When it comes to listening to music, I’m usually more of a Rock fan than Hip-Hop. I do like the genre though, and one of the things I find exciting about it is the relevance the artists bring with them, with regard to what surrounds us all in this currently malfunctioning, dysfunctional world we inhabit oh so briefly.

What I really love about Christchurch’s King Cass is his rap is observant, cutting, witty and with heart and a bittersweet empathy for something he knows, deep down, isn’t going to end with the good guys (us) winning this game. I’ve given the whole of his new E.P, also titled Old Days 1.0, a good listen, and he’s bringing a subjective barb to a number of topics. I’m going to focus on the single version of Old Days 1.0 for this review though.

Written, composed and arranged by the man himself (real name Hunter Wilson, if you didn’t know), this track is a superbly blended and engineered master of some sweet guitar picking, great keys and strings, and a genuinely compelling bottom end that fills it out like the man obviously intended it to.

King Cass brings an air of depth and, yes, wisdom. I am particularly pleased that the Kiwi accent is audible. Nobody said one has to sound American; after all, Rap – Rhythm And Poetry – began in the rough and dangerous night clubs of Kingston, Jamaica, in the early 1960s, when the DJs would add their own verbal ad libs to the songs they played, until it became expected of them to do it all the time. In our own multi-cultural islands home, we are lucky enough to have so many different ethnicities and cultural tie-ins to what makes this country the warm, shining light of egalitarianism we all know we want it to be – and to have a song like this released, from a Hip-Hop artist who could stand his ground with that other famous Pakeha (person of European descent, to anyone not from these shores) star of the genre, the one from south of the Eight Mile Road, I am proud to be reviewing this song.

It’s got a message that we all should pay attention to. True friendships, supporting one another’s aspirations and having the confidence to believe in yourself. Delivered to a slick mix, excellent mastering, and orchestration that’s clever, commercially astute and very 2023, all topped off with a vocal that was born to do this, give Old Days 1.0 a listen. It’s a great representation of the E.P. and stands way up top of the list as single of the year for the Hip-Hop genre in this humble reviewers opinion.