Sivion and producer MALEX have released their first collaborative project in the form of their Str8 Shot album. The Dallas-based vet sticks to ’90s flow styles that play well with MALEX’s beats which draw their energy from O.G. synth funk and West Coast G-Funk. Their sonic chemistry makes Sivion’s God-loving Christian world sound as carefree and cool as a jazz jam session. MALEX’s secular sonic references almost cloak Sivion’s Christian-guided messages but the flow of it all catches the ears of both believers and everyone else who falls outside of being a follower.  “New York Chill” is a head-nodding daydream about visiting the Big Apple with live bass lines from session-playing notable Nigel Rivers. In the spring they dropped the video for unapologetic  “What It Is.” Sivion’s last long player was his 2021 Mood: Enhancement Beats instrumental album. Str8 Shot is clever and stylish in its delivery of a highly debated doctrine that is usually not associated with hip-hop. 

Veteran hip-hop collective Deepspace5 has a new single “Return Of The Real Hard Beat” produced by their own Beat Rabbi. The group’s most recent album is The Future Ain’t What It Used To Be from 2010. Their current single is an obvious dedication to ’80s and ’90s hip-hop the latter being the time they emerged on the scene. As Beat Rabbi says, 

“There have been a lot of cool creative directions hip-hop has taken the last decade or two (and some it shouldn’t have), but sometimes a hip-hop head just wants to hear some raw beats, hard drums, and dope rhymes. That may sound cliche but at the end of the day every real hip-hop fan feels a return of the real hard beats and real rap.”