featured REVIEW


Maylay Sparks Hood Thrill Hunters RebelRahRecords • 2018

Maylay and Europe: it sparks. The Philadelphian MC probably tops the list of American rappers who collaborated most with European artists. Not strange: the last two decades, he's been living in Sweden and Denmark.

But still: with today's technology and a strong reputation in the American underground still, Maylay Sparks could've chosen to work with producers from his land of birth. But: he's not the type to send wav's back and forth. Rather he'd chill in the studio with fellow musicians, crack a beer and a few jokes and unleash bars all night long. This time with Swedish producer K-Sluggah and his crew Muddy Fatique, whom he already worked with in the past. In 2011 for instance, on 'Truckdriver Fortuneteller' EP.

Maylay Sparks masters his flow. With sharp, gusty bars. With a tenacious tone and a vivid voice timbre, he murders the beat, whether it's jazzy, cinematographic or Oriental. 'Born with the metronome embedded'.

The atmosphere on the record is a combination of a Bukowski novel and a Kool G Rap record. A bacchanal with gangsta allures. No one raps more poetically about drinks ('Rose foam floating'). Almost every alcoholic beverage is mentioned, from rum to Cava.

If listening to the lyrics doesn't make you dizzy, the flows will. While Maylay Sparks is the master, featured artists Chukk Rukkuz (on 'Poison'!), Rocc Spotz (on 'Stabio'!) and John Jiggs -on the single 'Bo Derek'- don't linger behind. They rap. Like they don't give a fuck.

This is hip-hop with an attitude. Authentic. Honest, without compromises, and euh...without wav's e-mailed back and forth.

Hood Thrill Hunters is out now, digitally and on vinyl.

POSTED ON 10|11|2018 by cpf

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