Best of The Month – July 2024

Who says rap is a sport for young people? Philadelphia veteran rapper and O.G. Freeway (ex-Roc-A-Fella) returns with a new album entirely produced by Jake One that proves exactly the opposite. The bearded legend of Philly, through his extremely inspired grown men rap, testifies and retraces the enormous experience accumulated in the journey called life (including the severe dialysis he underwent) and his musical career, preaching, like an imam, life lessons that every young individual should take note of to orient yourself better. Everything is made extremely pleasant by the incredible beats created by Jake One and by 5-star featurings such as Jadakiss and Conway The Machine.

The rapper of Albanian origins from Queens, Action Bronson, is well known for his irreverent and ironic style, which combines dope bars and humor on classy and unconventional beats. No one probably manages to do this Rap with the naturalness and ease of Bronsolino: JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACHLAVA THE DOCTOR is only the last stage of his hallucinated journey: the white kid from Queens has been touring the world, including Italy and added new whimsical experiences to his crazy tales.

It may have grown, from nothing, in a soil as infertile and poor as sand, but the tree of life of the rapper from Far Rockaway, Queens (NYC), Flee Lord, from the tree to his fruits, has grown straight and healthy in principles like a sequoia. In his latest project Raised In The Sand, in fact, the New York rapper, through his frank and honest rap, tells us what are the values ​​and actions that make a man respectable and honorable, without compromising with his own conscience. It seems obvious, but actually it is an increasingly rare commodity these days, in which every one is ready to betray any human principle and even one’s family, for a handful of dollars. Flee Lord‘s artistic, but above all human, skills are among the reasons why he has earned the respect and loyalty of some of the strongest rappers and producers on the scene, also present in this project, such as, for example, Roc Marciano, Pounds448, Harry Fraud, Jansport J, V-Don and Crisis.

“Time is a relative concept” and extremely difficult to conceive. It could be an eternal cycle where past-present-future overlap and only extraordinary minds can come close to understanding the complexity of this concept and only God can conceive and understand these matters. Philosophical and arcane ideas from fine minds like the producer of Cypress Hill, Dj Muggs with his beats and the Canadian rapper, Raz Fresco, not surprisingly a faithful disciple of the philosophy of the 5 percenters (read the interview we did with him a couple years ago to find out more), they try to discuss in The Eternal Now, mixing them and applying them to their experience and understanding of the culture of which they are part. Rap for thinking minds.

In Massachusetts, between Lynn and Boston, from the Mini Mansion, Estee Nack, Al divino and all the talents that gravitate around it, are fighting kind of an epic and ethical battle, like some Zapatista guerrilleros, against the excessive power of the streaming multinationals and the music industry, who beg for pennies from artists and make the Hip-Hop market a huge fast food restaurant. So anyone who wants to listen to some of the latest projects coming out of eclectic and brilliant artistic minds like that of Estee Nack and associates must necessarily (or almost) purchase and support directly on their bandcamp. Otherwise, listeners have to wait months for these albums to be released on streaming platforms. A complicated choice both for the fans, from an economic point of view, who as a faithful follower of the artist becomes an investor, and for the artist who renounces reaching thousands of listeners on the platforms, making his art exclusive for their niche  Of course the substance must marry the idea and the music, the concepts, Estee Nack’s Raps are in their own way revolutionary, anti-system and unique at 360*. He’s like a Rap industry’s modern bandido…In short, SYSTEMATICALLY WE WERE NEVER FREE, amazingly fully produced by Boneweso, is absolutely worth the money invested and is also a choice of field, in a World in which everything is consumed at the speed of a click.

Among the hottest names to emerge from the US underground scene in the last couple of years, Vega7 The Ronin is certainly one of the most intriguing. Skills and flow as sharp as a samurai sword are paired with a fascinating aversion to the spotlight. But some of the best projects recently released from the ultra-competitive and crackling US underground scene bear his mysterious signature, like a Zorro of the microphone. Acting as Vega7’s sparring partner this time is Ferris Blusa, MC and producer from New Orleans, whose style proves to be perfectly complementary to that of his partner-in-rhymes. BOTH HANDS WASH THE FACE is, in fact, hands down one of the best albums of the month.

It was 2018/2019, the underground wave, relaunched by Roc Marciano and Griselda, was starting to spread like a virus, silently but with ever more strength and rawness. Back then, very few of us were already tuned into these clandestine waves that propagated from underground. Canada was already one of the hottest hotbeds and from there came the lethal mix between the rap of a young Daniel Son and the Futurewave’s productions glacial as a winter day in Ottawa. It was the time of “Moonshine Mix” and it was the first time we came across their names. 5 years later, with this BUSHMAN BODEGA the chemical formula remains the same, but the experience and artistic maturity of the 2 Canadians has grown over time.

Southology, a rapper with strong Calabrian roots, but above all a globetrotter, having lived for several years between London, Turin and now Milan, joins forces with the MC from Nichelino (Turin) Roy ZEN and the beatmaker 17IAM to tell us the reality and their experience of life in the Italian cities, seen through the eyes, theirs, of those who have now graced various stages, walked on sidewalks and eaten “shit” for several years in the Italian underground. But despite everything they are always here to fight and defend their values ​​and passion for Hip-Hop every day, as demonstrated in this EP “Cose Preziose” also by the tribute to various titles of Italian rap classics.

https://youtu.be/3UUhgdBuOEQ?si=Q2ujY3e2wOdNDY2I

Time passes, tastes and fashions change, but certain things are forever gold. They become immortal. It seems like an advertising advertisement, but that’s what we have left to say after repeated listenings of The Auditorium Vol.1, the new album by Common and Pete Rock. The two certainly need no introduction for fans of the culture. They have been excellent masters in the art of emceeing and beatmaking respectively for more than 30 years. The Beethovens and Ravels of Hip-Hop: they are not only legendary, but they have shaped the foundations of this culture with their own hands. Ag0ain, Time may pass, tastes might change but the immense quality and class remains eternal. The Auditorium vol.1 is a testimony to this.