M-Phazes – Grindin Remixed

M-Phazes – Grindin Remixed

Local hip hop label Grindin’ Records recently let Australian super-producer M-Phazes have his way with their back catalogue of hip hop releases. What resulted was a mish mash of Aussie, American, English and NZ hip hop given the M-Phazes souled out remix treatment.

For those that may not know of M-Phazes credentials, he earlier this year won the One Stop hip hop production battle that included Swizz Beats, DJ Premier and 9th Wonder as judges. How’s that for acknowledgement from your peers/heroes? Apart from that he’s been steady dropping bangers for local emcees such as Bliss ‘N Eso, 360 and Boltz as well as underground sensationalists Skyzoo, Supastition and Reks.

The opener ‘Hold On’ featuring Foreign Beggars is a rapid fire head nodder that typifies M-Phazes stellar production values. The rest of the tracks follow a similar pattern of chopped up soul and vocal samples that create a nice chilled vibe, highlights being Mystro’s ‘Come Fly’ and OC’s ‘Times Up’. Having not heard many of the original tracks it’s hard to say if M-Phazes has improved them all although I can say he failed to match the intensity of P-Moneys beat on ‘Scribe 2001’. What he has done though is added his own unique touch and given a wake up call to those who may have been sleeping on his undeniable talent.

-Aotea