rahiem’s ​​rhymes and voice, in fact, flow over the beats like a musical instrument and enhance the fantastic productions of LOOK DAMIEN!

Fellas, what is happening in recent years in Lynn (Massachusetts) and surrounding areas in the cave of Estee Nack, Al Divino & Friends Mini Mansion is out of the ordinary. The contribution that this secret society of rappers and producers is giving to culture is precious, almost jealously guarded and at the same time arcane. Definitely not for the masses. An underground forge of incredible artistic talent where the sacred codes of culture are alchemically mixed with artistic innovation, each time breathing fresh air into Hip-Hop lungs. So here from this underground clique it also emerges the talent of DatKidBravo who fits together his hermetic verses and rattle off some knowledge with an uncommon naturalness over the golden productions mastered in the MiniMansion basement.

Please do not  accuse us of being repetitive, our research is thorough… if we continue to propose the Detroit rapper, spearhead of the Umbrella collective, Mickey Diamond, in our selections it is precisely because we cannot fail to present you the best of this underground scene. The double release of the third and fourth episodes of the now cult series, Gucci Ghost,entirely produced but the well known Big Ghost ltd., created great excitement and the vinyls  have literally evaporated in a few seconds, as the Umbrella rapper has become accustomed to. How to bear all this pressure? Ask the two protagonists because the result definitely lives up to expectations! The production, while providing a predominantly grimey vibe, manages to combine a more classic and melodic boom bap with darker, more industrial beats and very little drumless. Mickey Diamond shows off his usual talent with bars, high-impact references, perfect metrics and a deep charismatic voice that distinguishes him. However, we would like to draw attention to the eclecticism of the Detroit rapper, which seems to us to be the characteristic that has allowed him to make the difference this year. He knows how to adapt his unique flow to bases with different sounds and atmospheres. Unlike the latest albums, but in continuity with GG1 and GG2,  they often recur to the choruses scratched with the help of Dj Swab. The listening is enjoyable from the first to the last track, including interludes, without feeling the need to skip any tracks. Mickey Diamond uses few features but we would like to highlight the song “The Last supper” With Ty Farris, Bori Rock, Big Trip, Shaykh Hanif and Snotty, a real Anthem for the current scene! Also this year the Umbrella’s emcee and Big Ghost dressed up as Santa Claus and gave us not one, but two top quality albums!

Jamil Honesty proves once again to be one of the brightest MCs on the scene, this time appearing alongside the prolific Danish producer, founder of the Copenhagen Crates label, Machacha, bringing us an exciting album. The rapper, with roots in Long Island and Baltimore, making use of very high-profile guests, makes the most of the practically perfect musical carpet that the Danish producer makes available to them. The bases based on Modern Boom Bap adapt perfectly to the excellent skills of the protagonists on the microphone. Every track on this album could easily be selected as a single! No Skip!

We have been following Sabio (Producer/MC from Arizona) closely for some time, in particular we appreciated the previous collaborations with the Rapper from Nova Scotia (Australia) Beck. What has always struck us is the wavy 80s style that characterizes his productions. It felt like we were catapulted into some episode of the TV series Miami Vice! Thanks to Sabio and this latest album he produced, we also had the opportunity to get to know the Delaware rapper Miskeen Haleem, remaining immediately impressed by the flow and attitude that mix perfectly with the sounds proposed by Sabio. An album with an extremely enjoyable atmosphere, body of work of two artists who certainly deserve more attention… Listen to believe!

If in these cold and dark days, walking at night at a quick pace along the walls vandalized by graff tags and throw ups in the streets of the city, hooded in your winter jacket, you would need the perfect soundtrack for such a situation. 1000 SHOTS TAPE will certainly do to your case. The mixtape produced by the N.Y. beatmaker, member of the crew Heist Life, NES, contains already released and unreleased songs with some of the most lethal exponents of the US underground scene of the east coast and perfectly represents the essence of the dirty, raw, rough and glacial sound of the streets of New York or any metropolis.

Even more than the excellent music, the best consequences of the Griselda phenomenon with the whole American underground movement that it came with, are finally those of ennobling, giving motivation and visibility also to Italian rappers and producers who for years have been spitting blood and rhymes arranged in basements recording studios, trying to bring a certain idea of ​​raw and dope rap over classy beats. Today underground rappers, first and foremost for the “I’ll do what-the-fuck-I-want” attitude than for the sound, as Doye (not surprisingly also a graff-writer, as well accompanied in a song by Click-Head, well-known among those who frequent the Milanese graffiti scene other than by some of the best lyricists of this underground scene from Montenero to Terrasanta and Armani Doc) and very talented producers like Giovane Platone can take their revenge, leave their tag with a nice chrome fat on the doors of the music industry and raise their middle fingers towards the pre-heated fast-food rap for teenagers wrapped by the italian music industry. In fact, while before it had ignored this type of rappers, branding their music out of time, as “boomers”, instead now it picks up plenty on this kind of sound and attitude. The album Rosso Corsa by Doye and Giovane Platone is a further demonstration that even in Italy today there is an underground movement that enjoys excellent health, talent, more media exposure and a growing following among listeners.