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 Phi-Life Cypher Over 12"
The a-side 'Over' skanks along with a neat soulful loop meandering alongside various vocal stabs. Theres nothing over complex about the production - its simple and most importantly mixed down for that crisp high quality. The regular emcee's are joined by guest Skit Slam who flows with calmness - his flow matches up the beat and this contrasts harshly back upon Life and Si-Philli's frenetic delivery. Lyrically it works like most Phi-Life tracks - lots of clever simile wound around simple endline comparisons, i.e. 'I'll make you', 'I'm like', 'My style is', etc. I like the vibe of the track - the beat gives a soothing calm which creates a nice easy backdrop for the speedy flows to wisp across the top.
The flip 'Cypher Funk' holds it down - the vibe is driven through a dominant bluesy guitar riff which is looped and chopped throughout the track. Add some nice bass/stab/sample layers alongside some real bouncy drum programming and you've got a heavy beat - Nappa definitely holding it down with the simple killer beats. The emcee's drop tight clever lines across the sinewy beat - and whilst a number of the punches dont really grab your brain they sound heavy and fit together nicely. A nice cohesive hiphop track.
Overall - a good twelve which will definitely hit the sweetspot for existing PLC fans. I preferred the flip but both tracks are high quality, flow sweetly and are def a nice taster for Phi-Life Cyper's second LP which is set to drop on Zebra Traffic in April '03. A uk hiphop crew producing and consistently dealing in albums of material? Yup.
- Smiffy
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