Sunmundi & Sasco released this new collaborative album on July 11th this year. Sunmundi has pretty much become one of my favorite underground artists that I’ve discovered this decade. I really liked the Midnight Oil project, but last year’s collaboration with klwn cat, Lived & Born, was a massive leap in quality. Sasco also released a stellar album last year called The Hottest Year on Record with some really dynamic and creative instrumentals. Both of these albums ended up on my year end list in 2024, so I was pretty psyched when I learned about this collaboration. They released a promotional mixtape called Scam Central in March, but I didn’t get a chance to listen to it. It was basically a tape full of unreleased demos, loosies, and previous collabs. I think it’s pretty cool that they put that out there. Anyway, I knew these two teaming up would lead to fire before I even heard it. I maybe wasn’t expecting it to be as colossal as it is; there are 22 tracks here and the project is just over an hour in length. What’s really impressive is that there’s not a single skippable moment. Every track here hits. Since this isn’t a full album review, I’m only gonna be writing about my favorite highlights, but, like I said, every song is worth listening to. I can just throw this thing on and listen all the way through.

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The album begins with 98 ’til Infinity, which has a pretty amazing instrumental. I’ve been pondering ways to describe Sasco’s production style ever since I first became familiar with him. I think this instrumental is a good representation of his style. It’s grandiose, expansive, ever-evolving, and ambitious. The instrumental palette sounds really pretty. Sunmundi of course slaughtered the verse here. The man said “Rhyme pattern shattered time and took listeners back to ashes.” Crazy. I adore the way this dude writes, man. His impassioned flow and delivery sound as good as ever here too.

The minimalist lives in me, from original sin to modernity’s synergy
98 ‘til infinity, born on a rock to anonymity
Contingent on resources that are controlled by rapist corporations religiously
I think anything to believe in is brazen, literally
After acclimating, we had to graduate past ubiquity
So I skate on Fibonacci loops to embrace all of the mystery

The production is so pretty. It sounds like a beautiful garden in the form of music. I think this song is dope as hell overall.

The following track is called Bright Moments, and it’s even better to me. This song has one of the best beats I’ve heard all year. It’s like a wave of sound washing over me. It makes me feel like I’m floating in the ocean. It sounds like being lost at sea. Sunmundi spits three verses over this instrumental, which are divided by audio of what sounds like an interview with a musician.

You are what you carve, I’ll write it in bold bronze and gold
Fight for the sliver of light posed Vs. black hole
I wander like a pro, I live in the zone
I take the higher road like it’s the only one that I’ve known

The production is definitely what pushes this song to the next level for me, but Sunmundi sounds great over it. The song’s amazing.

Track 3 is called This Connection (Belongings), and it’s got another amazing instrumental. This beat sounds like a forest. It’s a really pretty, jazzy instrumental with minimal percussion. The romantic lyrical content matches the heavenly tone of the production really well.

Lights beaming from behind your eyes, I see through you
The bed is the crucible
My head removable to make room for you
The praying man ate only what he thought was useful
Expel the waste through rage and other ways unfruitful
Two legs made to escape the most brutal
It’s only human nature to move and baby you know that I’m only human too
Never shelf your self-respect, the fee is due
Permanently closed sunroofs ungluable
Written in the sky, it’s too many missed rides that gullible lovers have to suffer through

These first three tracks on the album feel like one extended intro to the project, especially since Sunmundi ends this song by saying “this is Contacting.” They really started this project off beautifully. I think this song is fire.

The next song I wanna talk about is called AirDrop. At this point on the record—track 7—the production is still quite jazzy, but it’s not as flowery and inviting as it was on the first three tracks. This beat in particular is relatively ominous and unsettling. The way it switches up for the final verse is definitely one of my favorite moments on the album too. The last part of the beat is pretty transcendental. It sounds incredible, and the rapping from Sunmundi is superb. There are three verses on this track, and all of them are fire.

Let off the bomb via AirDrop
My drafts resemble the Grave of the Fireflies backdrop
Love gon keep us together forever, time is a prop
I’m outside Goldilocks’ spot holding up the boombox
I’m feeling like the one tree that grew in the recently knocked down and abandoned Stop and Shop parking lot
Like I’m just a dot, but dots make lines that circle everything around our plot
And one spec of dust is able to jot all its got to untie dumb knots
At least it better be
I’m telling myself don’t stop, but that’s based off my propensity to never finish anything, ostensibly
Gave up more than once, threw my pen in the Hudson, it dunked in the water with a thunk and sunk due to its density
But honestly I need art like healers need memory, believers need entities, and the world needs energy

They both went crazy on this track. The production is insane, and Sunmundi sounds perfect over it. This honestly is a strong contender for my favorite track on the album. It’s dope as fuck.

Track 10 is called Idling Nowhere, and it was my favorite track on my first listen of the album.

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It’s mainly because of the beat switch that occurs around the 1:27 point. The way that second instrumental comes in just feels so… eventful. I love how the first beat cuts out and Sunmundi continues to spit with vigor a cappella.

Either oracle, each rhyme a memorial
I implore you to find more of you before the coroner corners you
The reaper ain’t cordial
I cut my own umbilical cord on some wireless mobile
If Neuralink the new normal, I'ma kill myself with a snorkel as an act of defiance
Respawn with a touch like Midas, no actual alliance, God is a science
Ayo homie, why you crying? You ain’t pious
Caught him searching for the right answers, confirmation bias
In this world, there's resellers and buyers
I'ma go back in time and transcribe It Was Written on papyrus
Enable cavemen to produce on Ableton and drop real fire

I definitely think the first beat on this track is inferior to the second, but it’s still pretty cool. I love how Sunmundi just blacks out on this track with no breaks. The whole thing is one long verse, and it’s fire. The song’s amazing.

The next highlight for me is called Scam Central. This is the shortest song on the album, clocking in at just under a minute and a half. It hits incredibly hard despite its brevity. In fact, the brevity is probably a reason why it feels so impactful. It’s short and sweet. The production here is loud and kind of noisy, yet melodic at the same time. It feels very textured. Sunmundi absolutely slaughtered the verse here too.

Might shoot a music video through the Google Street View
Took my first steps in ‘98 and learned to communicate exclusively through beat loops
This is Art Deco with extra reverb and echo
This is eco-friendly fracking happening right outside a Fyre Festival
Welcome to Scam Central, torrent tyranny, dark comedy with no irony
Only my inner monologue knows how to out-rhyme me
Those who serve the dirty American dynasty deprive those in dire need
History side eye us unkindly, we hold hands at the crime scene

I love the final couplet so much.

Rhyme ill as BP’s 2010 oil spill
I spill on any BPM because time isn’t real

Track 17 is called Dawn of Time, and it features Defcee. This song has another one of my favorite beats on the album. It makes me think of a jungle. So far I’ve written about how the production reminds me of gardens, forests, and now jungles. I guess if this album had a color it would be green. Anyway, the opening verse from Sunmundi is excellent.

Gimme this day my daily bread, spread it with the fam after I’m dead, feel how I heal new cuts
Made clay when I mixed the ancient dust with a drop from the River Styx water rush
On each piece, leak guts, peace to the wise one who built the canoe pre-flood
Since day one, Adam and Eve been buggin to kingdom come

This is at least the second song in which I’ve heard Sunmundi use the word canoe. I hope he goes for the trifecta. Anyway, the transition from his verse into that of Defcee is really awesome instrumentally, and then Defcee spits one of the best guest verses I’ve heard all year.

Politicians signing bombs or buying their toddlers firearms
To pose with in pictures, gropin' the triggers and smilin' hard
The siren song’s just white noise in your algorithm
Pretendin' public opinion’s the real threat and absolute power isn’t
Wrote this at a table in my office, palm to forehead
Holding on to a future I can’t afford or won’t opt to mourn yet
'Cause I teach way too many other peoples’ kids to give up
So I compromise every morning by taking longer to sit up

His verse has a really stellar opening line that I won’t spoil here. The whole track is fantastic. I love it.

It’s followed by Algorhythm / Power Lines, which features Jouquin Fox. Algorhythm feels relatively uptempo, and the drums are very head-nod-able. It’s one of the more melodic instrumentals on the project, but it still sounds weird as hell in the best way possible. I liked the line about peeing out lyrical lemonade. That was cool. I also liked the one about his only fans being porn bots. The way him and Jouquin go back and forth on Power Lines is really cool. They were able to match each other’s energy quite well. The chemistry here is undeniable.

The penultimate track is a major highlight called Meditation App. This is another contender for my favorite song on the album. The sample on this instrumental sounds very familiar, but I don’t know what it is. It’s amazing though. It sounds like floating above the clouds. The two verses on this song from Sunmundi are quite great, and I dig the numerical refrain as well.

I brought food for thought if you got a lot on your plate
Stressed and blessed under one sun undulate
I won’t curse on the track for my mother’s sake
Draw blood, this verse another trace
Evidence I was unwell kept to myself
Saw the signs in the sky, no chem trails
The script for these tales in my entrails

It mostly comes down to the stellar production as to why this could be selected as my favorite track. I think it’s boiling hot fire.

The closing track is one last highlight entitled The Whole World (SOS). I really like how this song is structured. The whole thing is just one long verse, and it’s excellent. The production from Sasco makes me think of that scene in The Incredibles when Incrediboy is looking up at the poster of Mr. Incredible on his wall with enmity in his eyes. I couldn’t tell you why. Sunmundi’s rapping throughout this track is of course top notch.

Kid, I hope when you grow up, your hopes and dreams show up and don’t blow up
Blowpops, sweet tea, and donuts
Be free of suckers in the land of vampires and bluffers
When the going gets tough, get tougher
It’s too many bad motherfuckers and too few true lovers
Did God smother us on this land or was it
Humanity stumbled on the rock and became discovered?
My timeline is too cluttered
I wrote the rhyme and it hovered
I saw it all in a hologram, solved the master plan
Closed my eyes, pinched myself, then saw it again

I really like the way the song ends too. It feels abrupt, but not in an incomplete or rushed way. The song’s dope as hell.

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^{This album is superb. I think this might be my favorite album of the year right now. It’s definitely between this, Seeker of Knowledge, and Golliwog. I don’t know who I was more impressed by between Sunmundi & Sasco on this project. The production is unlike that of any other album I’ve ever heard. This even feels a bit different from The Hottest Year on Record instrumentally. This is Avant Garde Jazz Rap. There’s not a single track here that I didn’t enjoy. I love how this sounds completely different from Lived and Born. Sunmundi hasn’t missed since I discovered him. This is only the second project I’ve heard from Sasco, but it’s absolutely album of the year material, just like the first one. I don’t really have any consistent gripes with this. I mean, I think if they pared it down to the best 10 or 11 tracks it’d probably hit a little harder for me, but I love the whole thing as it is. This album is a must-hear release for 2025 in my opinion. I’m lovin’ it like McDonalds. Check it out and let me know what you think of it in the comments.}

Favorite Song: AirDrop
Least Favorite Song: Clout Spells