Over the last 12 months or so I’ve noticed a definite change in style in production, and vocal flow; especially when it comes to our colonial cousins. It seems as if in response to the mass produced, triple snared, auto-tuned top 40, the independent and underground heads had replied by appreciating the original elements a lot more again. The use of real DJs, classic soul samples, scratching that last longer than 7 seconds, and intelligently placed cuts (Oh I love me some cuts). That sentence right there is how I would describe Supastition’s newly released ‘The Blackboard EP’.
Although saying all that, and whilst I am extremely happy that a lot of rappers have reignited their friendship with DJs, and not iPods, if done badly it can still be just as monotonous and boring as the auto-tuned dudes. The title track is a good track, using some nice classical bass cuts, and shows off Supasition’s MC skills, both lyrical and flow-wise. It’s a nice opener, but in my opinion not his best on the EP. The songs that follow are vast improvements, and really open up his eclectic style; ‘Daydream’ got me a lot more interested in this released, and ‘Indestructible’ and ‘Rejoice’ had me hooked and convinced. Faust, Shortee and M-Phazes truly give ‘Indestructible’ its extra backbone, and push it over that edge.
Supasitition has a style very reminiscent of Nas’, and I don’t mean that in a biting sense, I mean that Supasition raps from the back of his throat and pushes the words out in that same sincere and hard way. He is also akin to Nas and other greats, in that he has a really strong grasp of storytelling, and opens up about some pretty personal, and imitate issues throughout the record. Being vulnerable on a record, and being completely sincere whilst dodging obvious obstacles is a hard task to do, and he conquers it well.
It’s not all non-fiction though, and ‘Best Worst Day not only has some of my favourite production and instrumentation on the whole record, but the narrative behind the song has a really interesting, and a nice little twist to it. For the exact story behind this track, and all the others you can read the song by song explanations through a link on his Bandcamp page.
Overall, this is a really solid and enduring release, that I believe I’ll be bumping for years to come. Supa has been out of the game for a while and this a perfect release to not only reclaim his spot, but make a large space for himself.
The EP would also not be as half as good as it without the joint collaborations of Faust, Shortee, M-Phazes, Dirty Art Club, Marco Polo, Veterano, Rik Marvel , The Mighty DR, Croup and of course the vocal talents of Dominique. This feels like a huge team effort, created by a crew of people that really care about the outcome, and it shows in the final project. Get this.|
Words: Aimee
For fans of: Blacastan, Nas, Homeboy Sandman.
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