BritishHipHop.co.uk M9 High Fidelity Review M9 has been sat in my backlog of reviews, but I'm sorry that this has been the case as this boys skills are ridiculous. He has an intense rhyming style that takes no prisoners. Melanin 9 breathes new life into a genre that has seemingly been entering its last days.
Apparently he is part of the Triple Darkness click comprising Cyrus Malachi and Nasheron and can be heard on the Phalanx Heresy stuff as well. M9 has a complex flow that has the intricacies of say, a Jehst, but also has a deep gravity and verities that gives him a harder edge. Interline rhyme schemes abound amongst gritty street reportage along side examinations of the Illuminate and instructions for surviving the grimy streets.
M9 is obviously well schooled with A1 influences and an educated mind that is able to impart knowledge of the ancients whilst making it relevant to today. M9’s flow is absolutely unstoppable and he keeps up the vibe throughout the 16 track album. Each track follows on quickly from the previous one giving the listener little time to take it all in. In fact to take it all in you’ll need to give this a few listens.
The LP kicks off with a multi layered and deceptively mellow intro which is laced with a funky bass and a variety of poignant vocal samples. The first words we hear are ‘High Fidelity’ which perversely come on a track which has an annoying electrical buzz in the recording. Regardless the track is fat and also introduces us to the other Triple Darkness MCs who guest on this.
Lock And Load has a perfect bass line which intermingles with the drums and the vocal flow for a hard hitting head nodder. It is had to point to stand out tracks, but you have to be feeling the sheer harshness of Holy Water which features Phoenix Da IceFire, or the piano riffed The Generation Gap which follows directly.
The double paced rapping of 4 Souls demonstrates how M9 can seemingly get his spits out without breathing. One of the few easier going tracks is Last Dayz, but this still tries to open your eyes to some serious issues.
Chemo has produced several of the beats on here and he is certainly making a name for himself with his top notch beats and superb mixdowns. Beat Butcha also provides a beat or two, so you just know that the beats are going to be obese. Mostly mid tempo bangers they are made to sound more frantic due to the barrage of words from M9.
Overall this is a tremendous LP which hits with a lot more energy and vibrancy than many of the offerings I have heard recently. Yeah, it must be hard for M9 to perform live and remember all his lines, but on wax he stands out from the pack and I'll be checking for him in the future.
