As a lover of projects, in any format, March was a very good month to me.
Though he’s still yet to touch a stage, Danny Ed has amassed a fanbase that’s given him multiple millions of streams over on Spotify. That alongside the release of his debut EP ‘Dark Horse’ made it a newsworthy month for the Deeside youngster. Very current, very fresh and with a lot of noise surrounding him I’m hoping to see him in the flesh soon.
To a veteran, Brighty released ‘Deconstruction’, the follow up to 2021’s ‘Transformation’. Always an entertaining listen with the variety he provides, he’s also laced this album with some quality features from artists up and down the country. Solid listen.
The superstar qualities of Mace the Great shine once again with the release of ‘Splott World’. Production was a huge selling point for me on it’s predecessor ‘My Side of the Bridge’ and it’s comfortably topped here. Mace is on top form throughout also with several cuts showing a maturity and sincerity that I’m always going to appreciate in anyone’s songwriting.
Heading in a different direction with his latest outing, Do Not Associate’s ‘Wrong Direction’ EP provides a more modern sound with heavy effects on the vocals on a lot more melodies. Some really good range on display from DNA here and I’d like to see him blend this with the rapping ability he has in his locker.
A couple of stand out singles that dropped in the month of March: Traxx returned with ‘Rivers of Life’ after a stint fronting Cardiff punk band XL LIFE. No steps missed here as he’s as lyrically on point as he ever was across Minas’s glitching production. Looking forward to more very soon.
Another impressive feat of production is REU6IX’s ‘Grange’, made of sounds captured from around Cardiff and turned into the instrumentation for the track. Always impressive to hear experimental stuff like this, plus it’s adding to Reu’s brilliant form he’s been on lately.
Despite releasing at the very end of February I’m talking about this one. Niques is indeed one of my personal favourites with bags of charisma and a strong skill set that she displays in her releases. ‘GRIME’ being the latest where she showcases brilliant rhythm, flow and presence I’m hoping to see all this put into a project at some point in the near future.
Finally, before I get carried away, BOYO’s commentary on the welsh valleys in his new track ‘Dior’ spares no detail on how rundown and neglected the area is. As cut-throat lyrically as ever just from a different perspective, this is an absolute gem in his catalogue.
There’s plenty more than the above to check out in regards to rap in Wales from the last month, all of which gets added to the playlist linked below.
