One of the sickest Detroit Emcees in the underground right now Mickey Diamond returns with his 12th LP. Emerging in early 2020 on the strength of his debut EP Bangkok Dangerous, the dude has since turned quite a few heads in the underground building an impressive discography for himself with his previous 10 albums along with 7 EPs & & a mixtape. But over the past year, Mickey has been consistently putting out some of the best material of his career so far. This includes the Gucci Ghost The album and its sequel are produced by Big Ghost Ltd., produced by Ral Duke Oroku Saki EP, produced by Sadhugold Death threat$ album, Camoflauge Monk production Capital gains album or more recently its 3rd & 4th installment Gucci Ghost since last winter. But to kick off the 2nd quarter of the new year, Diamond and Ral Duke reunite for the Oroku Saki follow Super Shredder.
“TGRI” opens with a cold boom-bap instrumental that treats the sewers like its second home, calling itself a good bad guy with a chrome mask, while “Shredder Loves April” takes a soulful instrumental approach that parallels his romantic interested in April O'Neil. “Foot Clan Party” comes with a cinematic sample that speaks its name ringing bells from the Motor City to Baltimore, but then “Cartoon Car Tunes” goes the unusual boom-bam route to cook in Dex's workshop with uniforms and protective suits masks that declare the face of true terror.
Moving on from there, “Coffee Beans” connects the kicks and snares with a melodic vocal track in the office scene as well as people who don't know about high fashion until you saw him before “Rocksteady” harshly warning about to escape. the way since the umbrella made its way to this bitch. “The Masked Man” talks menacingly about Diamond's competition knowing the deal with him as of now, but after the “Feudal Japan” break, “Tin Can Assassin” jumps on the bandwagon discussing his style.
After the 'Oozey' break, 'Technodrome' continues the symphonic boom bap vibes to dismiss anyone who approaches him on the mic as 'old news', while 'Hyperstone Heist' snidely says he's a killer. After the break of “Shredder's Hideout”, “They Took Splinter” dustily tells everyone to say their prayers for God's sake and after the break of “Achovies”, the last song “Shell Shock” closes the album with a fun track for party people. .
4 months after I made 2 last minute additions to my best of 2023 list, Diamond has done it again by taking everything they did Oroku Saki his best EP and translates it into a full length. Ral Duke's production is more somber, even though he's still somewhat new to being behind the boards for other people's projects, the concept of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles remains untouched for any fan of the franchise, and Mickey's lyricism is more difficult.
Rating: 9/10
