One of the illest Detroit emcees in the underground currently Mickey Diamond back with his 12th LP. Emerging at the beginning of 2020 off the strength of his debut EP Bangkok Dangerous, the dude has since gone on to turn quite a few heads in the underground by building up the impressive discography for himself with his previous 10 albums alongside 7 EPs & & a mixtape. But for the past year, Mickey has been consistent putting out some of the best material of his career thus far. This includes the Gucci Ghost album & it’s sequelproduced by Big Ghost Ltd., the Ral Duke-produced Oroku Saki EP, the Sadhugold-produced Death Threat$ album, the Camoflauge Monk-produced Capital Gains album or more recently the 3rd & 4th installments to the Gucci Ghost saga this past winter. But to begin the 2nd quarter of the new year, Diamond & Ral Duke are getting back together for the Oroku Saki sequel Super Shredder.

“TGRI” begins with a cold boom bap instrumental treating the sewers like his 2nd home calling himself a bonafide villain with the chrome mask whereas “Shredder Loves April” goes for a soulful approach instrumental likening his romantic interest to April O’Neil. “Foot Clan Party” comes through with a cinematic sample talking about his name ringing bells from the Motor City all the way to Baltimore, but then “Cartoon Car Tunes” takes the uncanny boom bap route to cook in Dex’s lab in hazmat suits & protective masks declaring to be the face of true terror.

Moving on from there, “Coffee Beans” hooks up kicks & snares with a melodic vocal chop grinds on the office scene as well as people not knowing shit about high fashion until you saw him prior to “Rocksteady” ruggedly cautioning to get the fuck out the way since the Umbrella making their way in this bitch. “The Masked Man” menacingly talks about Diamond’s competition knowing the deal with him by now but after the “Feudal Japan” interlude, “Tin Can Assassin” hops over strings discussing his style.

After the “Oozey” interlude, “Technodrome” continues the symphonic boom bap vibes to brush off anyone who steps up to him on the mic as “old news” while “Hyperstone Heist” heinously talks about being a killer. After the “Shredder’s Hideout” interlude, “They Took Splinter” dustily tells everyone else to say their prayers for God’s sake & after the “Anchovies” interlude, the final song “Shell Shock” finishes the album with a fun track for the party people.

4 months after dropping 2 last-minute additions to my Best of 2023 list, Diamond has done it again by taking everything that made Oroku Saki his best EP & translating it for the duration of an entire full-length. Ral Duke’s production is grimier even though he’s still somewhat new to being behind the boards for others’ projects, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles concept remains untouched for any fan of the franchise & Mickey’s lyricism goes harder.

Score: 9/10

Source: UndergroundHipHopBlog.com

This is the 6th EP from Detroit emcee Mickey Diamond. Emerging at the beginning of 2020 off the strength of his debut EP Bangkok Dangerous, the dude has since gone on to turn quite a few heads in the underground by building up the impressive discography for himself with his previous 6 albums alongside 5 EPs & & a mixtape. His last 2 outings Gucci Ghost & Gucci Ghost 2 produced by Big Ghost Ltd. that dropped back to back last month have quickly become my favorite bodies of work that Diamond has put out yet so when I found out that one of my favorite graphic artists in recent memory Ral Duke would be behind the boards for Oroku Saki in it’s entirety, it was only right to give it my first review of 2023 since Gucci Ghost 2 was my last review of 2022.

After the “Can Opener” intro, the title track is a symphonic boom bap opener where Mickey talks about how he’s gonna make you learn to respect the throne whereas “Chrome Dome” works in some more strings whilst dashing some jazzy undertones to the beat as well referring to himself as the masked man. “Wow!” hooks up some kicks & snares with a piano loop talking about how those listening be knowing his style leading into “Multiverse” following the “Krangstrumental” interlude takes a more cavernous route in terms of sound echoing the iconic Tribe Called Quest joint “Can I Kick It?” painting images of the wicked mean streets. “Turtle Soup” is a killer rap rock cut talking about what he be dining on tonight & ruthlessly hijacking your whole residence while “The Foot” returns to the boom bap talking about how he could never take all of this from a rat. After the “Ooze” interlude though, Mondo Slade come into the picture for the closer “Shredder vs. Casey Jones” as he & Diamond essentially battle rap one another over an uncanny instrumental with co-production from & Swab.

It’s funny how Gucci Ghost 2 was a last minute addition to my best of 2022 list & now here dude is 3 weeks later kicking off the new year the exact same way: By giving us his 3rd consecutive classic. As someone who enjoyed the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series as well as the first 2 movies from the early 90’s & the ‘03 series, the concept of the EP is incredibly cohesive as Mickey ties in references into his hardcore lyrical style excellently. Now the only time I can recall hearing Ral Duke production a track was “Painkillers” off Conway the Machine’s 11th mixtape Everybody‘s F.O.O.D. 2: Eat What U Kill & that was always a highlight track for me personally, but I genuinely appreciate how much his production here has fluctuated so much in the last 4 years or so.

Score: 9/10

Source: UndergroundHipHopBlog.com