A little while back at #itchysilk we highlighted the gritty verbals of East Londoner Nick Blackos.
At the time, we knew that he had a banging new album ready to unleash to the wider public but we had to keep by and large quiet. Well it’s here now and we can finally publicise what we knew was going to be a different sounding hip-hop type album from Nick.
The term ‘type’ is used specifically because Blackos is not your run of the mill rapper from the perspective of what he chooses to create. Far from the generic hip-hop fodder Nick likes to flow with water like effortlessness through, more aggy, hip-hop vibes but he’s not afraid to drop some ambient beats, surreal sounds, other worldly flushes, licks of simmering down tempo vibes.
The album 07946 released on Nick’s very own ONV label, opens with Our Family (Blue Hills) and what an opening, weird, psychedelic sounds, while Nick’s gruff vocals welcome us into his world where its fine to live on the edge of society and indeed it’s fine to live in other worlds-it’s like an aural version of The Shining (1980) ‘here’s Blackosss’. It progresses at a relentless rate through the seven tracks leaving you breathless as Nick growls his way with a wolf like intensity taking the album through numbers like; the hundred-mile and gunning Non-Linear ft Jon Pezotron to the reinforced steel verbals on Moonrock. Before you know it, 07946 reaches the finale, with the grime like sounds of No Answer which features a nod of respect to that timeless classic Hip-Hop from the debut album Let’s Get Free (2000) by that politically conscious outfit Dead Prez-serious.
With such a dystopian world created by Nick on his debut, it was only right that #itchysilk took him on a curated night shoot with the brilliant #itchysilk imagery savant Sonni Rossi (photographer/videographer)-check out that short vid from #itchysilkLIVE and of course enjoy the stills.
While you take in the visuals of course take in the full cerebral album and enjoy.
Incidentally also look out for the #itchysilkLIVE video to Mudbath by Sonni for Nick Blackos soon to be unleashed.