1st Chapter: Egyptian Rapper Smash Beats’ Debut Album

Mahmoud Mashour, a.k.a. Smash Beats has been around for some years now. We first caught him at Vent during a live instrumental performance - no rap was involved. That was two years ago. Smash Beats wasn’t rapping yet, or at least no one knew about it. It started this year with a video he made himself to promote the new album. Promote the new album it did, most were surprised that the already established producer can also rap so well. The stage was set; three weeks later, he dropped 1st Chapter.

The album starts of with Cookin', someone called Yay is giving birth to baby kittens and Smash's grandma is knitting in the kitchen. The entire album is not solely produced by Smash Beats; Abyusif, Raeph, Kubbara, and J!N all contributed with productions. The first track was produced by Abyusif. The second track, however, is produced by Smash Beats. Lubricant uses a Middle Eastern sample, abstract grounds are established only to be destroyed as soon as the first bar drops. Smash Beats penetrates without lubricant, the beat drops with the first bar and the Middle Eastern sample is taken out only to be brought again, sliced up.The third track, Birds Nest, produced by Kubbara and Smash Beats, touches on some very familiar old school hip hop. Reminiscent of old Talib Kawli, it has an old school vibe to it where the artist's flow and lyrics are so laid back, taking you on a ride back to early 2000s hip hop. Rapping about 9-to-5 and how he doesn't want to go back to that shit, it's a track perfect for kicking back. Play it around 4:20 and you've got your fix. Diamonds picks up the pace, a gangsta rap track produced by the Smash man himself. The dude goes crazy lyrical on this one. The beat is bass heavy, and Smash gets flippant on this track – careless. His flow is effortless.

Cutting through cheddar on Subdual, Smash rips through this two-minute song with a shoutout to Bam Bam, Zuli, and Abyusif at the end. Produced by Raeph, the track's main melody line is played with a Middle Eastern wind instrument adding an ethnic, oriental touch to the album. The last two tracks – Tomorrow produced by J!N, and Just Like MNMS produced by Abyusif – deliver you to the end of this album. As smoothly as he came in, Smash exits eloquently – cue more shout outs, more lyrical satire, and more astounding beats.

Find Smash Beats on Facebook here and follow him on Soundcloud for more tunes.