Five years after his debut drop, Commercial Underground, the Oxford-educated rapper Zuby Udezue is back…

Commercial Underground 2 suggests that Zuby’s unconventional image is still very much at the heart of what he does: “My talent’s cultivated,/ I’m too smart to be a gangsta,/ I’ve got too much education,” he raps on Look At Me Now. For the third album release in any rapper’s career, CU2 ticks all the right boxes. Zuby proves that it’s possible to bring rap back to a focus on cerebral, amusing lyrics. This album shows that he is more than ready to develop and cross-pollinate his production style, whilst maintaining an elegantly witty, characteristic flow.

The slow-building Introspection kicks off CU2, acting as both a showcase of Zuby’s accomplished rhyming and a sample of his increasingly innovative production experiments, it makes for an entirely apt starting point. Zuby continues his program of intelligent and effortless flow on Return of the Bad Man, keeping up an unbelievably smooth delivery of lyrical swag over a relentless beat. The album’s single release, Comin’ At Ya, is an extravaganza of poetic punch lines and hard-hitting hypnotic beats. Zuby offers more verbal gymnastics on Billie Jean 2010, a well-observed dance-hip hop crossover update of the Jacko classic, with some slickly-woven rhymes thrown into the mix: “now every text she’s sending me is getting more explicit,/ Now she’s telling all her friends that we’re in love and she’s my missus,” he raps.

Stepping up the production, Zuby explores a varied palate of sound across the album. Comin’ At Ya’s hypnotic beats are preceded by a momentous opening complete with organ-like chords, whilst Go Hard Or Go Home features a driving beat that sees Zuby taking on a sound that has hints of Game’s recent Red Nation. The dubbed-out remix of Stay In My Lane makes for a successful dance track, Chill stands out as a Hispanic-sounding high energy number and Zuby takes to a more grimed-up sound on Actin’ Up. Things are spiced up with some orchestral and vocal samples, on Down and Look At Me Now respectively, achieving a Common-like sound on the former.

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Although Zuby mainly focuses on familiar themes, there’s emotional depth to the album too – proving himself in the rap game as a ‘clean’ rapper, knowingly and wittily self-promoting. When I Get There is a moving documentation of Zuby’s reaction to the death by suicide of a friend, whilst his collaborations with Genesis Elijah, Scarz, and Sir Mic on All Or Nothing provide a candid portrait of society’s ills. There’s also an entertainingly light-hearted song for the ladies in A Woman Like You.

Despite the motivational hook from Marka on the fast-paced Stay In My Lane, and A.C. spitting on the remix version of Go Hard Or Go Home, the album is comprised mainly of solo tracks. If anything, it would be good to see more collaborations, the presence of other artists might prove to be a means of enriching the thematic scope of Zuby’s lyricism.

Like some of the best old school classics, there are tracks on CU2 that force our focus back to clever lyrics and verbal acrobatics, proving that, as much as rapping is about the swagger, it’s also about the ability to spit an impressive and often amusing rhyme. The album is a testament to Zuby’s increasing production complexity and his striking rapping talent.

Commercial Underground 2 dropped on October 14, and was released by C.O.M. Entertainment.

Words by Fiona Guest

 

Edited: Natalia

Tracklist:

1.Introspection
2.Return Of The Bad Man
3.Stay In My Lane (Ft. Marka)
4. Billie Jean 2012
5.Comin’ At Ya
6.Go Hard Or Go Home
7.Look At Me Now
8.All Or Nothing (Ft. Scarz, Genesis Elijah & Sir Mic)
9.A Woman Like You
10.Chilll!
11.Actin’ Up (Ft. Mr ShaoDow)
12.Down
13.When I Get There
14.Go Hard Or Go Home – Remix (Ft. A.C. & Genesis Elijah)
15.Stay In My Lane – BC Remix (Ft. Marka)
16.Thank You