One of the most exciting production cliques in operation right now, MasterCardBoyz haven’t skipped a beat on the seventh installment of their instrumental series. More condensed than June’s monolithic Vol. 5 and a slightly longer offering than Vol. 6, this might be just be the collective’s most essential work yet.
As with previous installments, production duties on Vol. 7 are divided between each member in order to ensure that each of them has a time to shine. Now operating as a sextet, the producers split their contributions fairly evenly in order to draw attention to members that contributed less to past releases. Cr1minal teams up with Mastercard2K himself on the exuberant ‘Gotta Glo’, a more ghostly version of prime Glo production. Later, he contributes a few solo beats including the kooky beeps and bloops of ‘Ecosystem’ and the dancefloor-eviscerating ‘Criminal’. The even lesser seen members (Mitch, RayDaJay) are given opportunity to flex their talents behind the boards in the second half of the project, with RayDaJay in particular holding down an evil, almost tread-esque instrumental in ‘Massacre’ and a stunning ‘Fireflies’ remix alongside squad leader Mastercard2K himself.
Of course, Mastercard is still the driving force behind the group’s success. His contributions here are easily some of the best, with the YomOnTop collaboration ‘Fadeaway’ being one of his glitchiest, most heavenly works to date. Vol. 7 has many more collaborative works than Vol. 6, there’s actually an abundance of in-house chemistry going on here. Yom and Mitch’s ‘Barely Human’ is a tsunami in musical form, a gargantuan piece with minor drum n’ bass elements. Additional production from GoonYears makes the track the only three way collaboration on the project, a fact that makes its placement early in the tracklist very easy to understand. This is a seriously heavy-hitting track if ever I heard one, and the only other song in Vol. 7’s tracklist that comes close to the same level of intensity is Herrroin’s ‘Rave Girl’. This track epitomises the best aspects of the rawring twenties, calling back to a time where nightcore Basshunter remixes were all the rage.
Let it be known, this is a seriously diverse collection of music. At 23 songs and 47 minutes this is by no means a casual listen, but if you truly have a love for the sheer eclecticism of the current underground rap scene then you’ll undoubtedly have an appreciation for something here.
Listen to the project below.
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– Chris (@108seraph)
108 MICS 