Don’t Sleep Special Edition #3

Bo Bangz - Eddie Kane

I remember being told about this tape a year ago and for some reason I completely forgot to check it out. But when I was told the title I got excited because The Five HeartBeats is hard. I had a little background on Bo-Bangz‘s artistry through a mutual friend Zinni but I didn’t hear any music until I heard something from the homie Dra (go check out my article on No Worldly Values) and was thouroughly impressed by his part. I told myself I had to go check out Bangz music. So while I was listening to some of my crew‘s music I felt a desire to go listen to ‘Eddie Kane’ and I’m impressed.

This dude starts the tape with a clip from ‘The Five HeartBeats’ over this eerie instrumental that just intensified the feeling of that scene. Bangz comes in on the Intro to let us know that the bars are here. He showed off a little switch up with his flow. Within a minute of rapping he displayed a good little skill set that created excitement for what’s to come. And I think it’s extremely dope that he brought a lot of talented North Carolina artists with him for the ride.

‘Like a Movie’ follows the intro and it features an artist I’ve been hearing about for a minute Khemistry McNeil & A-Wavy. I wanna start with how dope the hook is and it was executed in a way that by the time you it comes back you’re singing that shit just like Bangz. A-Wavy‘s aggressive tone is like Doritos on a sandwich, it adds a certain texture to the record that after you hear it it’s hard to imagine it not there. Khemistry sounds extremely comfortable on records like this, there’s a lot swag and coolness displayed and I’m interested to see what his music sounds like after hearing his verse. Bangz took that record home with the last verse and immediately thought about how well those three dudes compliment each other‘s styles, it’s definitely not their first time rapping together.

‘On God’ features another artist I should be a lot more versed in due to our affiliation with Zinni but I can say everything I’ve heard from Pop Off is hard. It’s kicks off with a Tupac clip then Pop Off comes in hot talking some shit. He said some shit like “call it like I see it and I got it on speed dial.” and from what I’ve seen from bro, that’s no cap. One thing that I will praise throughout this article is Bangz flow and ability to work a beat. He be saying some dope shit and it sounds effortlessly created. If y’all wanna hear some bars check out this record, them boys go.

I ain’t even gonna act like I relate with ‘Cuffin’ because I’m definitely cuffin. But that record is suuuuper hard. Bro let that beat walk itself in and then he came gritty as hell which is exactly what he needed to do. This definitely that record you thump in whip and go stupid when that hook comes on. Mikee TakenFlight is another artist that I’m peeping the grind of but didn’t have too much background on the music. Hearing his verse I can tell he’s experienced with this music shit and he can spit.

Thoughout this project I kept thinking that Bo-Bangz is really good at picking features that compliment what he’s doing on the records. This tape felt like a North Carolina talent show in the best of ways. The hooks are too dope, he gives you exactly what he is supposed to on the beats. They sound destined to be and well calculated. Eddie Kane is one of my favorite albums of local artists so far. He bodied this one, I’m excited to see what’s next for Bo-Bangz.