And this is his debut solo EP, Ape Twin. It's available on an official, pressed CD through Fatboi's Facebook here. Of course there's a digital version, too, which is considerably more accessible. And there's a previous digital album, Age of Extinction with another MC named Sydetrak Imperial. It's not uninteresting, but Ape Twin is the much more polished and cohesive work, so I'd really recommend just starting there.
It's a tight EP: eight tracks including skits and songs that average two and a half minutes or so. And there are a couple of guest MCs, neither of whom I've heard of (Light the Emcee and Nick Jackelson), but they do a good job fitting in. It always sucks when an artist is making something original and a couple of guests phone in completely generic thug verses like they'd given no consideration towards what project they were being asked to contribute to. Here, everybody's on the same page: "you can hit the bullseye and still not know how to throw your darts right. Stand tall over all like my name was Bill Cartwright. I spark light more than the sun, moon and stars might. Knock you on your feet like the mutant named Arclight. Vertigo, Avalanche, the tree of life, grab a branch. Teleportin' Nightcrawler to the Savage Lands. This the battle plan, load the mutants in the caravan. A surgical mystic like Dr. Strange with damaged hands." Consequently, the listening experience is constantly shifting, always crazy film and comic book references and strange visual imagery, so it's the sort of CD you can just let loop indefinitely, a surreal experience.
So does that mean there isn't any substance to anything he's saying? Well, there's definitely a "what the hell is he talking about" aspect to his work ("the city from Children of the Corn, mistrial, rumors of kiddie porn. Prisoner escaper, conspiracy on paper, JFK affair with Elizabeth Taylor"). If you're hoping for direct metaphors like mermaids represent one socioeconomic group in conflict with another, a la "Planet E," I'm not sure it ever gets that one-to-one. And it doesn't help that he has a tendency to slur some key words. A little more enunciation and a few less pop culture references would be welcome. But if you roll with it, it's really not so impenetrable. There are definitely themes of personal growth and transformation that are probably more than just accidental. Like the Marvel-themed guest verse I quoted above can be more than just a comic book rhyme, but a relatable invocation of talented artists going out to make their way in the world. You get it. And the fact that the lyrics are indirect and a little difficult to discern makes repeated relistens rewarding, where the pieces slowly fit together and his meaning becomes each little bit clearer.
Musically, yeah he's a younger artist, but he's not on some mumblecore, sloppy tip. His production's the sort of light boom-bap you would've expected to find on an indie 90s CD. That fits, as Shawn Lov produces one track, and one of his regular collaborators, Raiden, does two others. I can't say this EP's for every head, let alone mainstream audiences. You've got to be a bit of a backpacker to bask in the lyrics and rhyme schemes; and if you're not going to do that, you won't find enough else to sustain you. But I hope Sharif finds his audience with this, because the right people aren't just going to "get" Ape Twin, they're going to be surprised how much they enjoy it. And I definitely look forward to hearing more from him.
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