Ethemadassassin – “Bear Handz 4: Dark Side of the Mountain” (Album Review)

ETheMadAssassin is an MC from Greensboro, North Carolina who’s been on the rise in the underground for about over 15 years now. He just dropped the 3rd installment of his Bear Handz series at the beginning of last year but after doing a couple of features since then, E’s returning with a 4th installment produced entirely by Twelvebit.

After the “Jungle” intro, the first song “Discipline” finds E talking about how he came up differently than others over a nightly instrumental while the track “Stay Paid” of course spits about making money over a dreary beat. The song “Gunsmoke” shit-talks the lames who approach his turf over a spine-tingling instrumental & after the “Reasons” interlude, the track “Children of the Night” talks about being an insomniac over an uncanny boom bap beat.

The song “Don’t Mix Ya Dishes” talks about how life’s a bitch over a depressive instrumental & after the “100 Reasons” interlude, the track “Shots of Gin” talks about drinking over a fittingly intoxicating beat. The song “10” talks about being deep rooted over an ominous instrumental & then the album ends with “How Many”, where E ponders a few questions over an icy instrumental.

Overall, it’s a solid album. I can definitely hear Ethemadassassin‘s growth on here as the dude continues to rap his ass off harder than he ever has before & Twelvebit’s production is a nice fit as well.

Score: 7/10