Heem – “Long Story Short” (Mixtape Review)

Heem is a 27 year old MC from Buffalo, New York who caught my attention earlier this year after becoming of a protege of Benny the Butcher & signing to his E1 Music imprint Black Soprano Family Records. He also made a few appearances on the label’s showcase EP that dropped over the summer but just a few more weeks until 2021, here we are with his debut mixtape.

The intro talks about how no one living like him over a dreary instrumental from Ice Rocks whereas the next song “All Eyes on Me” talks about wanting his roses before he’s gone over a symphonic boom bap beat from the late DJ Shay. “The Realest” with Benny sees the 2 talking about keeping it 100 over a hypnotic vocal sample while the track “Mayhem” with Boldy James finds the 2 talking about how they don’t play over a lush beat.

The song “More Money More Problems” talks about risking his life for this over a comatose instrumental while the track “Menace to Society” talks about going through Hell & back over a grimy beat from TrickyTrippz. The song “Sacred Nights” gets murderous over a cinematic instrumental while the track “It Could Happen” with Benny & Rick Hyde sees the trio pondering a number of things over a boom bap beat with a piano loop.

The song “My Diary” gives the listeners a piece of him over a exuberant instrumental from DJ Green Lantern while the penultimate track “Warring Ave” talks about what it was like on his street over a deranged beat. The tape ends with “Letter to Shay”, where Heem pays tribute to DJ Shay over a churchy boom bap instrumental.

Coming away from this tape, I’m pretty impressed with it. The production leans towards that signature Griselda sound, but you  get a good look at who Heem is & where he’s at now. This is only the beginning for him if you ask me.

Score: 7/10