Moemaw Naedon & C.Scott are back with another bouncing beat splattered in the blood of the murdered verses of the feral flow and intricately tight lyricism.
River Rats is the kind of project that comes around once in a blue moon. The type of album you could play to someone who claims “I don’t really like hip hop” and have them buying gig tickets with you the next week.
Let’s start with the music, it has an old soul that bones crackle with the dust scraped out from the ancient vinyl grooves. Built from forgotten or unknown classics the beat has this nostalgic nuance that sparkles all the brighter against the crisp drums and production of the modern day.
On ‘Hardly New Havoc‘ this is even more evident as the music looks to conjure the same nightmare vision of decades of impoverished communities having to dance to the tune of the same old song.
Lyrically the song doesn’t hold any punches. There is a rich narrative conjured up with vivid imagery. By diving into the concept behind the album and playing with the abstract, it actually makes it easier to deliver a very concrete and real message about the world we live in.
Moemaw Naedon is a truly unique MC, he has the swaggering confidence of Rakim, the gruff tone and flexy flow of Kendrick Lamar, and the creative commitment and vocabulary of Aesop Rock. This coupled with the pitch perfect production and keen ear for a delicious beat of C. Scott makes this collaboration utterly unmissable.
Do yourself a favour and head over to their Bandcamp to grab a copy of River Rats.
Words by Matt Miles
