OneLion Sound - Dabbla – Year of the Monkey album review.

By Benjamin Hewin

It’s what we’ve all been waiting for.
Dabbla - aka. Poppa Murk, aka. Paddy Mashdown, aka. Pedro Barzini - is finally here with his L.P, suitably titled ‘Year of the Monkey’. One of the UK Hip Hop scene’s most loved faces has finally put his name to a full length album and jheeze, was it worth the wait. The beats on this album are produced by GhostTown and we all know that works rather well, don’t we? Yeah!

This MC has had his finger in so many musical pies over the past few years it’s a wonder he’s not sponsored by Guinsters. His London Zoo (aka. LDZ) family have given life to endless rinse-worthy tunes and if you haven’t heard of them you’ve obviously been living under a rock. LDZ’s LimaDeltaZebra released by Potent Funk Records in February 2014 is a personal favourite from the London trio and is a great example of the chemistry between the three artists, Dabbla, Cobes and Rocko. The LDZ Catfood LP released over 4 years ago in 2011 will give you a full view into the unique lyrical habits of Mr. Dabbla and his crew, and if that isn’t enough: go wander over to Souncloud.com and feast your ears on ‘Dabbla does Dilla’ (R.I.P). A fitting longer-than-half-an-hour tribute to the one and only Slum Village legend that is J. Dilla himself.

Dabbla is also one of the key halves of Dead Players, who just last year released their album Freshly Skeletal. This really shouldn’t need explaining, but if it does, head over to the OLS album review and the rest shall be history…

Problem Child gets an imperative mention here as a key part of the emcee’s impressive musical portfolio; together with Dubbledge, Illaman and beats by Sumgii, Dabbla plays a leading role in the ever amusing madhouse that is the Problem Child collective, bringing super-hyped outdoor cyphers, award worthy jokes bars and a live performance that will get even the wonkiest festival goer raring. With Problem Child’s ‘730’ released only in July by label Par Excellence, Dabbla’s recent work rate is something to behold. Did I mention he just released an album?

Year of the Monkey is a collaboration of bars that Dabbla has been stockpiling and building up over the years. Speaking on Kane.fm recently he responded: “This album, about forty percent of it, maybe even half of it, I’ve had in the vault for a very long time, like, there’s some personal songs on there that have always been meant for a solo album.” The MC was also asked about his work style and how he produces music. “Yeah, there’s no pattern, there’s no set formula, just like, when I get inspired to write a bar, I don’t even write to beats anymore.” He jokes “basically I dunno’ what I’m doin’.”

His LP begs to differ, starting us off with a three-minute introduction titled Everything. “Come, we resurrect that shit we fell in love with, but not include the poppin’ stupid bottles in the club bit.” Dabbla gives us a taster of the sort of - I don’t give a fuck- type vibe to be expected from the rest of the tracks on the album and the bareness of the beat on the first track really sets the tone for the lyrical technicality to come on the rest of the LP. Does this man even need beats?

Track. 02 – Supermodified sees a collaboration of bars new and old, mixed over a bassy 64-bit type beat with a catchy hook, extolling the virtues of working for oneself. A presumed point of pride for the artist who has made it so far off his own back.  Cheers, track. 04 on the album is definitely one for the events, with a jumpy bassline “good job music is the key, used to be a criminal, wasn’t really me, there’s a lot of rappers tryna’ act like there's, I just wanna’ round em’ up an’ chuck em’ in the sea!”-  Dabbla’s live performances with High Focus never fail to buzz a crowd, and this tune is perfect for an early hour’s skank-sesh at one of his live shows. Don’t forget your skankin’ shoes kids! High Focus have already released four full length tracks with videos to boot. Stupid, Superhappy Randeer and Vomit ft. Jam Baxter are all available for viewing on Youtube and give a good idea of what’s to come on the LP. This is however by no means Dabbla’s limit. Track. 11 - Get it ft. Ocean Wisdom is an amazing collab from High Focus’ two newest rappers. The two artists are both right at home rapping double time and the lyrical skill shown in Get it is top calibre.

This album has so many years’ worth of talent put into it, it really is an awesome showcase of the hours, days and years of work that Dabbla has put into his craft.
Year of the Monkey is available for pre-order at the High Focus records store on both CD and vinyl

Time to raid the piggy bank!