Although he hasn't been absent from musical contributions in the meantime however, with plenty of beats and guest verses across the past four years.
He continued to work under the Snowgoons brand handling production for some of the undergrounds most commercially successful releases like Onyx's comebck album Wakedafucup, La Coka Nostra's Masters Of The Dark Arts, and both Heavy Metal Kings albums. Other notable viral contributions from Sicknature include producing End Of Days for Vinnie Paz on his Season Of The Assassin album, the 2012 viral hit "Get Off The Ground" from the Snowgoons Dynasty album. More recent hits include rapping on and producing title track for 2016's Goon Bap.
Sicknature attention to this duality of vocal chops and an ear for producing are major themes on his 2017 release "Copenhagen Kaiju". As well as themes of urgency, size and experimental flows. The short runtime of 21 minutes is still packed full of surprises with Sicknature employing the help of DJ's and guest rappers to ensure the EP's length is memorable.
The EP opens with "Reporting Live From CPH". This intro skit recounts a fictional news report of Copenhagen being attacked by a "giant monster" over ominous drums. Sometimes I wish he'd written a song over this beat after the skit wrapped up, however, the skit works well to set up the next song and kick off the Kaiju theme.
Track two shares its title with the album. The beat contains a infectious drum loop over eerie strings and bass lines. I liked a lot about this song from its boastful, competitive lyrics to a hook that balances both his vocals and scratches from DJ KCL. I'd argue its not quite as strong as other songs deeper into this but, it's not my least favourite either. I did like a few lines from this one like on the tail end of the first verse "My shits a full course meal ya'll are frozen pizzas" among others.
The third song and first promotional single "The Producer, The Rapper" is one of the stronger songs on here. With a urgent and catchy blend of brass instruments and maracas accompanying the drums its one of my favourite beats on here. The verses recall Sickantures previous accolades while he boasts over being a threat to both MC's and producers. Again the infectious blends of simple vocals and scratches on the hook makes this song an easy add to set lists. Memorable lines include "From delivering newspapers saving paper for studio hours/to making stages shake feeling truly empowered" as well as how he's rendering his opponents unrecognizable like "Chewbacca coming out of a barber shop". There's a good bridge on here too.
Track four entitled "Filet Mignon" recruits help from American rappers Hellfire and Pacewon. Another explosive beat with horns and tumbling drums. Hellfire opens the song with Sicknature entering on the second verse and Pacewon finishing up the third slot. There's no hook on here resulting in the shortest song on the EP. Though the posse cut format and energy of the verses don't leave any need for one.
The fifth song, second single and my favourite is "Make It Land Heavy". Sicknature more or less shares the song with Napoleon Da Legend as two of them trade punchlines across both verses and even share the hook. The song boasts the most crossover appeal to trap listeners with various sections containing the chopper flow from both rappers as well as more hi hats to match the up tempo bpm of the Atlanta sound. The comparison ends there however when Sicknature opts for snares and bass hits instead of the 808 clap lo-fi bass lines you can find on other releases from this decade. Theres' a hint of competition as Sicknature and Napoleon push limits with their flow switch-ups wordplay. I definitely left this song undecided with who killed it more. Another great hook with simple repetition; I could see this performing well with crowd participation.
"Dopenhagen" is the sixth song on here. Featuring Manus Bell and Mr. Malchau. The second song to feature two guests opens with Manus Bell weaving some of the more intricate flows on the album. DJ KCL breaks up each verse by scratching up some vocals. The deep guitar riffs and bass lines keep this song at a stuttering pace. Dopenhagen is my least favourite song for a few reasons. The three verses all seem to play at different volumes and the shorter drum loop on here gets a little repetitive. I didn't care for the jabs at mumble rap on Mr. Malchau's verse. This album and the fanbase it caters too could not be further removed from that circuit so the competition doesn't make sense to me. Still cool to hear other Copenhagen rappers lend a hand.
The penultimate song "Too Brutal" brings us the tried and true Sicknature formula of bass hits, singular hi-hats, and cymbals that brought us previous Sicknature hits like "Goon Bap", "Get Off The Ground" and "Turndafucup". The "Get Off The Ground" similarities continue right down to Duck Down's own Ruste Juxx again lending his talents to the second verse. There's also a simple, easy to repeat hook on here from Face. While "Too Brutal" may be the most formulaic on the EP, it's a formula that always works.
The album closes with "The Running Man". Another catchy song similar in instrumentation to track three, though the horns have more variation here. Great bridges and hooks on here and memorable lines like "Soon as I finish a verse somebody needs a beat, soon as I finish a beat, somebody needs a verse" or "All these rappers are just out for the crown/fuck a throne ya'll can have it, I ain't got time to sit down" or "While you're busy posing, I'm busy composing". The theme of urgency and work ethic are paired nicely with lines regarding his limited capacity for distractions.
All in all, Sicknature's sophomore EP pulls you in quick with good metaphors, a plethera of features and some of the hardest snares I heard in 2017. While I only see myself really returning back for about three or four of the songs on here, "Copenhagen Kaiju" is consistent and focused enough to be a good front to back listen as well. It's extensive enough to get my attention but also brief enough to draw out the suspense for his next full length album.
Pros: Hard snares throughout, great hooks, Sicknatures chemistry with all the guests particularly on "Make It Land Heavy", abundance of scratches.
Cons: An entire track dedicated to just an intro skit, vocal mixing on Dopenhagen.
The third song and first promotional single "The Producer, The Rapper" is one of the stronger songs on here. With a urgent and catchy blend of brass instruments and maracas accompanying the drums its one of my favourite beats on here. The verses recall Sickantures previous accolades while he boasts over being a threat to both MC's and producers. Again the infectious blends of simple vocals and scratches on the hook makes this song an easy add to set lists. Memorable lines include "From delivering newspapers saving paper for studio hours/to making stages shake feeling truly empowered" as well as how he's rendering his opponents unrecognizable like "Chewbacca coming out of a barber shop". There's a good bridge on here too.
Track four entitled "Filet Mignon" recruits help from American rappers Hellfire and Pacewon. Another explosive beat with horns and tumbling drums. Hellfire opens the song with Sicknature entering on the second verse and Pacewon finishing up the third slot. There's no hook on here resulting in the shortest song on the EP. Though the posse cut format and energy of the verses don't leave any need for one.
The fifth song, second single and my favourite is "Make It Land Heavy". Sicknature more or less shares the song with Napoleon Da Legend as two of them trade punchlines across both verses and even share the hook. The song boasts the most crossover appeal to trap listeners with various sections containing the chopper flow from both rappers as well as more hi hats to match the up tempo bpm of the Atlanta sound. The comparison ends there however when Sicknature opts for snares and bass hits instead of the 808 clap lo-fi bass lines you can find on other releases from this decade. Theres' a hint of competition as Sicknature and Napoleon push limits with their flow switch-ups wordplay. I definitely left this song undecided with who killed it more. Another great hook with simple repetition; I could see this performing well with crowd participation.
"Dopenhagen" is the sixth song on here. Featuring Manus Bell and Mr. Malchau. The second song to feature two guests opens with Manus Bell weaving some of the more intricate flows on the album. DJ KCL breaks up each verse by scratching up some vocals. The deep guitar riffs and bass lines keep this song at a stuttering pace. Dopenhagen is my least favourite song for a few reasons. The three verses all seem to play at different volumes and the shorter drum loop on here gets a little repetitive. I didn't care for the jabs at mumble rap on Mr. Malchau's verse. This album and the fanbase it caters too could not be further removed from that circuit so the competition doesn't make sense to me. Still cool to hear other Copenhagen rappers lend a hand.
The penultimate song "Too Brutal" brings us the tried and true Sicknature formula of bass hits, singular hi-hats, and cymbals that brought us previous Sicknature hits like "Goon Bap", "Get Off The Ground" and "Turndafucup". The "Get Off The Ground" similarities continue right down to Duck Down's own Ruste Juxx again lending his talents to the second verse. There's also a simple, easy to repeat hook on here from Face. While "Too Brutal" may be the most formulaic on the EP, it's a formula that always works.
The album closes with "The Running Man". Another catchy song similar in instrumentation to track three, though the horns have more variation here. Great bridges and hooks on here and memorable lines like "Soon as I finish a verse somebody needs a beat, soon as I finish a beat, somebody needs a verse" or "All these rappers are just out for the crown/fuck a throne ya'll can have it, I ain't got time to sit down" or "While you're busy posing, I'm busy composing". The theme of urgency and work ethic are paired nicely with lines regarding his limited capacity for distractions.
All in all, Sicknature's sophomore EP pulls you in quick with good metaphors, a plethera of features and some of the hardest snares I heard in 2017. While I only see myself really returning back for about three or four of the songs on here, "Copenhagen Kaiju" is consistent and focused enough to be a good front to back listen as well. It's extensive enough to get my attention but also brief enough to draw out the suspense for his next full length album.
Pros: Hard snares throughout, great hooks, Sicknatures chemistry with all the guests particularly on "Make It Land Heavy", abundance of scratches.
Cons: An entire track dedicated to just an intro skit, vocal mixing on Dopenhagen.
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