Mike Shabb Unearths “The Lost Tapes” Prod. by Drega33, 2nd EP of the Month & for 2026 (EP Review)
New surprise EP & the 8th overall from Montréal, Québec, Canada emcee, producer & engineer Mike Shabb. Emerging in the spring of 2018 off his full-length debut Northwave, he would continue to make his presence known by putting out his last 7 EPs & a few mixtapes before gaining notoriety for engineering Boldy James’ 5th album Fair Exchange No Robbery along with producing “Switches on Everything” off Hitler Wears Hermes X & enlisting his mentor Nicholas Craven to fully produce his 5th EP Shadow Moses from top to bottom. Hood Olympics & Sewaside III were both solid in their own rights, following up Shabb Van Gogh as well as Fight the Power! & Vrai Rap Keb! to have Drega33 produce The Lost Tapes.
The jazzy “Don Gargon” officially kicks us off talking about how he can’t be seconded out by anyone while “Nike Tech” goes for a boom bap vibe instrumentally wondering why people acting like he isn’t pushing hip hop culture forward. “Kiss & Tell” embraces a more psychedelic sound talking about keeping shit to himself just before “Evidence Flicks” hops over a bare saxophone loop whacking up anyone who fucks around with him.
“Dudududu” continues the final half of The Lost Tapeson some soulfully funky shit talking about dying for this shit since he’s way too deep into it & once “Jet2” continues the crooning sampling techniques calling out someone who’s acting all tough when everyone knows that isn’t the case with him, the closing track “World Go Round” wraps things up combining chipmunk soul & jazz so he can talk about money making the globe spin.
It was already announced earlier this week that he’s working on Sewaside IV & I have no clue whether that’s coming before or after Hood Olympics 2, but I wasn’t anticipating Mike Shabb to drop another extended play so soon after Vrai Rap Keb! became some of the greatest French hip hop I’ve heard recently. He takes a backseat from the production so Drega33 can pull inspiration from drumless, boom bap, chipmunk soul, jazz rap, psychedelia & funk all for Montréal’s finest to body himself.
Score: 9/10
