‘Joints’ has officially hit the streets, with two of South London’s hardest spitters coming together and delivering on their highly-anticipated joint mixtape.
The collaboration brings together Blade Brown’s early sounds of UK rap with the high-energy of K-Trap’s drill sounds.
The hot mixtape allows Brown and Trap to go back-to-back on raw and greazy bars and gives them the chance to bring their respective fans together.
The seed was sown for this story back in the summer of last year, when Brown teased the idea of a joint venture with his good friend.
Fans have had rare viewings of the two artists on the same track in the past.
The track ‘Going back to Cali Freestyle’ was the first taste of a potential partnership emerging back in 2019.
The pair then swapped features on respective projects, with K-Trap jumping on the ‘Joints’ single from Blade Brown’s ‘Bags and Boxes 4’, followed by the latter’s switch onto K-Trap’s ‘Street Side Effects’ with ‘Probably’.
Two years on and fans have only been left wanting more since their last venture together.
True to form, their latest mixtape of 2022 has officially cemented the duo’s partnership.
Joints opens with ‘6 figures’, which gives fans a taste of the meshed sound that the artists bring together.
Brown’s darker rap style blends coldly with Trap’s new-school drill, complete with visuals of bottles popping and flashing jewels, which is only fitting for these two big hitters.
The mixtape then begins to open up and allows both artists to express themselves on newer beats, and ultimately creates a raw cross-generational style of rap that Brown and Trap have brought together.
‘La Cosa Nostra’ creates the nostalgic feel that Blade Brown first brought to the industry and has managed to consistently deliver on over his near 20 years in the business, thanks to his bravado and ruthlessness.
This is effortlessly followed up with ‘Free Game’, where Brown’s chords continue to showcase his flow and delivery.
As we delve deeper into the project, we see K-Trap’s personal touch of rap sync nicely with his fellow artist on ‘Joints 2’ and ‘Xtra Time’, where fans start to loosen up to more upbeat melodies.
The second half of the mixtape is where fans can begin to let loose more and the energy begins to shift more to the drill aspects.
‘Bigger Me’ and ‘1M’ work well to bring Brown into the ‘club banger’ section of the scene and show his versatility to work on quicker beats.
Throughout the entirety of the mixtape, Brown and Trap aren’t afraid to show their edginess, often showcasing humble beginnings with their play on words.
/ ‘We don’t care about charts, tryna put the shotgun back together where’s that missing part’ /
This line highlights the braggy and outgoing personalities of the pair, whilst reminding the audience of what the two have experienced in their lives.
The project then concludes with the subtler track ‘Each One, Teach One’, which delivers a full-bodied yet sweet send off to the pair’s collaboration.
After so much success, fans will be hoping that there is more to come.
Rating: 8.5/10
Feature Image Credit: BxB ENT, Thousand8 Ltd.