Daddy Kev is like the West Coast DJ Premier. Bold perhaps, but accurate – I’d say so. Sure, The Alchemist might be his prodigy, Evidence snaps-a-neck like him and M-Boogie, well, sounds exactly like him, but who makes rappers almost sound bad (or at least, perhaps less desirable) without his beat? Well, Primo for one and Daddy Kev for another. While acts like Group Home and Jeru The Damaja contest to this day that they don’t need Primo for shit, the post-Prem music speaks for itself and sadly enough proves that they simply sound more capable over his music. M.O.P. rip tracks to shreds and they’ve made bangers with Da Beatminerz and DR Period, but over a Premier beat - undebatable. I could go on, but this is about Daddy Kev.

Now Kev works out irrefutably similar, minus the codependence and inner-squad beef. If AWOL One’s latest, Soul Doubt, wasn’t a testament then surely this 8 track EP will, because the Daddy flips accessible tracks that don’t conform his chosen artists but rather encourages experimentation in turn creating a platform of showcasing wildly styles that often get overlooked by heads unwilling to sift through more “eccentric” works. Who would of known The Shapeshifters’ Circus could sound so beautiful when given a beat that didn’t sound like it was made on a UFO. “This Stuff’s Really Wacko” almost has a club-bump to it yet the integrity remains intact as Circus rips as he always does. Mikah 9′s “First Things Last” bubbles in a rippling piano as the marriage of his subtle crooning and numerical rhyme-scheme bring back memories of earlier Fellowship classics (the song is simply infectious). Awol and Kev team-up for another success with a simple bass-lump alongside the Walrus’ archetypal contemplation on “Lick Me I’m Famous”. And he claims, “the roadmap to Hip-Hop is all left turns”, Daddy Kev succeeds countering the curves with simple, effective bangers; custom for his artists like Premier yet venturing into a sound all their own.