Bohze The Bottom Left Corner Absolute EP Review
After the first few listens of Mistah Bohze, I knew I was an addict. This Glaswegian stalwart has been an advocate of true UK hip hop culture from its very first landing on these wind-swept sand-storm beaches. Starting out with fellow hip hop obsessives Defy, Smiz & Sace in the now infamous - II Tone Committee. By the time the 90s broke, they had cemented themselves as pioneers of the boom bap, and as the popularity of the music has developed over the years, they have remained peers and architects of the scene they helped to initiate.
Skip forward in time and you’ll find Sentanalez. With collaborative heads NC Epik and Chuck, Mistah Bohze produced a huge amount of stunning hip hop that oozes with the stench of underground atmosphere. Albums that not only do the culture proud, but are filled with songs that brought me to love the ebb and flow of the scene they proudly represent. Southside Deluxe is the label they naturally progressed into, who now have many of the area's most exciting artists on their collaborative repertoire. Recent gems shining brightly out of the gravel include releases from ambient genius Scattabrainz, and the mighty lyrical posse that is Toy Control.
I've gotta be honest, Mistah Bohze gets stuck in the cans pretty often. His previous offerings have been laced with classic hip hop bounce, lyricism baked in a need for passionate debate, and songs that lend from an array of world music vibes and tributes. Each stands in its own right as a tip of the hat to the music he has such a clear affinity with, and together with Sentanalez, have given me many hours of hip hop pleasure. The anticipation for a new release was high, and finding this in my inbox was certainly no anti-climax.
The 'Bottom Left Corner Absolute' is the Champagne bottle smash that announces a voyage of four parts. An album released as jigsaw pieces of a whole, and as the horns burst in and the cuts start to dance between the beat, my toes tap and the head nods like whiplash is my new hobby. The lyricism is classic Bohze, his playful and conversational style has the listener hooked like the catch of the day, and the tongue-in-cheek social commentary is just what the doctored ordered against a world filled with the media’s psychotic binge filled contradictions. This first track is a ‘fuck you’ to fakers and plagiarists: those who treat the artform he defends with disrespect, and the ones who buy the damaging dribble they produce. Funky and fierce, grooving and dramatic, it weighs anchor and surges through the waves towards the horizon.
The EP moves on through a down and dirty groove any MC would give their left arm to spit over. Pushing and pulling the body while stomping through a story of 21st century contempt for a society that works for few, and forgets many. Bohze's flow is unrelenting and hard throughout, with every syllable deliberately placed with meaning.
Track 3 steps abruptly in, striking like a long surviving ZX81. Or perhaps an Atari ST or a Sega Megadrive, torn from landfill and blaring with broken programming. Fused with a random record player it's gone wild for revenge against those who cast it aside, and left it to drown in the currents of progress. But Bohze tames the beast others' fear with ease, and sets to work rewiring it for the revolution. Shorter than a European underground punk song and more bitter than a bath of freshly squeezed lemons.
The fourth offering is another head nodding beat so dangerous, my shoulders are worried they may have to go it alone. Hard, heavy, and well placed within the context of the journey, "Keeping it underground like a catacomb..." the track sits upon a flute riff that takes the listener back to a scenery of warriors and mountain top sword-swinging battles. The wordsmithery hits as hard as the drums play inbetween, and it completes the quartet with a full stop the size of a lunar crater.
This release is not only a solid example of Bohze's catalogue, but of hip hop as a worldwide whole. He's big enough to hold the weight of the culture, yet proud and respectful enough to keep the scene that birthed him safely under his arm. With that ethos in mind some of our most revered albums have been created, and long may those who believe in it reign. Mistah Bohze is unrelenting and unequivocal in his stance for true art, and this EP has that sentiment written all over it.
Invokal - Verbalist Journalist
