This EP was released on July 5th this year. MidaZ the BEAST is an artist I first became familiar with through his work with Planet Asia. He was featured multiple times on Via Satellite, which is still my favorite Planet Asia project to this day. He impressed me on those features, so I went on to check out his Where the Sidewalk Ends album, which was pretty great. That album made me a fan of MidaZ, so I’ve had my eye on him and his work ever since then. This latest EP is fully produced by Sharp., who I’m not familiar with. Even if the beats let me down, I’m sure MidaZ will be killing the verses, so I’m expecting this to be okay at worst and great at best.
The opening track is entitled The Season, and I think it’s a pretty dope intro.
I actually really love the production from Sharp. here. It sounds very cinematic to me. MidaZ killed the first verse here too. I loved that line about how Sharp. made him promise not to melt down the studio. That was hard. The hook on this track doesn’t really add much to the song for me, but I’d be lying if I said I had a problem with it. The song is dope to me overall. It’s followed by another great one called Pardon.
Once again, I’m really impressed by Sharp.’s production here. This one sounds a bit more energetic and lively than that of the preceding track. It actually sounds a lot like something RZA would’ve made during his prime to be honest. This beat screams Raekwon to me. I think it’s really dope. MidaZ fucking spazzed out over it too. He was rhyming his ass off.
Pardon me it's hard to see this artistry is for all who sleep How he rose from the ashes complete as one of his tarnished feats Each leak releases ravenous pits Dead AmStaff risen from the Lazarus Pit
I’m sure I probably butchered that quatrain, but I transcribed it as well as I could. As you can see, the rhymes are on point. The song has a really straightforward structure; the whole track is pretty much just one verse from MidaZ. The verse is too good for me to nitpick the structure of the song though. The closing line of the verse is “Agent Orange ate the porridge of the Bad News Bears.” He killed this shit. The song is dope as hell. Track 3 is called Kyrie, and it’s the shortest song on the project. It has my least favorite beat up to this point on the EP, but it’s still very good. It’s just not as great of an instrumental as the preceding couple in my opinion. The song follows the same structure as the preceding track, so there’s just one verse here. MidaZ killed it though. It’s a great verse. Once again, he was rhyming his ass off.
Beyond the drug-riddled brick-mortar corner niggas be at
It's me, Shawn Michaels entrance theme sellin' C flat
Drop degrees on 'em, stop to breathe moments
Got police swarming, foes should heed warnings, throw some D's on 'em
The song as a whole is great, but since it’s got such a scant structure I don’t have much to say about it. The verse is really dope though. I fuck with the song. Track 4 is entitled Watch. The first thing I noticed about this track is that it features the same piano sample that DJ Flash flipped for Vice Souletric‘s T.R.A.P. Thankfully the instrumental here is different enough to set itself apart from that of the aforementioned song. The beat is dope. It’s kinda cool how MidaZ lets the beat breathe for like a minute before he actually starts rapping. I also appreciate how there’s barely any percussion on this track. The verse from MidaZ is fire too. Once again, he rhymed his ass off.
You know my steez
Gettin' the rich man's envy while my clip stayin' empty
Grew the James Harden beard, niggas ain't playin' with me
Where's your team? If they here I'll just quick spray the semi
Built a road for these niggas, I done brick-laid a-plenty
The song is really dope. This project’s title track, LiveNiggaRap, is exclusive to Bandcamp if I’m not mistaken. It’s another really dope track. I think the beat is pretty good, although the repetitive horn loop does get kind of old by the time the track is over. MidaZ’s performance on this track is great though. Really, if you enjoyed the first four tracks, there’s no reason for you to not enjoy this title track. It’s just another dope beat with another great performance from MidaZ. The Bandcamp version of this project is superior. I fuck with the song.
This EP is great. I’d say it’s about as good as MidaZ’s Where the Sidewalk Ends album, so if this leaves you wanting more that’s a good project to check out. I already knew MidaZ could rap going into this EP, but I came away pretty impressed by Sharp.’s production. I’ll have to look out for more placements from them in the future. MidaZ’s rapping throughout this project is the real selling point for me though. He reminds me a lot of Wu-Tang for some reason. The production might have something to do with that; a lot of these beats reminded me of something the RZA would make. I’d say that if you enjoy the song Live Nigga Rap by Nas & Mobb Deep, then there’s no reason for you to not like this project. Check it out.
Favorite Song: Pardon
LEast Favorite SOng: Watch
82
Focus Hip Hop 