Everything You Need To Know About SUPERGANG EP
Recorded in 2018 at Milkavelli’s place, ‘Supergang’ was essentially a joke word which Sniff, Milkavelli and Lee Scott said to each other for a while, before deciding to label it over a compilation of tracks they’d made while Sniff was staying in London. The first indication of this projects existence was when Blah Records released a video for the BUBBLEWRAP single in May, 2018. The track was produced by Sumgii, who oversees the production of the entire SUPERGANG EP. The release date was announced almost an exact year later on May 1st, alongside a vinyl and t-shirt pre-order online. The seven track offering is the first full project which Sniff has recorded with Lee Scott and Milkavelli - having previously collaborated on anthems such as Puta and AY. Before getting into the EP, here is the history of how SUPERGANG came to be.
Milkavelli and Lee Scott co-founded Blah Records in 2006, releasing multiple collaboration projects as the Mcabre Brothers, Children/Cult Of The Damned and Cult Mountain. Cult Mountain are an experimental hip-hop quartet consisting of emcees Lee Scott, Milkavelli, Trellion and producer Sumgii. The collective became countercultural demigods of UK hip-hop, spurred largely off the success and popularity of Cult Mountain’s growing entreprise of music and merchandise. Sumgii is a veteran producer who has known Milkavelli since the mid-2000’s, through their mutual affiliation with a London collective called Piff Gang. Sumgii became further involved with Blah Records as a result of this, which later led to him becoming a founding member of Cult Mountain.
Close to a decade ago, Sniff emerged with Trellion on Bad Taste Records. Whilst based in Sheffield, the duo became renowned across the UK following a succession of viral releases between 2010 - 2012. The first collaborations between Milkavelli, Lee Scott, Sniff, Trellion and Sumgii took place in 2014, starting on Lee’s Tin Foil Fronts album - a standout track called Puta. Months afterwards in December the same year, Sniff made a notorious feature on the debut Cult Mountain EP. In 2018, together Sniff and Lee Scott released ADHD Concerto 77 alongside multi-instrumentalist Jack Chard. Although they had collaboratively released multiple singles up until then, this was the first full length project which the trio had produced and recorded the entirety of.
Is SUPERGANG just Cult Mountain with Sniff replacing Trellion? If you are expecting a similar sound, prepare for disappointment. Lyrically speaking the EP isn’t a full departure from the style of Lee and Milkavelli’s previous records, they continue to spit that satirical sweg shit. However without Trellion there is no Cult Mountain. Using that same logic, Sniff is what makes this project SUPERGANG. Backed by the arsenal of Sumgii’s brand new, hand-sampled instrumentals this is far from a Cult Mountain vibe - it’s an entirely fresh SUPERGANG sound.
The ZAP opener eases the listener in, with a lullaby “Lalalala” hook. Milkavelli is the first “Hypocritical, individual, absolutely positively cynical” rapper to rhyme, supplying insights into his devilish perspectives. Lee Scott flexes his lyrical finesse with metaphorical wordplay, spat with a variation of fast and slow rhythms which could leave imitators dumbfounded. Then Sniff comes through, speaking directly with lyrics like “Hits through the gas mask, die smiling, always have the last laugh” to accentuate his illicit persona. Meanwhile Sumgii’s bassy, lo-fi instrumental provides the track a kind of a 90’s, west coast hip-hop type backdrop to bop your head to. It leads into a topical track called YELLOW X GREEN, a Jobseekers anthem. The beat is more relaxed, as Sumgii implements a floaty atmosphere using tranquil instrumentation and slow tempos. Throughout the track, Lee Scott aka “The Fresh Prince of Welfare” and Sniff portray the mindstate of living on the breadline, reflecting their knowledge of poverty stricken situations. “I sold me soul to the dole, broke got a loan now me pockets are swole, I dream in Yellow and Green, you’ve been on the dole then you’ll get what I mean” chants Lee, at the chorus.
The next tune is GNGLVD, a backwards abbreviation of Devil Gang. It has a surreal sound compact with melodic flavour, which Sumgii creates with psychedelic guitar samples amongst more instrumental creativity. A carefree track, the three emcees make metaphorical statements which effectively emphasize the reality intertwined within their lyricism. When Milkavelli claims “Fuck a vegan rider, I take your girl backstage and put my meat inside her” or when Sniff says “Find me at the club drinking E&J, spin sevens not a DJ” you don’t doubt these bars have elements of truth. DO IT TWICE is the most laid back track on the EP, one to kick back and relax to. Packing a beat compiled with wavy, melancholic undertones, emcees Milkavelli and Sniff spit slowly and slightly incohesively, as if they were waved themselves.
Lee kick-starts I CONFESS with a fastened flow over the 140 beat Sumgii implements. Sniff also switches it up, with a quicker lyrical rhythm to match. On the other hand, Milkavelli brings his own tempo to the track. Another thematic anthem, this one is based around drugs. It generally takes the piss out of people who self-snitch, uploading content of themselves with illegal contraband. The catchy chorus “I’m pushing drugs on my twitter feed” will surely become a singalong at SUPERGANG’s live shows. The final track is the SUPERGANG Unofficial Anthem, with lyrics linked by superhero references. Back to back, the lyricists alternate between being unbothered superheros or villainous antiheroes. For instance, Milkavelli rhymes as “A mad villain, bumping Madvillain, sad visions, my ambition is to kill the man winning,” before Lee raps “Not a good man, I’m One-Punch Man, with Thors hair.” Laced with light-hearted humour, this ends the EP on a mellow note. The instrumental is calm and unhurried, overlapped by more psychedelic guitar, euphonious noise and smooth bass undertones. It also features a sonic Sumgii guitar solo to finish. The BUBBLEWRAP single comes as a bonus with digital downloads - it is not a hidden track. Currently the only taster from the EP available online, if you haven’t already take a listen to the video below.