Aushoj Rekcut released this album on October 1st this year. In 2021 I covered an album by him called Space Appointment, and it actually ended up being my most listened album of that year. Somewhere down the line Aushoj and I had a brief falling out due to some misunderstandings and differences in beliefs and values. However, we were able to patch things up pretty quickly thankfully. With that said, the reason you won’t be able to find a review for Space Appointment now is because I deleted it during my intense psychotic rage. Anyway, I kinda had a feeling ahead of time that this would be one of his better releases. He sent me a couple songs prior to the album’s full release, and I could tell just from those singles that there was gonna be a pretty major leap in quality.

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I enjoyed the first three tracks to some extent, but the first song that really stood out to me was Bad Vibes featuring $andbox Jay. The production is a big part of it I think. Before Aushoj even started rapping I had the coveted involuntary head nod. It’s a very wavy, melodic Trap beat that’s easy to get lost in. Aushoj’s melodic delivery actually sounds really great too. He sounds locked in. The original version of Cloud Envy’s Back to the Flows album begins with a skit in which he says that “flow is a higher state of consciousness.” I feel like Aushoj kinda tapped into that flowstate on this song. He was slidin’. The way the beat kinda evolves at certain points sounds great too.

Light up the world, then I let it burn
Got my foot on his neck
Walkin' miracle, I'm here in the flesh
So imperial, I came with a tech
Blessed spiritual, my word is a weapon
Get the visual, I spare you the rest
Ballin' physical, they called in the ref
At my pinnacle when life is a mess
I'm at my pinnacle when love is a wreck

Sadly, the only gripe I have with this song is the guest verse from $andbox Jay. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nowhere near bad enough to ruin the song. In fact, I wouldn’t even say it’s necessarily bad at all. It’s just the way it’s recorded that really threw me off. I may be wrong, but I feel like I can kinda tell that they didn’t record this song in the studio together. $andbox Jay’s vocals just sound really rough compared to those of Aushoj. It sounds pretty janky and unnatural to be honest. I feel like the verse itself isn’t bad at all. It’s literally just the way it’s mixed and recorded that I take issue with. Overall, it’s still a really dope song. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that it’s one of the best Aushoj Rekcut songs ever.

The following song is called Healer, and it might be even better than the preceding track. The production is pretty fire to me, and I feel like Aushoj flowed better than ever here.

My nigga Stafa, he was comatose, died before we spoke
Swear to God I don't know how to feel like I had a stroke
To minimize that pain up in my chest, tried to tell a joke
Fuck a joke, that liquor downed the tears, now we make a toast

I really like the hook, and it’s dope how his flow switches up around the midpoint of the track. Again, from a strictly rapping perspective, this might be one of Aushoj’s best performances. It’s a really dope song.

Track 6 is called Yunno?, and it has a similar energy to that of Bad Vibes in my opinion. The instrumental is a bit more slow-paced, but it similarly induces the coveted involuntary head nod. Aushoj has some pretty good flows on here too. It’s really the beat that stands out more than anything, but I think Aushoj did it justice. I think this song could’ve used a more catchy hook; I don’t love it quite as much as the preceding couple tracks, but it’s still very dope to me.

The following track is an interlude called Nowlin’s Conundrum, which is performed by an artist named OhNowlin. This song’s pretty dope. Aushoj is completely absent, but this was a really good introduction to OhNowlin. I’m gonna be keeping my eye on future releases from him because I enjoyed this performance. First of all, I don’t know who made this beat, but it’s really great. It’s easily the jazziest instrumental up to this point on the record, but it still has kind of a Trap-inspired drum pattern. I feel like OhNowlin briefly tapped into the “higher state of consciousness” that I mentioned before. This song is pretty short since it’s just an interlude, but it fits. The song’s dope.

Track 8 is called Habrá Pérdidas. This one really grew on me a lot. I think this song has another one of Aushoj’s best rapping performances. His flow on the opening verse is really nice, and the way the featured artist, Torah, comes in right behind him sounds really great. These two artists seem to have really good chemistry here on this song. That double entendre where Torah said “couldn’t be a dentist, fuck yo fillings” was pretty clever to me. The instrumental itself doesn’t stand out to me much. It’s really Aushoj & Torah themselves who elevated this song for me. I think it’s really dope.

Track 9 is called Convoy, and it might be my favorite song on the album. It’s easily one of the best tracks Aushoj has ever made in my opinion. The beat is pretty amazing honestly. It almost gives me A Tribe Called Quest energy. I could hear Q-Tip over this in 2025. That would be fire. It sounds like a pool party in the form of music. It makes me think of Pac’s I Get Around for some reason. The opening verse from Aushoj is nice too. His flow sounded really good. The hook on this song is pretty interesting; the one word I would use to describe it is “intangible.” It kinda just sounds like someone humming or mumbling a melody under their breath. However, it somehow sounds really good. It works surprisingly well. The last verse on this song is performed by Cloud Envy, and of course he killed it. Bro has got the flow locked down, man. He sounds so good literally every time I hear him spit. This song’s fire. I love it.

Tears features Onithereaper and it’s one of the more melodic songs in the tracklist. At first when Aushoj started singing I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this song, but by the time it was over I was sold. This song actually has my favorite hook on the album. The melody itself is just really great to me. I also really love this instrumental. I even liked the sung verse from Onithereaper. This shit definitely grew on me a lot. My one gripe is that I do think the way it ends is a little underwhelming; it kinda just fizzles out. I think it’s dope overall though.

Track 13 is called Sometimes, and it was one of the more exciting songs in the tracklist to me due to the feature from DDA Tink. This is another contender for my favorite on the album. A big part of it is the production. I feel like whoever produces most of DDA Tink’s stuff probably had their hand in this. I won’t say that this beat is better than the others, but it definitely stands out a lot. It has a different type of energy. It feels a lot more emotionally-charged and fleshed out in my opinion. This is the type of beat that you use when you have a story or message to convey. The opening verse from Aushoj is very good, and I dig his hook as well. I actually enjoy the verses more than the hook itself though. The closing verse from DDA Tink was great too. This song is fire, and easily one of the best on the album.

The last track I wanna talk about is the closer, Forever Red, which has another feature from Cloud Envy. I think this was a really good way to end the project. It sounds kinda celebratory, but also kinda like it could’ve been the intro. I don’t know. I guess if it was the intro it might cause some false expectations. This is kinda different from a lot of the other stuff on the album. It feels a lot more aggressive than the other songs. Aushoj & Cloud sound hungry as hell. Cloud especially killed this shit. I love the way his verse ends. The beat switches up after about two and a half minutes, and there’s an additional verse from Aushoj that’s pretty cool. The instrumental on this track isn’t really anything to write home about in my opinion, but it serves as a fitting backdrop for what the MC’s did over it. I really fuck with this song.

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^{This album is really good. As I kinda mentioned in the preamble, this is a pretty sizeable leap in quality from his preceding work. There’s not a single song on here that I think is wack or even mediocre. If someone were to ask me where to begin when trying to get into Aushoj’s music, this is the first thing I would tell them to listen to. Then I’d point them to Space Appointment if they dug this one enough. I prefer this one though. Space Appointment has kind of a different energy to it, but this new one feels more polished, fleshed out, and less amateurish. I’m excited to see where things go from here. I’m not sure how long Aushoj was working on this album, but it feels like there was a lot of time spent on it. Hopefully we don’t have to wait too long for the next one, and hopefully it’s somehow even better than this album was. I really like this one. Check it out and let me know what you think in the comments below. I think it’s dope. ✌🏽}

Favorite Song: Convoy
Least Favorite Song: Aura