Datkid- Home by 8

Bristol based Split Prophets member Datkid blew up into the hip hop game in 2012, dropping heavyweight rhyme schemes in verses alongside the rest of the crew, plenty of ridiculously good cypher videos and, more recently, the title track of this album, Home by 8. With attitude by the bucket load and rhymes out of his ears, I penned him down as one to watch as soon as he first blessed my speakers so was pleased to see this debut album pop up on Bandcamp.

Over upfront beats straight out of the MPC of Baileys Brown, his rhymes deliver exactly what I expected; hard hitting, aggy bars that define home grown UK hip hop and give you a little insight into life on tag. He doesn’t exactly spit truth and deepness that will have the chin strokers reaching for those trendy beards of theirs and some of the tunes could be accused of the chest puffing battle bars so commonplace in Hip Hop, but his flow, style and schemes make you forget all that when your forehead hits the table.

Features from Split Prophets crew and affiliates including Bil Next, Sirplus, Paro, T-Vision, Res, MAB, D. Green, Lowdose and Jay Wilcox keep a posse cut feel throughout the album which is dope and adds a lot of energy at times. However, Datkid proves he can hold it down himself on tracks such as Supreme, Bang and most of all Family Fortunez which is probably the most accomplished of his solo tracks. Weighing in a fair bit longer than the others at 4:52, it narrates a twisting, weaving tale of contraband peddling and street life that says a lot more than some of his other verses and really draws you in to end the album incredibly.

For me, it’s got a few too many guest verses and short tracks to really hit hard as a debut album and fully show his skills as a wordsmith, but on their own every tracks a banger. With a bit more experience under his belt he could really ruffle some feathers in UK Hip Hop in the near future so I’m itching to hear more from him. Check out and cop the album over at the Baileys Brown Bandcamp.