ROUNDUP: All Heaters, All Burners

In yesterday’s ROUNDUP jonker, we went through a year’s worth of Bandcamp highlights. Today, it’s just wall to wall bangers.

Almost all of these songs got multiple nominations in this year’s Vermont Hip Hop Awards. It was awesome to see how many of you make it a point to really check other artists out — and give them props, too. It’s not just closed circles bigging up their buddies anymore. Thank you all for making that happen.

Funky Diabetic - Biggie's Smoke ft. Shorty Bang & Yung Breeze

Young emcee/producer Funky Diabetic got second place for Most Improved, and as much as he won that honor doing hard work live onstage, it must be said: he has hugely stepped up his game on production & quality control in 2023, too. This song is the moment that drove that point home for me: a Street Religion co-sign, a strong closing verse from ol’ boy, a killer beat and a radio ready mix. A grand slam touchdown, a triple-double home run.

FLYWLKR - haunted w/ tyler serrani

This is, most definitely, some pop shit. It also got a lot of support from the voters this year, and as a dinosaur boom bap lyricist, even I must concede, both of these cats have bars. Their cadence is melodic hyperpop earworms, but every verse here is tightly cut writing — which is why it’s so compelling to their fans, too. There will never be a downside to crafting quality product, and both FLYWLKR and Tyler Serrani are consistently delivering some of the lushest stereophonics in Vermont these days. Salute to them both for helping to raise the bar.

Mavstar - Elixir of Life ft. Subtex

Emcee Mavstar is another 802 artist who is, more or less, universally acclaimed for how much he’s stepped it up in the past few years. Long a steady presence at open mics and sidewalk cyphers, Strong Man Mav has been paying dues hosting events, working with local legends, and promoting the Vermont scene like it was his own music. Subtex has been … man, who knows. Dude has been gone, off on a jazz impressionism kick for years now, and it just keeps getting wilder. (Seriously, though, dude is also a busy dad living a good life and he still puts in work every month to make shows & songs happen up here, he’s a noble beast.)

Hakim XOXO - I Need Therapy w/SYIERR

I’m hoping to see an album come from this particular team-up. The energy of HAKIMXOXO up against the menace of SYIERR is a powerful contrast, and they’re both spinning intense, paranoid street stories. This is a hell of a tag team: so many rap duos, everywhere, rest on the fact that they’re a stronger act together, yet these two can capably carry albums by themselves. Hopefully some ambitious young music manager type in BTV sees the potential here, both of these cats deserve a bigger shot than Burlington can provide.

Shorty Bang - ESKOBARS

A continuously escalating assault on the listener, “ESKOBARS” gained a lot of fans for Shorty Bang in 2023, if the VTHH Awards were any indication. I was surprised how many of the new wave artists were giving artists like Shorty Bang (and Konflik and Nastee and Yung Breeze) a nod in their nominations this year. Shorty Bang’s LP Sofrito, entirely produced by THEN WHAt, also came close to grabbing a Best Album nomination. Proof that people still love that grimy shit.

sepol mas - money dry

Burlington has a whole wave of emcee/producers carving out a jazzy, bumping catalog: sepol mas just happens to be one of my personal favorites. On that, I ain’t alone, because he racked up a lot of votes this year for both for this worthy single and for album highlight “mama sayin.” Looking forward to more material from this cat in 2024, but I also understand this kind of quality takes some time.

Obi the Voicegod - Do's and Don'ts(feat. rivan)

Obi the Voicegod has truly grown into his name since his debut, and the range of his comanding baritone is growing with every new release. For my money, “Do’s and Dont’s” was one of the best 802 tracks that came out last year, and Obi’s verse here was also a valid contender for best sixteen. Furthermore, if you managed to sleep on his latest album, African Born American Made, you made a mistake and you should fix that soon. And god damn, you better know about Rivan by now.

RANCH GOD - SUM CYPHER Bonus (Ft Hakim XOXO, FrostyDaYoungin)

Finally, a big, fun banger that got a lot of love since it dropped: “SUM CYPHER” is an absolutely spastic posse cut that burns through an uptempo beat from Caleb Lodish, one of 2023’s MVPs. RANCH GOD is a gloriously unpredictable wildfire, but both of the guests here do a great job keeping up the intensity. If you’re digging this, there is a whole shared can cinematic universe worth of wild new music from local artists for you to explore, but definitely start with Caleb’s I Expect Nothing In Return and RANCH GOD’s candy, coffee, cigarettes.