{"id":668266,"date":"2026-09-02T06:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T06:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/668266\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T06:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T06:34:13","slug":"mike-shabb-sewaside-iv-album-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/668266\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Shabb: Sewaside IV Album Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cSHIT FEEL LIKE 1993 AGAIN AND I WASNT EVEN BORN IN 1993\ud83d\ude02\u203c\ufe0f\u201d Mike Shabb<\/a> recently proclaimed<\/a>. So many roads lead back to albums like Midnight Marauders, Doggystyle, and Enta Da Stage. We demand that young artists know their history, but sometimes you have to ask if they\u2019re true disciples of the 36 Chambers<\/a> or just greedy hirelings flipping \u201cT.R.O.Y\u201d or \u201cO.P.P.\u201d for C.R.E.A.M. It takes a certain gumbo of technique, knowledge, and skill to venerate the past without coming off like a tribute band. Leave it to a sound architect like Shabb to give up the goods<\/a> on Sewaside IV, the latest entry in his album series<\/a> reexploring one of hip-hop\u2019s golden eras by expanding the conversation to East Montreal. Over 21 tracks, Shabb fuses dusty drums and warm bass tones with festive samples and Creepin on Ah Come Up bars that inject the upbeat production with tales of peril.<\/p>\n

Sewaside IV\u2019s production is a masterclass in filling negative space. Shabb\u2019s ear for dub, jazz, and funk is aligned with the greats; their early sample stash came from their parents\u2019 collections of records that sounded like this. But he\u2019s not just snatching loops. Sewaside\u2019s composition feels like a continuous meld of choice chops: guitar plucks on \u201cConehead!\u201d; keys that channel \u201c4,3,2,1<\/a>\u201d on \u201c85.5FM\u201d; the reverbed wails of \u201cLeflaur Leflah!\u201d In the best way possible, beats like \u201cMontreal!\u201d and \u201c1,2,1,2\u201d sound made to be played alongside grainy videos of Fresh Fest attendees dancing in jerky, frenetic frenzy.<\/p>\n

No score yet, be the first to add.<\/p>\n

While Shabb doesn\u2019t dazzle with labyrinthine lyricism or rewind-worthy wordplay, his instincts and curiosity keep the project feeling fresh. On \u201cConehead!\u201d he\u2019s rapping with force, thrusting end rhyme at the listener like a Chronic<\/a>-era Dr. Dre<\/a> while rapping about life in jack mode, wearing the classic Champion hoodie: \u201cThis ain\u2019t muthafuckin\u2019 Rick Owens.\u201d The next few songs offer the same fatalistic depictions of his side of Montreal. But just when that run of gritty songs treads on monotony, he offers the warm \u201cMike Shabb Getting Married\u201d interlude, then sinews through \u201cLeflaur Leflah!\u201d and the Obijuan-featuring \u201cRing-a-Round!\u201d with an effortless finesse.<\/p>\n

His most impactful moments as an MC pair the traditionalist drums with modern cadences, bringing different eras into conversation. He slurs to a Veeze<\/a>-like degree at the beginning of \u201cJack Mode!\u201d, dissolving a flow often decried as rap\u2019s downfall into a beat that those same purists can\u2019t deny. And on \u201cMontreal!\u201d, \u201cImnotakiller!\u201d, and the MIKE<\/a>-featuring \u201cDontsweatit,\u201d he displays the closest thing to his own signature flow, methodical and melodic while firmly rooted in rapping. On the latter track, he brings us up to date in more than one way, rapping, \u201cI know niggas sellin\u2019 guns and bricks on Telegram.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not every chance Shabb takes is a winner. The double rhymes on \u201c1,2,1,2\u201d (\u201cAll about money, money\/No time to be funny, funny\u201d) feel avocational after enough bars. And atop already whirling drum\u2019n\u2019bass percussion on \u201cDisco Duck III,\u201d his intriguing mesh of the DMV freecar flow with an intermittently sped-up delivery ultimately goes off the rails. These missteps, though, reflect the inevitable errors of a kind of experimentation that more rappers could try.<\/p>\n

Even with the \u201990s as the foundation, Sewaside IV is more than a retread. Shabb\u2019s true-to-form production prowess pays proper homage to his heroes, but the subtle sonic choices (the gating effect on \u201cBoom it up!\u201d) and modern references (\u201cbippin\u2019\u201d and Nike Tech on \u201cTales From Da Hood, Pt. 1\u201d) bring things to 2026. And inviting MIKE, ANKHLEJOHN, Obijuan, and Rvlr Magz as guests (in lieu of \u201990s stalwarts) showcases a quartet of modern MCs who are indebted to the past but, like him, forging new ground with that pedigree. On Sewaside IV, Shabb rebuffs the reductive compulsion to read hip-hop\u2019s last rites. The beauty of the genre is that someone who wasn\u2019t even born for a specific era can have us all living it again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cSHIT FEEL LIKE 1993 AGAIN AND I WASNT EVEN BORN IN 1993\ud83d\ude02\u203c\ufe0f\u201d Mike Shabb recently proclaimed. So many…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[264],"tags":[12327,18,117,19,17,337,806],"class_list":["post-668266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-albums","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music","tag-web"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117200057941012590","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}