Booda French is an emcee from Ipswich, UK, who has been releasing music for a decade now, working with artists like Mecca:83 and Elaquent along the way. While we’ve gotten a few singles and remixes to hold us over in recent years, it’s actually been five years since his last full-length album, 6am Coffee Club. Now the wait is finally over with the loser’s victory lap.

For the loser’s victory lap, Booda French enlisted the help of producers Kev Brown, King Kashmere, Jaisu, Cuth, Cyril Snare & Kosyne. Together, they help build this soundscape of laid back, slightly-left-of-center boom bap. It’s the type of album that sounds perfect on an overcast day, when you can just chill and get lost in some moody lyricism and some head-nodding grooves. On the mic, Booda French tasks himself with walking you through some slice-of-life rhymes, rhymes about the artistic process (and difficulties like writer’s block), and some long-form narration, but then tying that in with some classic shit talking and dropping some fun pop-culture references as well. It sounds easy when you’re dealing with a veteran emcee like Booda French, but it’s much more difficult in practice to weave all of these things together and have the flow feel so natural from song to song. The album doesn’t have much in the way of “big” songs - it is mostly just about spitting rhymes over some chill beats, but Booda French does go in on “championship rings.” Featuring a guest spot from Jehst, the trash talk goes up a level on this song, but the real fun comes with the clever wordplay and rhyme scheme of the hook, which will stay in your head for days.

the loser’s victory lap is a welcome return from Booda French. He’s been around the block a couple of times at this point, and he know just how to weave together a solid hip hop album with great grooves and lyricism with plenty of depth. It’s an album that will definitely grow on you and give you something new to discover each time through.