Philadelphia emcee OT the Real has released his eighth EP, following his self-titled debut Moving Base OT. After returning home from prison in 2016 and releasing his debut single “Papercuts”, he began to enter the underground music scene, after showing his skills on radio stations and releasing 7 albums as well as mixtapes and his Notability began to grow. My favorites are the third EP “The Irishman” produced by Heatmakerz and the third album “Broken Glass” produced by DJ Green Lantern (released on my 25th birthday) and Maxed Out produced by Statik Selektah. Regardless, “Desperate of December,” “It’s Also Over” and “Red Summer” were all hit and miss for me until OT finally signed to Black Soprano Family Records and solicited araabMUZIK for Zombie to critical acclaim. “Preparing for War” and “The Pale Horse” were okay, but “Cost of Living” by Nickel Plated just caught my interest.
“Kicked” opens with a bouncing atop this creepy booming bap instrumental, educating the listener on the game that there are only 3 kinds of people in the world, while “Mahomes” opens with more kick and snare, and Play in reference to the weird piano chords of the Kansas City Chiefs. “Eminem” morbidly talks about having a white girl in the trunk, like the Detroit icon’s now-dead alter ego Slim Shady, just before “Footstep” declares that he trusts the scales over bitches.
After finishing the first part of “Cost of Living,” “Blow” crudely advises quitting cocaine, while “Yet” begins the other half, talking about how you can’t paint here if you want to keep winning in the streets. Following the “241” skit, “Naked” pays homage to those who never made it or saved it while they had it, while “Bridesburg” represents the titular community of his hometown. “Amputate” ends the EP with a warning that hoodie season is coming, and the piano tunes follow suit.
Zombie has been my favorite OT project of the last 2 years, the Moving Base OT album a few months ago showed us the duo’s tight raw chemistry, and now this nearly 19 minute 10 track EP joins the post 2 first track. Nickel Plated gets a chance to shine, creating a steady batch of beats for the Philly lyricist.
Score: 8/10
