Newport News emcee Awon and Portland, Maine producer Phoniks both had busy years last year. Awon teamed up with French producer to release an EP called Moonbeams. Phoniks teamed up with Houston emcee Anti-Lilly to release an album called It’s Nice Outside. Now, in 2018, they’ve gotten back together to release their first album as a duo in three years, The Actual Proof.

One of the first things that will hit you when listening to The Actual Proof is just how good their chemistry is as a duo. If you’re familiar with their back catalogue, you might recognize a few moments here and there where they subtly push each other to expand their sound, but if this is your first time listening to them, you probably won’t notice because the whole album sounds so natural and comfortable. That’s what happens when you have two artists like this who understand each other so well, who can knock out songs in their wheelhouse like it ain’t no thing but can also take the time to switch things up and not just go through the motions. The result is an album that moves subtly from some incredibly intimate and personal tracks to some joints that absolutely bang and will get the party jumping. The overall sound of the album is one of classic soul-sampling East Coast boom bap, but as mentioned, they find ways to subtly expand upon that sound. “Love Is A Hurting Thing” brings reggae into the fold, giving the track some danceable bounce to it, all while Awon opens up about some of his darkest demons. There are also some great guest spots from Skyzoo, Anti-Lilly, Tiff the Gift, Ill Conscious, Hex One, and DJ Fellbaum, all who add just the right amount of flavor to take the album over the edge. It might not blow you away at first, only because these two make everything sound so effortless, but it will definitely grow on you with repeat listens, because these two took the time to make a very personal and thoughtful album.

The Actual Proof is how good an album should sound like when you take the time to do it right. Awon and Phoniks have incredible chemistry together, and they’ve both been doing this long enough to know what you need to do to do all the little things that make an good album great.