This extended play was released on December 1st this year. Sunmundi is an artist whom I first discovered when Damn That Noise began promoting their debut album, Midnight Oil. I ended up thinking that album was really good, so I decided that I’d keep an eye on whatever Sunmundi decided to do next. I wasn’t that familiar with the artist who produced this project, shemar, so I didn’t know if I would end up liking the soundscape that was crafted here. However, this project thankfully blew me away. I think this shit is fire.

---

The project begins with a highlight entitled Ringing the Line. The first thing that stood out to me was the dreamy, melodic production. It sounds really soft and heavenly. I love it. Sunmundi rapped his ass off on this shit too. I love how aggressive his delivery and flow sound. I didn’t realize until my second or third listen that he managed to carry the same rhyme scheme throughout the entire verse. He killed this shit. My reasons for loving this song are simple. The beat and rapping are just really fucking good in my opinion. Not only is it impressive lyrically, but it just sounds really good. The following track, Mic Check, is even better in my opinion. This one features a verse from shemar, and it’s one of my favorite songs of the year. The production here from shemar is absolutely stunning. It’s melodic and lo-fi, but it also just has a really warm vibe. It makes me feel like I’m chilling in a comfy bed eating soup.

Throw the yucca root in the stew
All that rap brings white noise, beep boop
White boys killin' beat loops
Fuck it, I'll succumb to the low hanging fruit
Graduation from Griselda type beats
Only thing I'm praying for is we all make it through
One wrong move could flip this whole fucking canoe
shemar taking us farther than far on the 1s and 2s

The more I listened to this, the more I realized that it reminded me a lot of Mavi’s Let the Sun Talk. Sunmundi’s vocal delivery and flow reminded me of something Mavi would do, and I can definitely imagine him over this beat. The second verse from shemar was really nice too. There’s really nothing about this song that I don’t love. Like I said, it’s one of my favorites of the year. I think it’s dope as fuck. The following track is called Grayscale, and it didn’t blow me away as much on my first listen of the project, but it grew on me even more with time. The production has a really somber tone, and the lyricism from Sunmundi is relatively sentimental. Vocally, he reminded me more of Navy Blue on this one.

I'm trying to get over, at times I feel like my strength is a sham
But you lift me up like patients on a bed for the brain scan
Not raps, but momentary graveyard jams
Flatline, cooked down the fat from the lamb
Life is beautiful, your birria is damned
Sometimes I need a hug wider than the width of a wingspan
Just understand, you my love, and I'm your man

This is still far from my favorite song on the project, but that’s not to say that it’s anywhere near being wack. This would be the best song on a lot of other artists’ albums. It’s dope as hell. The closing track is called Automatic Writing. I love the triumphant-sounding production, and, once again, Sunmundi’s performance over it was hella impressive. I will say that the structure of the song was a bit predictable considering what preceded it, but that’s just a nitpick. The actual verse and production are just too good for me to not love this shit. The song’s fire.

---

^{This is definitely one of my favorite projects of the year. I love every single beat from shemar here, and Sunmundi is a really impressive writer and performer. As I kinda mentioned towards the end of the body of this review, one nitpick is that all of the songs are structured pretty much the exact same way, so you kinda know what you’re gonna get by the time the first song is over. A lot of underground artists take this approach of just rapping a lot over beats with no hook or bridge or anything like that, but this is one of the best examples I’ve heard of it, so I don’t really mind much personally. I think the project’s brevity helps prevent it from getting too stale. These beats are fire and Sunmundi killed them. That’s really all it boils down to. I love this shit. I think it’s amazing. Give it a listen and let me know what you think in the comments below.}

Favorite Song: Mic Check
Least Favorite Song: Grayscale

92