Best of The Month January 2024

If everybody already knows the parable accomplished by the well-known rapper from Compton L.A., The Game, that of Big Hit, is one of the most compelling and authentic redemption stories of recent years. In fact, we are not talking about yet another rising star or young talent who enters the world of rap after a stormy youth, but about a father, to be precise the parent of the Grammy-winning Los Angeles producer, Hit-Boy, who after 9 years of prison for drug dealing, came out and decided to lock himself in the studio with his already established son to record new music, immediately making up for the precious time lost as a father and the missed opportunities as an artist. The real surprise is that he is also good at rap and The Game is the perfect partner to enhance this family reunion, immediately make an important contribution to Los Angeles Gangsta Rap and send a fundamental message to the different generations that live the streets of L.A. where too many boys grow up without a father and vice versa, too many fathers lose the opportunity and freedom to grow and give positive examples to their children, due to youthful mistakes, remaining trapped in the American prison system, starting a vicious circle that condemns several generations . Snoop Dogg himself, one of the biggest sponsors of this album, defined it as “too important a record” to go unheard.

We still struggle to understand the “exotic” choices of certain names by American rappers (lol), but apart from that, the rapper from the Bronx (NY) The Musalini has been appreciated for years for the class and elegance of his his rap and an extremely refined palate in the choice of beats, so much so that he works alongside, as in the case of this 2nd chapter of Uptown Bandits, also exceptional producers such as 9Th Wonder (whose label Jamla Records Mu$ is part of), Dj Skizz and Khrysis. Uptown Bandits 2 is an album classy as a 1930s gangster style satin suit, the flow and rhymes of The Musalini and his various prestigious guests are an example of the concept of “fly”.

This underground tsunami that spreads from the East Coast of the United States always offers new insights and highlights new interesting characters every month. For some time now, Reek Osama, an MC from New Jersey, with Brazilian roots and strong influences, has been getting noticed, releasing one project after another. Themes, skits and even some collaboration from Brazil create a crazy connection between the favelas and the American streets. Add to that the raw beats of Danish producer Machacha and a handful of very spicy features, including Estee Nack and Starz Coleman, and you will find yourself overwhelmed by this tropical tidal wave. Stay tuned to this name because Reek Osama has already started 2024 hungrier than a great white shark.

The Boston area native, with Italian origins, Michaelangelo (read the interview here) confirms that he is one of the hottest producers among the American underground scene, managing to bring the rappers he works with to their maximum potential. Then when he meets a rapper ,like Shaykh Hanif, with an incredible potential, largely still unexpressed before, and that motivation dictated by the need to vent and tell a really interesting and particular story, Voila! We have a potential candidate for album of the year! The alternation of boom bap-imprinted but at the same time innovative beats by Michaelangelo, accompanied by the grimey tones and deep lyrics of the Boston rapper, Shaykh, become a perfect mix. The icing on the cake are the participation of Crimeapple, Primo Profit and BoriRock which enrich an album already full of interesting contents and sounds. The result makes it practically impossible to skip any track and very difficult to stop on the first listen. Hats off!

The prolific Chicago rapper Vic Spencer released a new album, this time entirely produced by Original Super Legend, which proves to be definitely a right choice since the first songs. The musical carpet offered by OSL is, in fact, amazing for the entire duration of the musical journey: varied and at the same time homogeneous, it is perfectly suited to the style of Vic Spencer, who uses his voice as a musical instrument, matching the fresh jazz-influenced  sampled of Original Super Legend. The chemistry between them and the ironic and stoned rhymes of the Chicago MC make this project a one-of-a-kind “trip”, to be appreciated especially if you are somehow high.

We interviewed him 2 years ago, but since then the Brooklyn-based producer with Caribbean origins, Wavy Da Ghawd, has never slowed down his artistic growth and careful research into the art of sampling and the structure of beats and new sounds. In Bermuda Triangle, accompanying the sounds magnificently crafted by Wavy Da Ghawd is the turn of Passport Rav, a New York MC who has represented the underground of the Big Apple for years, reeling off rhymes with the wisdom, confidence and vocal depth of a veteran. Bermuda Triangle is an excellently produced and rapped album.

For fans of Griselda Records, the name of Wun Two, an Italian-German producer, will not be new, given his recent collaboration with Conway the Machine, for an EP inspired by Palermo and the photographs of Letizia Battaglia. Instead Da Flyy Hooligan, MC and London entrepreneur (founder and CEO of Gourmet Deluxxxe), however, is one of the most visionary and illustrious ambassadors of the British Hip-Hop scene, also given his collaborations and relationships with legends of the caliber of Sean Price, Westside Gunn, Rack-Lo, Hus-Kingpin and more. (You can find the exclusive interview we did with him in the first ThrowUp Magazine. Despite the short duration, the quality of this project is super luxury: a business class flight between Berlin and London.

As in boxing, if you want to ensure a long-lasting career like that of the French-Moroccan rapper from Sète (not far from Montpellier), one half of the duo Les Grande Gueules, Demi Portion, you cannot rely only on the power of the punch and toe-to-toe battles, but you must know how to move intelligently on the ring, thanks to a good footwork. Equally in the Rap game you cannot rely only on the power of the beats and the impetus of the moment, but have a solid foundation of technical fundamentals and intelligence of the lyrics. All weapons that Demi Portion has refined over the years and this is demonstrated by her ability at 40 to know how to package an album “Poids Plume“, still current, despite having focused on classic sounds and the depth of the lyrics. The in-depth knowledge of the subject, the 360° love for Hip-Hop and the experience of the rapper from the hood of Ile de Thau are summarized in Adrénaline, a hymn to the discipline of graffiti.

Did you need samples, grimey beats, bars and raw rap also in Italy? Here you are satisfied. This short project entitled Stream Bloody Gore, contains all this in a condensation of real rap, without mincing words, on a carpet of productions that evoke the dark and cold atmospheres, which go perfectly with this period of the year. Luca Mustaches‘ beats, inspired and sampled by dark rock and death metal sounds, reworked in a “boom-bap” key, are the perfect soundtrack for the glacial and hardcore rhymes of Effe Kappa and Terrasanta, Calabrian rappers who you will surely hear about soon.