Mapei

Mapei is a 24 year old rapper who has gathered a lot of interest through recent years, and her new E.P Cocoa butter diaries is sure to attract a lot of attention.

The four track E.P hits you with all the swagger and attitude you would expect from a modern day rap album, but Mapei has attempted to give her music an old school stamp of approval. This does work now and again, some of the beats bear resemblances to the classic hip hop tracks that created and moulded a genre.

On frequent occasions lyrics are put on repeat and it drags the songs out somewhat. Mapei slurs and mumbles her way through sections of tracks too, a bad habit that is often picked up by modern day rappers. This often accounts for the lack of energy that the E.P has. The beats are mostly good, a nice vintage sound that suites the music that Mapei is creating, but there are times when random synth sounds are pretty much just shoved on top. I’s not until track four hits your ear drums that you do realise that Mapei is a really talented musician. The lyrics are powerful, and for once the whole song works really well.

This is a great effort from a talented artist and with a little work this could have been brilliant, but a few flaws let down this otherwise very listenable EP.