EP REVIEW: SAFENATH - SAFENATH X Y2K

©℗2019 safenath

safenath
safenath x Y2K
EP Review
🎃

Over the past year, safenath has been generating a serious amount of buzz in the Essex music scene. Throughout 2019, Nath has been releasing massive singles; the strikingly pacey Pac-Man, featuring friend and frequent collaborator sammnic, and Liquorice Paper,  a smooth, sassy banger with an addictive beat and melodic chorus are just two of the seven tunes dropped by the hustling rapper this year.

After the disbandment of indie group Suspects last year, Nath took his solo music projects to a serious place. A rap feature on Chelmsford duo STIKS' CM666 helped the young drummer to realise that his ability on the mic was just as good, if not better than his rhythmic backing in the band. This isn't to say it went to waste though; the cover art for this EP is more than fitting. The flow of all six tracks are seriously impressive, where safenath and Y2K bounce with each other for just under 15 minutes.

The cool, confident No Doubt serves as a careful introduction to the EP, where a delicate guitar riff repeats itself with a building pace that leads straight into Waterfall; the perfect demonstration of the production capabilities of Nath and Y2K. The vocal pace impressively keeps up with a drum beat similar to some of the harder cuts from Northampton rapper Slowthai's debut album, Nothing Great About Britain. 

The standout tracks from safenath x Y2k come in the latter half of the EP, with drill bangers Safe and Puma Sleeves. Both tracks are made with a similar production that allows Nath to experiment with an addictive, sassy flow with skilful wordplay, as per usual. A shout-out is owed to young rapper KA, whose aggressive flow on Puma Sleeves will catch anyone by surprise and offer the track a serious degree of replay value. 

There should be no shame in saying that 2020 will be safenath's year; the 19 year old is already dominating the local music scene, collaborating with producers and musicians from every corner of Essex and London and putting on his own shows at venues across Chelmsford, including Bassment and Hotbox. His solo show at O2 Academy Islington in April was just the start of the journey Nath is about to encounter.

5/11/19
James Roe

jroe1@hotmail.co.uk