Denimwoods is an artist that often divides opinion among music fans. While undeniably talented, there's been a fair bit of debate whether he's channeling those talents in the right direction. A matter of opinion that's always fuelled by different biases. Yet if you have been paying attention you have to say he is, and his 2024 extended play affirms this position.
Fake The Funk EP is a 4 track project, that feels like only a small window into Denimwoods. I say this because you can't help but feel there's potential for a lot more. The project is collaboration driven, with Yamikani, Suhn, Kikky Badass and Probeatz lending a helping hand in bringing it together - I say helping because they all did what was needed and the music felt like artists coming together, and not a rapper just going through the motions for a feature fee.
While they're standout performances from the supporting cast (especially from Yamikani), it's Denimwoods who's most memorable. Fake The Funk has a dark and gloomy mood that's punctuated by Denimwoods' passion filled cadence. On ominous sounding mid tempo instrumentals he brings to life "The Congolese Foul Mouth Delinquent," an almost forgotten moniker.
The overall theme of Fake The Funk seems to relate to maintaining a consistency in energy, in facing life's battles, in relationships and everything else in between. Denimwoods talks about these subjects on a very suface level though, but what's present throughout is a braggadocious belief in his own abilities.
This is showcased by lines like, "When shit get sour you gotta lemonade it/Will my problems be my problems if I drive a Mercedes?" on "Pops & Bangs" and "I know I sound crazy to you lame mans, cause I lay mans in the dirt/Kuma sports ndopedza, see the ground that I'm walking on, chenjera unotsvedza" on "Ghetto Diamonds."
While Denimwoods came onto the scene with a bang when he released his debut album Dirty Corolla Music Vol.1 in 2020, he somehow lost that momentum along the way. However since the release of "Feela" early last year, Denimwoods' sound has taken a new form and he has been a rapper reinvigorated, with a trajectory that could rival his breakout on the scene.
This is something he seems to allude to on "Pussa" with the lines, "I'm at a place that I keep a quotation of everything I'm trying to do/I remember when shit wasn't feeling enough and I took the time to improve."
Fake The Funk doesn't sound dated but it feels like 2010, there's something about every record that's just reminiscent of when Kanye West started his Good Fridays. While consciousness has become constantly desired in picking out hip hop projects that standout, on this EP Denimwoods makes good on the fact that he's conscious that he is him.
Greedysouth rating: 6.9/10
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