★★★★

Intricate storytelling and refined hip hop beats come to a head in Omar Musa’s latest EP,Dead Centre.

In between stints as a prized novelist and poet, Musa takes his lyrical ability to another realm as he cleverly weaves his words in this new body of work. Having taken a hiatus after his last musical release in 2012, Dead Centre offers an insight into the growth of Musa as a strong emcee, as well as his societal and political views.

With production from Joelistics and Poncho, we’re blessed with a mix of trap-inspired sounds – which are slightly unexpected, but welcomed with open arms – and a few titles that carry somewhat tamer melodies as well, which work to balance the record out.

Standout joints include the title track ‘Dead Centre’, the playful banger he’s named ‘Lak$a’ and ‘The Past Becomes You’, which features L-Fresh The Lion, Hau and singer Lior – all of which really help harmonise the storytelling aspect that one could expect from these artists.

Musa has managed to tastefully cross his intricate wordplay over to a new age hip hop project, and we’re all better off for it.

Omar Musa’sDead Centreis out now and available through Big Village.

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