Bill Shakes - For Goodness Shakes (Review)

The infamous Bill Shakes debut ep carries on in the fine tradition of Blah Records of dropping high grade product. This is no-nonsense, gimmick free hip hop, with constant rewind moments. Lee Scott produced most of it apart from two tracks by Reklews, and it shows Lee is as sick on the beats as he is on the mic. But this is Bill Shakes moment and hes more than ready,after a brief intro/skit it kicks off with "Rise And Shine" over a lively piano laced beat and the hook of "wake up,wake up,hit the skunk get drunk" Bill kills it with quotable after quotable on the track, theres somethin very ODB about this i have to say. On the last verse particularly where he lets people know he has his "swine fried with wine".
This is followed by "Light it up" which is surely on its way to being a anthem for weed heads everywhere and im sure a lot of people will recognize elements of the beat to and im glad to know bizzy bashin's still in fashion.
After the energy that came before it calms down slightly for "Holy Smokes" featuring Bang On (Big Dada) and Sly Moon (COTD) and i love the way the beat changes up on this.
"For Goodness Shakes" probably has one of the strangest musical backdrops on the EP but thats no bad thing as Shakes off the wall lyrics really come to life on this one including "A penny saved is a penny lost,make sure your pennies drop at any cost"
Next up is "Bad Taste" where on the second verse we're treated to some storytelling Bill Shakes style and it doesnt disappoint.
The fun continues with the grimey "Smoked Out" where he goes into great detail about what he does when hes not making hip hop bangers,in less able hands the references would be overkill but the originality of the lyrics through out the EP always keep it highly entertaining which takes us to the Children of the Damned featuring "Kings of Trash" where each emcee takes turns to desecrate the mic booth with no hook just lyric after lyric of that trademark COTD sickness which ends things perfectly.
In short if you dont buy this you deserved to be bodyslammed to a car bonnet like a bizzy in blackburn!
Cop it from the Blah Records website and also grab the free downloads there if you havent already