The Very Good Agency

Ya Heard? The Mighty Underdogs

Welcome back y’all to the second installment of Ya Heard? This week we’re going to take a look at a new release that may have slipped under the hip hop radar for you: The Prelude EP from The MIghty Underdogs, a new supergroup consisting of Gift of Gab (Blackalicious), Lateef the Truthspeaker (Latyrx), and Headnodic (bassist/producer Crown City Rockers).

The Prelude EP is a six-song taste of things to come from these guys, and if its anything to go by, their full album (entitled “Dropping Science Fiction”, slated for release in October) will be straight heat. The EP is full of talented features also, with appearances from underground king MF Doom, DJ Shadow, Ladybug Mecca (of Digable Planets and The Dino 5) and Raashan Ahmad (Crown City Rockers).

The chemistry between these three artists is noticable from the first track, “UFC” aka “United Flow Champions”, which features characteristic scratching and samples from DJ Shadow. The banging Hednodic beat and Gab’s tight flow sets the scene for the rest of the album. The EP then blasts into “Gunfight”, where MF Doom emerges from the wilderness to add his trademark style to the infectious Wild West-themed track, which incorporates a catchy guitar loop and a spooky, slow whistling trill (think tumbleweeds and western showdowns). Check out the video for this track below.

Gift of Gab is really on point on this EP, bringing back memories of the “Melodica” and “Blazing Arrow” days, no more obvious than on”Get out of my life” and “Status Symbol”. “Love Life” is a nice slow headnodding beat, featuring a solid showing from Ladybug Mecca.

The EP finishes off in style with “Bring Me Back”; a shout to the old skool, and a true Bay Area beat. In my mind, certainly the best track. Hednodic’s production skills are something to take real notice of, as is the ridiculous verse dropped by Raashan Ahmad. The track just has this funky party vibe that makes you want to listen to it all day.

The new album, “Droppin Science Fiction” (out October 14th), will surely be an anticiated release after this small taster. A full tracklisting, which features additional album guests such as Lyircs Born, Juliam and Damian Marley, Mr Lif and Chali 2na, can be found on the Def Jux website where you can also pre-order and listen to short clips of each track.

Tags: Collaborations, hip hop

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