Mikill Pane - The Guinness & Blackcurrant EP

Many of you, like myself, will have discovered Mikill Pane's music thanks to his superb reworking of Ed Sheeran's debut single, The A-Team, but over the past 10 months Mr. Pane has gone on to establish himself as a solo artist, releasing a couple of EPs/singles and building a loyal fan base of his own. There have been many comparisons flying around, including Mike Skinner and the great Slick Rick, which is a huge testament to his storytelling skills, but Mikill brings something totally unique to the table and his style/way with words is uncomparable to anyone else in the game right now. His past two EPs have been great, but The Guinness & Blackcurrant EP showcases his talent and diversity better than both and is without doubt his most impressive body of work to date.

'Read My Lips' is the opening track and is a catchy Garage infused piece of Hip-Hop - the beat is my favourite on the EP, his flow is on point and the verses about dealing with an overly annoying drunk on a night out are incredibly witty, which is something that I've come to expect from every track he releases - "I know you've got rhymes, so let's hear them - I became a fan of your style of rapping after seeing you a couple of times with Ed Sheeran" is pure genius. 'I Can Feel It' then sees Mikill switch up his flow completely, spitting over a rolling drum beat, explaining how two different people need to make sure they choose the right path as they grow up. Both are easily-relatable stories told in a very funny and serious, but non-preachy manner, which is something that Scroobius Pip has been trying to achieve throughout his career, but never has; well, not to this level. 'Golden' shows another side to the London-born MC, with Seb Rochford providing a laid back Dubstep number for him to rap about the consequences of cheating on his bosses daughter - this is a track where you can really understand where the Slick Rick comparisons have come from; his ability to structure a song is second to none and the way he approaches making music in general is a breath of fresh air. 'Far Away' is the final track on the EP; it's a song about an unlikely friendship and is the perfect way to wrap up the project - the horn/bass-heavy beat allows Mikill to do what he does best, which is build a story and create a thought-provoking Hip-Hop track that pulls in influences from the wide variety of musical backgrounds that he grew up with.

Although there has been copious amounts of exciting Grime artists emerge over the past 2 years, there has been very little in the way of new and exciting UK Hip-Hop artists; however, that's exactly what Mikill Pane is. His vibrant personality and sense of humour are clear for all to see from his Twitter timeline, but when you delve into his small, yet impressive back catalogue, it's obvious that he is much more than just a funny guy who can rap a bit. The Guinness & Blackcurrant EP reassures me that Mikill Pane is here to stay, and is someone who can be the leader of a new and exciting sub-genre of rap music. You can hear a snippet of 'Read My Lips' below, and to find out more about the man himself, you can find our interview from earlier this year HERE.

Limited Edition CD: All Live Shows
Online: 24th October

Favourite lyric: "if your face gets any longer, you're gonna look like Sarah Jessica Parker..."