UNX — Three Eleven — EP Review
Hip-Hop | Rap
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
You may have caught the review I wrote for Jimbo’s House Party, which was the debut EP from Jimbo, a musical alias of Jay Swingler, who makes up a massive part of the YouTube extreme dares channel TGFbro.
Following in the wake of Jimbo’s House Party, best friend of Jay Swingler, and another vital of TGF, Romell Henry, takes his shot of independently creating his own EP, under the guise of UNX (which supposedly refers to the YouTuber’s other nickname; Uncle Romell).
Titled Three Eleven, this EP was teased in a very similar fashion to Jimbo’s House Party, with each of the EP’s carrying five tracks, and having one teaser track released a week or so before the release of the EP in full.
In the case of Three Eleven, the teaser track was named “Endless”. And while a more laid-back vibe, which differentiated it from the likes of Jimbo’s bass-boosted tunes, it admittedly didn’t engage with me in the same way.
Lyrically, the song was fine. I enjoyed the flow and the bars were solid. But “Endless” is a rare case in which the mixing of the production is a glaring issue. While I could appreciate the subtlety of the melody in said production, I feel that it was done to too extreme of a degree. I personally found that it was only thanks to my good-quality headphones that I was able to pick up on it. In contrast to this, the base beat of the track was far louder in comparison, even overshadowing the vocal audio at points.
And while this ultimately stopped “Endless” from being a brilliant tune for me, my hopes were still very high that the remainder of Three Eleven could deliver. And thankfully, my hopes were validated upon the release date of the EP.
I would argue that all of the four tracks that followed “Endless” were marginally better. But on top of the mixing having no issues, in the case of these other tracks, they succeeded, much in the same way as Jimbo’s House Party did, in convincingly feeling like a project from a full-time music artist.
While all of the featured artists on the track “Depo” did really well to elevate the EP to that convincing feeling, UNX certainly puts most of the work in. It is definitely fair to say that Romell fits into the role of a rap artist really well, with a vocal style that feels both natural and familiar to rap lovers. Backing this up further, is the fact that the rap beats, while not keeping to as much of a formula as on Jimbo’s House Party, arguably feel more accessible and definitely more versatile with its different moods.
All this, crammed into an EP that is even shorter in length than Jimbo’s, clocking in at barely over 10 minutes! This, I would argue, is a bit of a double-edged sword. While, in a real-life scenario, I managed to get through the whole EP before my bus that I was waiting for even arrived, the fact that I got as much as I did out of a project that brief, speaks volumes of just how much creativity, love, and passion went into the project.
And the icing on the cake for Three Eleven, is that it strongly reflects Romell’s personality; anime references, hypebeast nods, and all.
This EP only furthers just how musically-minded these guys, and in the grander scheme of things, much of the YouTube community, truly are.
Favourite Tracks: Depo | Swiss | Less Is More
Least Favourite Track: Endless
UNX
