EP Review: The Wurxs' [BGA] "2nd Win"

Rating: 7.5 / 10

When pressing play, the first thing to greet you on The Wurxs’ 2^nd Win EP is the comforting, soothing sound of Kenny Powers’ braggadocious voice rambling about his self-importance in a way that only Kenny Powers can. It sounds contradictory, but shortly after the laughs from the audaciously cocky (and hilarious) introduction concludes, Gee Moolah and Trons both come in to prove their self-worth over five songs, which are all self-produced and – more importantly – all well done. The West Philadelphia production/rap team showcases their chops behind the boards and on the microphone for less than 15 minutes, but the brevity only shows promise if you’re looking for dope artists that you’ve never heard of, and validates the reasons for Black Thought, Dice Raw, and other Philly acts being affiliated with them.

As mentioned before, the five songs present don’t even top out above 15 minutes, but each song displays their abilities to a certain degree. The production bounces around to different tempos, but remains undoubtedly Hip-Hop the entire time. Lyrically, they don’t miss a step as well and manage to include slick rhymes into their flows patterned for each beat. There’s no weak link as well; the cousins both do heavy lifting while spitting with relative ease and dropping memorable lines throughout from the beginning. From the clever laid back vibe of “Vacation Music” (“I hit the grass twice, chick’s Mulatto, half White / we fornicated then I skated like a halfpipe”) to the aggressive bars in “Decompression” (“But this the recession so they neglecting me like bad stock / so I’m on my NASDAQ, tryna get my cash back”), it’s all an enjoyable listening session.

It’s interesting, especially if you consider this only took them a month to make (two if you count the sequencing), but it’s only real flaw is the same thing that makes it great. By the time you get a feel for the group lyrically and understand their appeal and talent in their production, it ends. The one thing that’s for certain is that they do indeed have the skills to validate Black Thought wanting to develop them further, and all of those said skills are on exhibition for this quick listen entitled 2^nd Win. The duo knows they are talented, and the Kenny Powers skits that hinge the project only comically state what they believe to be true; if they continue working, it’s no telling where we’ll see them end up next.