You may know Uche Ujania from Guilt Society or as the bass player for Paper Foxes or from any number of amazing projects he’s been in over the years. Mr. UU is not only an artist, but he’s also a rapper. I’ve been checking out his beats on Bandcamp and his growing collection of hip-hop compositions on Soundcloud. Most recently Mr. UU released the brilliantly cohesive Dark Avenue EP, collecting most of my favorites from the past year.
Clocking in at 14 minutes, it’s a tight collection of five songs bending the genre as far as it will go into dark wave territory with hints of punk. Follow up with a full album? Yes, please, because I can’t get enough of what he’s doing, including the clever referential wit found in songs like “Get the Fuck Up Outta Here,” which is dripping with pop culture nods in every line except the chorus. One of my favorite songs on DaDadoh’s Radical last year was “Kowasahki Trappin’,” which prominently featured Mr. UU, and this EP reminded me of why that track seemed so damn special.
“Killer on the Loose” takes an eerily familiar horror soundtrack tone with even more disturbingly appropriate lyrics, and it’s as brilliant as creepy. “Shut Yo Mouth!”, featuring Jimmy Sticcx, sounds like fascinating madness committed to record. The latter is a standout track that deserves a video. The same could be said of “Madman,” which was the first track I heard that caused me to follow every tune Mr. UU was putting out. Dark Avenue finishes with “Ghost in the Trap House,” which is my favorite composition Ujania has released to date.
