London, England, United Kingdom emcee Ramson Badbonez teaming up with the infamous Leaf Dog for his 15th studio LP. A member of the Task Force, he would eventually sign to High Focus Records in 2013 making his debut for the label with A Year in the Life of Oscar the Slouch that same winter. Hypnodic, Jason Bonez, Mic Day the 13th, Death Mask & Fusion would all come out under the Hove, East Sussex imprint with White Rabbit now becoming the 7th raising my expectations with Leaf’s heavy involvement.
After the “Nothing Stops Him” intro, the first song “Hijack” is this sample-driven boom bap opener letting y’all know what he’s all about whereas “The Great” maintains a boom bap edge working in these horns boasting his lyrical technicality. “More 4 Less” featuring Jazz T & Smellington Piff instrumentally kinda reminds me of Mobb Deep talking about them being lyrically gifted until he looks back on getting called upon to take the “Dirt Road” to get where he is currently sampling a piano.
“Rabbit Hole” featuring mysdiggi finds the pair tryna open everyone’s heads in the midst of them getting deeply involved musically just before “Stolen Scrolls” gets back on the orchestral boom bap tip calling himself a professional dread expressionist with a vengeance list. “Try Not to Judge” featuring Verbz soulfully discusses their judgmental free tendencies, but then “Upside Down” featuring Cymarshall Law talks about the current state of the world.
As for “Loop Holes”, we have Badbonez over another piano-boom bap instrumental kicking hardcore lyricism for a few minutes while “Soul Searching” featuring Phoenix da Icefire talking about them being the butterfly effect that emerged from the chrysalis. “Can’t Give Up” soulfully gets on the motivational side lyrically & ahead of closing out with a “Wondaland” sequel, “Strike” featuring The Four Owls gives a taste of what’s to come from the quartet’s upcoming 4th album.
Marrying his street poetry with the macabre at every turn, White Rabbit is a potent reminder of Badbonez at his lucid best & searches out the truth in the music he makes. Leaf Dog’s production provides a pitch-perfect soundtrack for Badbonez to showcase his full arsenal of multi-syllable flows, punchlines & infectious hooks as he adventures further down the rabbit hole.
Score: 8/10
