Miami trio ¡MAYDAY! ahead of their upcoming 9th full-length LP, albeit their first under their own label ¡MAYDAY! Music distributed by It Goes Up Entertainment & Strange Music with their 5th EP and 3rd installment of The thinnest line trilogy. Formed in 2003 by keyboardist/guitarist Plex Luthor & emcee Bernz, the duo released their self-titled debut in the fall of '06 before adding 4 more members: emcee/producer Wrekonize, bassist Gianni Ca$h, percussionist NonMS & drummer LT Hopkins in 2009. Together, they would start rocking the underground from 2 EPs and their second album Stuck on an island. This would catch the attention of Kansas City veteran Tech N9ne, who signed the band to his indie powerhouse Strange Music in 2011. They would go on to establish themselves as top acts on the label's roster from critically acclaimed projects such as Take me to your leader, Thrift Store Halos, Faithful & Future Vintage. However since 2016, ¡MAYDAY! has retained her current lineup of Wrek, Bernz & NonMS. Their first album as a trio Search group was a decent sequel to Stuck on an Island & the heavily reggae influenced South of 5th it was a little better, but Minute to midnight completed to easily make ¡MAYDAY!'s best in 6 years. They have since bonded with Strange to form ¡MAYDAY! Music & signing a distribution deal with Strange Music co-founder Travis O'Guin's It Goes Up Entertainment subsidiary. Now as far as The thinnest line The series, the first independently released installment is my favorite and the sequel with Strange's support was just decent. However, as Minute to Midnight was a return to form, the latter entry had to be better in my mind.
After the introduction of “End”, the first song “Hate to Love You” is an incredibly catchy pop rap open to The thinnest line III cooked up by NonMS coming to terms with how hard it is to admit they're in love with these single partners, while “Warning Signs” goes the acoustic route thanks to MIKE SUMMERS aka Seven talking about having fun pretending it was permanent. Mike SB's feature on “Pull Up” has to be the only one of the 2 on the EP that I respectfully didn't care for, despite the groovy instrumental of the same production and the theme of refusing to stop until they get in the car with the windows down , but then the futuristically funky “Last Night” picks things back up asking what you're doing out here tonight. 'At Least We Tried' turns to summer turf refusing to say goodbye and 'Hit My Line' featuring Trizz wraps up The thinnest line III with an atmospheric trap that advises you to call them.
This latest installment in the Miami trilogy has to be the best of the first and is more than enough to hold fans over until their ¡MAYDAY! Music debut album because very like Minute to midnightwhat we have The thinnest line III is another example of their recent output continuing to improve. Production is more consistent than The thinnest line II's was mainly due to them letting one of their best collaborators handle 4 of the 7 tracks, leaving the other 3 to be mixed in-house with versatile performances from ¡MAYDAY! themselves & 50/50 features.
Rating: 8/10
