Smash Brovaz

Smash Brovaz have created the hip-hop equivalent of a good apple pie. There's nothing on The EP that's terribly original or groundbreaking but the Smash Brovaz have taken a reliable, well-loved, time-honoured recipe, executed it very well and added their flavour to it. The EP is pure mid-'90s, East Coast-inspired boom-bap hip-hop, filled with tight, dexterous flows and simple-yet-effective drum-oriented production. On "Just Begun," MCs Junia-T and Crook hook up with Zaki Ibrahim and ride a misty piano sample to create a hopeful anthem for every aspiring artist. "TO 2 NC" is built upon the sort of mid-tempo beat that made the middle of the last decade such a great time to be a hip-hop fan. Undoubtedly, the highlight of The EP is "Junia-T's Pot," a reggae-flavoured number with a creeping bass line that lets Junia show off his sense of humour, as well as his skills. The EP isn't a trailblazing album but that doesn't mean it's not a good one. In fact, there's a lot that can be said for an album that takes a classic formula and executes it excellently.