Official Army Of The Pharaohs and Demigodz emcee Blacastan has been steadily staking his claim to the title of ‘savior of underground rap music’ since his debut mixtape Me Against The Radio and its key cut and video “Life Of A Tape” became an underground cult classic in 1997. He has since racked up appearances on Jedi Mind Tricks Violence Begets Violence, the Army of The Pharaohs albums In Death Reborn and Heavy Lies The Crown, the Demigodz Killmatic album, Apathy’s Wanna Snuggle?, Mr Lif’s Don’t Look Down and Czarface’s A Fistful of Peril, plus toured extensively across Europe, North America, and Australia with Celph Titled and Block McCloud.
Now he’s back alongside producer Stu Bangas with The Uncanny Adventures of Watson & Holmes, a sophomore effort that improves on the first in every way. Stu gets completely brutal with the beats, and Blac ups the ante on the rhymes. Plus, they’ve enlisted Ill Bill (Non-Phixion, La Coka Nostra), Nutso, Apathy (Demigodz, AOTP) 7L & Esoteric (AOTP, Czarface), and Tragedy Khadafi to lend their talents to the project.
Blac explains that this time around, he “really dug in and executive produced it: every sample, every transition, every edit.” He adds “People might not realize it, but this album took 4 years to make! I also worked closely with engineer Eddie Sancho on crafting the actual sound of the album… Stu and I are so familiar with each other’s process that we already know what the other is thinking before he thinks it.” Stu elaborates, saying that “this time around we tried out different tempos, different vibes for songs, and Blac played around with different rhyme patterns, so it shows how we have both grown as artists.”
Blacastan & Stu Bangas The Uncanny Adventures of Watson & Holmes will be released on 6-9-17 via Brick Records.
