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Equation Billionz became UK rap’s most unreckonable renegade in ‘Billionz Affair’

Posted on 16 April 2025

Dropping on April 11th with an official video that confirms his evolution from rising name to underground juggernaut, Billionz Affair proves that Equation Billionz has found far more than a foothold in the UK rap scene. His rapid-fire, grime-licked cadence lands with the head-spinning force of Busta Rhymes, while the boom-bap-infused beats ensure the floor beneath your speakers doesn’t get off lightly. But it’s not just the production or vocal delivery that hooks—it’s the unshakeable energy of an artist who’s done with waiting for his moment and is now making it.

As Equation Billionz waxes lyrical about staying on the grind and rising through the kind of adversity that would flatten most, the resilience hits harder than the hi-hats. Billionz Affair is an ode to fortitude without the preachy overtones—he makes you feel the fire in his determination and the weight of everything he’s carried.

Having started his musical trajectory at 13, Equation Billionz already made international waves with his collaboration with Teni Makanaki and racked up over 12 million streams with Broken Hearted Crook – Remix, which earned him a Spotify plaque. The name isn’t a gimmick—it’s a mantra. “Equation” reflects the balance he chases between health, wealth, and kindness, and with Billionz Affair, he’s adding undeniable respect to the mix. The track doesn’t ask for validation; it exudes self-earned worth from every bar and bassline.

Billionz Affair is now available to stream on all major platforms; for the full experience, watch the official video on YouTube. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

.Roy Rekindles Hedonism and Hustle in His Hip-Hop Anthem, ‘Lush’

Posted on 15 April 2025

With Afrobeat and Dancehall motifs raising the temperature in the already fiery-from-the-fervent-flows track, Lush by .Roy is a serious contender for the underground hip-hop hit of the summer. Hedonism runs rampant through the rhythms and bars, getting you in the mood to throw away inhibition, knock back your favourite vice, and pull in somebody close. With far more substance than your average party hip-hop anthem, .Roy used the track as the perfect opportunity to flex his ability to wax lyrical while hyping the instrumentals to the nth degree. Lush deserves to reverberate on dancehalls and in house parties far and wide; it’s only a matter of time before the mainstream knows the trailblazer’s name.

Born in Newark, New Jersey, .Roy filters his sonic blueprints through love and universal order while refusing to confine himself to a reality designed by someone else. With a part-time Spirit Detective mindset and a full-time hero complex, .Roy’s music isn’t just a vibe, it’s a manifesto carved from chaos and imagination. His experimental tendencies never dilute his lyrical clarity—he knows hip-hop is his home, and there’s no lease expiry in sight.

Through Lush, he proves he can blur genre lines without losing his footing. While the rhythm intoxicates, the narrative sharpens—the push-pull between carnal abandon and spiritual self-awareness is what gives this track its bite. The period in his name marks not an end but a defiant continuation—and if Lush is any indication, the next chapter is already being written at full volume.

Lush is now available to stream on all major platforms, including YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

FLIPPIN’ GOTHIC FABP Electrified the Manhattan Underground with Raw Lyrically Waxed Panache in his Latest Performance

Posted on 15 April 2025

After years of cultivating online recognition through freestyles and an uncompromising dedication to sonic individuality, FLIPPIN’ GOTHIC FABP finally touched down at The Under St Marks Open Mic in Manhattan—and judging by the feral grip he had on the mic and the crowd, he didn’t just arrive, he dominated.

The Jamaica, Queens-raised rapper, formerly known as Fabp aka Fabpz the Freelancer, turned the long-awaited appearance into a livewire exhibition of skill, stamina, and sound system-shaking charisma. With over 2,000 tracks to his name and a catalogue shaped in the Raw Undiluted taste of X-Calade Promotionz, he’s no stranger to commanding attention—but in this live performance, it’s all vibes, the ability to command a room, and years of honing his craft paying off.

The way he flooded the room with energy, finding ways of not only matching the beat but using each electronic pulse as a catalyst for his creativity, sparked rapturous applause through the crowd. He didn’t miss a breath. He made sure no one else could take one either.

Lyrically, he brought the fire that’s made him a regular feature on mixtapes from DJ Ron G and a cult figure online. The bars came fast, came clever, and came with that trademark Fabp edge—chaotic, conscious, and cathartic. FLIPPIN’ GOTHIC FABP proved exactly why his name is ringing louder with every performance.

This live session is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Little Villains hooked rock fans back into the euphoria of pop-punk with ‘Red Saturday’

Posted on 13 April 2025

Little Villains aren’t here to sell you nostalgia, but they certainly stoke its fire with ‘Red Saturday’, a hook-driven anthem from their latest album, Simpler Times. Carrying all of pop-punk’s addictive bounce alongside classic rock riffs, the band delivers a timely reminder that emo was never merely a phase. Imagine Dinosaur Jr pushing their signature sound into overdrive, ramping up energy and euphoria to irresistible levels and you will get an idea of what Little Villains delivered here. With melodies infectious enough to lodge themselves into memory long after the first listen, Little Villains prove their rhythmic chemistry effortlessly surpasses the sum of their individual parts.

‘Simpler Times’, recorded live and free from digital polish at The Stujo in Los Angeles, is a sonic nod to simpler days—when mobiles had buttons and mullets defined cool. Little Villains—James Childs (vocals/bass), Owen Childs (guitar), and Chris Fielden (drums)—proudly trade doom and gloom for gritty, uplifting rock. Lyrically playful, tracks such as ‘Cupboardy’ and ‘Rad Saturday’ embody everyday simplicity with understated charm.

‘Red Saturday’ encapsulates the very spirit of what makes Little Villains essential listening: honest musicianship matched by an irrepressible attitude. With this track, they’ve ignited a sonic pyromania that deserves maximum volume.

Red Saturday is now available to stream on all major platforms, including YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Fists of Redemption: T9 Da Prince Weighs in with Lyrical Equilibrium in ‘Fighting Chance’

Posted on 12 April 2025

The gloves are off in T9 Da Prince’s vibe-steady, wavy hip-hop meditation on what it means to be a true fighter, to bring your fists to justice, purpose, peace, and family. With so much division and meaningless hostility in the world, listening to this short and sweet sermon on bringing your perspective to a healthier space is so much more than a remedy; it is a necessity. With all the charisma of RZA and all the inspirational magnetism of a secular preacher, the independent rap artist found a way to hit intellectually and perspectively hard with Fighting Chance. If you could imagine Where Is the Love with chests of more lyrical gold, you’ll get a good idea of what T9 Da Prince delivered in his single, which was recently accompanied by a self-shot music video.

From Salisbury, Maryland, T9 Da Prince is retooling hip-hop soul with a gospel backbone and enough lyrical weight to crush the surface-level narratives flooding modern rap. There’s grit in his urban storytelling, but never without a sense of clarity. His musical DNA traces back to Tupac, Biggie, and 50 Cent, but it’s his alignment with the truth-seeking penmanship of Joyner Lucas and J. Cole that shapes his voice into something that speaks beyond sound.

With a tone rooted in transformation and a style that’s more sermon than spectacle, Fighting Chance isn’t a flex—it’s a reckoning.

Fighting Chance is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Apple Music and YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

DaBanzWay and Trofye Lit Up the Ledger in Their Hip-Hop Earworm, Count It Up

Posted on 10 April 2025

Like two pyres of fire smouldering together, DaBanzWay and Trofye created an inferno of high-octane heat with Count It Up—a track that proves the currency isn’t cash, it’s cadence. Produced by Versa and released with an official video by Worm on March 28th, Count It Up shatters the illusion that resilience can’t hit harder than flexing.

Raised side-by-side in the inner city of Franklin, TN, the two artists built their chemistry long before stepping into the booth. Even with DaBanzWay now based in Columbia, TN, they still reconnect with enough force to raise the temperature on any track they touch. With Trofye laying down the hook and first verse, DaBanzWay steps in with the knockout on the second—creating a hardline contrast that only strengthens the track’s grip.

The solid rattle of the 808s is riled by the adrenaline and tensile conviction in the dualistic rap bars. With a cadence that bounces as much as the beats, Count It Up is a hip-hop anthem that shows stripes of fortitude instead of flashing symbols of surplus. The two artists show their teeth as much as their talent in the radio-ready earworm, which has the anatomy to thrive beyond the hip-hop underground and echo through scenes built on authenticity, not ostentation.

Count It Up is now available to stream on all major platforms, including YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jason Klaire Holds the Door Open to Solidarity in His Nine-Minute Pop-Rock Reckoning

Posted on 8 April 2025

Jason Klaire has always had a knack for translating chaos into art. With Open the Door, he strips away the noise of nationalistic chest-pounding and forces attention onto the slow rot of a society that’s convinced itself of its own superiority. Through theatrical piano-laced pop-rock progressions and gruff lyrical reckonings tempered by falsetto-soaked crescendos, he lays bare the internal malaise that festers in the face of external injustice.

The production carries the weight of disillusionment with a world that grows more fractured as the sands of time erode compassion, youth and the impulse to question. Open the Door isn’t content to simply reflect existential dread—it pushes past guilt and calls for a collective pivot, urging listeners to abandon cynicism and step into a future shaped by shared humanity. There’s no patience here for apathy, no room for denial.

Written as a defiant stand against territorial arrogance, Klaire’s nine-minute single was sculpted through painstaking revision, mastered by Steve Kitch, and eventually paired with a macabre AI-generated visual epic that consumed two months of obsessive perfectionism.

Klaire may have started with guitar chords and frustration, but what he built is a manifesto. One that swells with theatrical poise and lands with an emotional impact few artists dare aim for.

Open the Door is now available to stream on all major platforms. For the full experience, watch the music video on YouTube. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Arnold J.’s ‘Eden is Burning’: An Alt-Rock’s Cosmic Elegy to Lost Paradise

Posted on 5 April 2025

Arnold J.’s latest single, ‘Eden is Burning’, allows listeners to imagine Tracy Chapman’s iconic singles filtered through Bowie-esque cosmic pop-rock, soaring riffs, and twilight-drenched synths. The Ghanaian-born, Canada-based artist, whose creativity first took root amidst the streets of Ghana, defies every boundary with a genre-fluid sound built from raw emotion and untethered imagination.

‘Eden is Burning’ instantly grips with eccentrically ethereal vocals, weaving swooning melodies haunted by 80s nostalgia without succumbing to convention. The experience echoes the otherworldly charm of Science Fiction/Double Feature from the Rocky Horror Picture Show—except here, the surrealism intensifies. Arnold J. crafts a love song steeped in desolation, a harbingering elegy to the absence of someone capable of transforming the seventh ring of hell into a utopian escape.

Arnold J. has always marched to his own rhythm, from daydreaming melodies in Ghana to electrifying thousands at Assiniboia Downs on Canada Day. With ‘Eden is Burning’, he continues this pursuit, sculpting sonic portraits from poetic introspection, surreal imagery, and existential musings.

For alternative rock listeners drawn to music that traverses emotional depths and existential heights simultaneously, Arnold J. offers an experience as profound as it is soul-stirring.

‘Eden is Burning’ is now available to stream on all major platforms, including YouTube and Apple Music. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Byron Ciotter used lo-fi melodic rock as a confession booth through his latest single, Impossibilities

Posted on 3 April 2025
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=xIoxuYgJ1Ws&si=Hk5o4XXhIdFne8oz

There’s something arrestingly primal in the way Byron Ciotter strips his soul bare in Impossibilities. While most artists polish pain until it sparkles, Ciotter lets it crack and creak through every chord in this lo-fi melodic rock elegy that aches with the weight of unprocessed loss, love, and the universal pull of unanswered questions.

Drawing from two decades of eclecticism that started in Southern Maryland’s metal scene in 2005, Ciotter’s path to Impossibilities was paved through the wreckage of trauma, the solace of connection, and the quiet contemplation of death, divorce, and fleeting affection. It’s a long way from distorted riffs and high-octane catharsis—now the weight is carried by pared-back progressions that resound like intimate confessions. There’s no filter between the listener and the flood of reflection. Every note feels lived in, every lyric sounds like it was torn from the back page of a notebook too private to publish.

While Ciotter may never claim a crown for innovation, he’s reached the epitome of emotive expression. His unembellished approach to songwriting serves as a raw conduit of connection, one forged in the fires of personal experience and cooled in the lo-fi tones of acoustic melancholy.

Impossibilities is now available to stream on all major platforms, including YouTube. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jace Aaron Parks Sentimentality in the Spotlight in His Country Rock Anthem, The Back of My Truck

Posted on 3 April 2025

Jace Aaron puts the pedal to the melodic metal in The Back of My Truck, but not to outrun anything—he drives straight into the core of what country music forgot how to say. Loyalty, integrity, and affection aren’t forced into hollow hooks here; they’re hardwired into every bar of this radio-ready, roof-down rocker that balances bite with sentiment.

The anthemic choruses don’t flirt with emotion—they tear through it, leaving your pulse at the mercy of the rhythm section. While the twang is unmistakable, it never interferes with the clarity of the track’s emotional anchor. This is country rock without compromise—rooted, but never stuck. With a vocal delivery that’s tooth-gapped, frictionless, and unapologetically earnest, Aaron finds meaning in quirks, not perfection.

The track may have a modern polish, but it steers clear of sterile production and self-aware detachment. Instead, it chases the kind of intimacy that lives in sideways glances and front-seat silences. It’s not about grand declarations or empty metaphors—it’s about recognising when someone makes your heart feel like home and revelling in the drive, not the destination.

The Back of My Truck doesn’t attempt to reinvent the wheel—it steers it, cranks the volume, and reminds listeners why the genre ever mattered.

The Back of My Truck is now available to stream on all major platforms. For the full experience, stream the official music video on YouTube. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast