“Today’s the Day” Prod. by Wino Willy is Black Josh’s Way of Celebrating Friday the 13th (EP Review)

Here we have the 4th EP from Manchester, England, United Kingdom emcee/producer Black Josh. Known for being a member of the Cult of the Damned & LEVELZ collectives as well as 1/2 of the B-Movie Millionaires, he would make debut over a decade ago off an eponymous EP & the full-length debut Blick Flair’s Ape Mountain until signing to Blah Records. He went on to drop 6 more albums & a couple more EPs under the London label, celebrating Friday the 13th in no better fashion than Today’s the Day.

“Habitat” was a dark, occasionally crooning boom bap intro coming out the gate with unapologetically hardcore penmanship whereas “Doolally” works in an organ sample mixed with kicks & snares talking about driving people crazy. The title track dustily finds himself ready to catch up to the money & the paper chase while “Vince Carter” featuring Da$h references none other then the greatest Toronto Raptors player of all-time himself over a symphonic boom bap beat.

Sonnyjim joins the B-Movie Millionaires on “E R M8” continuing the last leg of Today’s the Day bringing all 3 artists together hauntingly leaving heads spinning harder than The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s intro & after “Close to the Edge” maintains a boom bap vibe instrumentally talking about him feeling like he’s on the verge of slipping homaging the late DMX in the midst of it, we get hit with a soul sample & Josh letting the people he has in mind know he’ll “Pray” for them.

I wouldn’t put it above Smoking Kills regarding the extended plays in Black Josh’s discography, but Today’s the Day is definitely the most I’ve enjoyed a solo project from him since Mannyfornia. Rather than continuing to delve deeper into some of the most vulnerable material throughout Josh’s career much like Heartbreak Hostel did, the latter’s wordplay & the grimier production are enough to please any hardcore hip hop fan.

Score: 7/10