WISH MASTER - BOOM BAP TO THE FUTURE
Wish Master and Baileys Brown have conjured up an ultimately intelligent and brutally honest 15 track album, in which describing it as smooth as a baby’s bottom just doesn’t quite cut it.
A humble wisdom preacher is what springs to mind when I hear Wish spit: his bars are for the lost, perhaps the confused, for people who don’t understand their journey in life. For people who are a victim of their circumstance, and for when the glimmer of hope that they need seems unreachable, Wish is here to uplift them and their situation. There will be better days and there is more to life than what you may believe.
The way he speaks with such eloquence is something that is hard to grasp. This album does remind me of 90s hiphop classics, such as Nas’ Illmatic, where the lessons taught through imaginative and realistic anecdotes will last the tests of time. For the lesson and stories being brought up here will be just as relevant in years to come as they are now. Growing up in St Paul’s, Bristol, can have it’s trials and tribulations as he mentions, and listeners in similar circumstances may feel a sense of oneness or fulfilment when hearing his words.
The general vibe and approach of the album represents the UK, and more specifically Bristol, in it’s gritty, and real, form. There’s no flashing of cash, flaunting of women or lavish lifestyles. It’s strictly what life is. What life will throw at you, how you can deal with it, how to make the most of your time here on this floating rock we call Earth. And what better way to project this style of spoken word rhyming than collaborating with the old school beat practitioner, Baileys Brown.
Brown’s beats are smooth like melted chocolate, with Wish’s vocals laced over the top, it’s a combination so meant to be it’s like beers and doobies on a warm, sunny day. The sample cuts and chops elevate the boom bap style with sublime deliverance, from old school boom bap joints to Back to the Future movie samples, it all adds up to bring a narrative inspired project that takes you through an audio movie.
Bristol’s talent is really being shined bright here. There’s too much underrated and undiscovered fire coming from Bristol and South West MCs and producers, and this album does well in indicating the talent emerging.
All in all, if you are a boom bap hiphop head and don’t really relate to the mainstream ish that’s on the radio nowadays, then this album might just be up your street. It’s available now, and you’d be foolish to not peep it.
https://wishmaster.bandcamp.com/album/boombap-to-the-future-digital-download
Matt Knight
September 23rd 2019