As late autumns and early winters go, this year has been especially fertile in terms of quality hip-hop releases and yet another to add to the list is Vol. 6 in the Escape From Babylon LP series (complete with linked comic book of the same title!) from Chicago’s The Microphone Misfitz. If you caught any of the previous volumes you’ll know this lot aren’t messing – though they haven’t yet perhaps gained the props they deserve – as Mel L notes on skit Final Words, “You act like the Microphone Misfitz aren’t putting on one of the hardest shows ever around.”
Throughout the album (as on previous volumes) the crew maintain a mission to “enlighten and sustain” audiences whether that be on the surprisingly sensitive Sensu Beans (here included in its Neosonic remix form) feat. It’s Phyre which lyrically explores the debilitating effects of MS (while fantasising about the rejuvenating powers of Dragon Ball manga’s Senzu Beans!) or on the more boisterous band-affirmation cuts that book-end the album. Musically, things are funky from the off with the Skbb Rok and Chai Tulani-featuring I Love Us and the LP is well-stocked with plenty of other b-boy and girl-friendly bangers besides including subsequent track That Ain’t It, windmilling album highlight Box Of Boom and energetic closer All Love!. 90s-style head-nodders also have a significant presence in the excellent Dare To Listen feat. Alfred Banks, Positive Affirmations feat. Shadow Master and yet another highlight Act Like Y’all Don’t Know. Elsewhere, things get soulful on the synth-jazz beat of Hold Up Wait A Minute, tense on the stuttering beat of Sweep The Room while it’s all about the chiptune-powered madness on Underneath The Surface. Plenty of energy and positivity then which, given the prevailing Babylon-resurgent political winds currently blowing stateside, are going to be much in need in the new year.
(Out now HERE)