Bag of Tricks Cat is an emcee from Glendale, Arizona who has been putting out music since the mid 2010s, most well known for his Emerald Knights collaborative albums with Mega Ran, along with his 2019 solo album, Felix Shevrolet. Last fall, we got a single with Whitney Peyton called “Stay Safe,” which was actually a teaser for his latest EP which is finally here, The Bad Luck EP.

For The Bad Luck EP, Bag of Tricks Cat is working with producer like Yung Kooky, FloState Beatz, El-Jay Beats, Exjordanair, and Dakota. Over the course of these five songs and one interlude, we’re getting everything from some grimy East Coast boom bap to some modern trap to some more pop/R&B beats and everything in between. Bag of Tricks Cat is a versatile enough emcee to switch up his flow and sound comfortable on all the different beats and make them all come together and sound coherent over the course of the EP. The real key to this project is the honesty and the raw emotional content that BOTC is laying down here. He opens with the title track, where he just plainly spells out the struggle of the last year-and-a-half, which comes across less “woe-is-me,” and more just wanting to let his listeners know that he hasn’t been the best place mentally recently. “Stay Safe” hits more on the struggles that we’ve been facing across the globe, but it will also let you know that you need to check out Whitney Peyton if you haven’t already, because she crushes her appearance. “Wanna Act Hard,” featuring Rockness Monsta and Mega Ran give you a bit of a respite with some old fashioned shit talking. “Famous (Hard to Admit),” closes out the EP with another honest discussion, this time about Bag of Trick Cat’s place in the music industry, and the battle of being an independent artist trying to make it. The only song that comes up short on the project is “Howie Bling,” only because it just feels like a summary of the movie Uncut Gems. I’m not opposed to some hip hop fan fiction or nerdcore, but to really make a song like this work, you’ve got to get inside the head of a character or give some real insight that didn’t come directly from watching the movie, and I just didn’t get that from listening to this song.

The Bad Luck EP is a nice return for Bag of Tricks Cat. It’s emotionally honest and raw when it needs to be, but it’s not all gloom and doom, either. He balances everything across the six tracks of the album and gives you a really well-rounded listening experience.