Lockdown has resulted in so many people releasing tracks about the current pandemic with some of them being rather distasteful (The Corona Blues being one of them) whilst others try to find the brighter side of the situation and what the future will hold. Many of these tracks I probably won’t go back to but Belgium’s answer to Slowthai Glints has unleashed his mixtape 28 Days into the world that is the most accurate portrayal of the current situation I’ve heard whilst also being filled with some stellar songs to match.
The whole project discusses topics like horror movie binge-watching, hypochondriacs, toilet paper hoarders, and the scarily accurate predictions made by The Simpsons. You know, things we’ve all seen or experience during the lockdown but, compared to other artists each track feels raw and real. There’s not a single moment where you sit there and roll your eyes at the cliched lyrics, it’s all an honest portrayal that I know years from now I’ll be coming back to just to remember this experience.
That’s the thing though, the more I listen to real tracks like Populist Puppet and Fever Dream the more I think this can’t be titled a mixtape because in feels more like an audiobook, and that’s a compliment. The anger, the frustration, the bliss of being outside, the erratic nature of the start of the pandemic, it’s a documentary in a musical format.
Combine everything mentioned with the feverish production, insightfully clever lyrical hooks, the animosity of the rapping and an overall compelling sound and you’ve got something that people will be revisiting for years to come. If you dig this project then dive into his whole discography, you won’t be disappointed.