Lunch Breaks is a new duo from Orlando featuring Swamburger and Jakal. Both handle production duties, and then Swamburger hops on the mic as well. They now present their debut album as a group, Orange State Project Vol. 1.

Sometimes you don’t need things to sound that outside of the box, you just need it to sound good. And Lunch Breaks sounds really good. Orange State Project Vol. 1 is an album that is just full of banger after banger, with some really tight and inventive left field boom bap. It’s an album that you can just turn up and wyle out to, but it’s also an album that has so many subtle touches and nuance to the production that you can discover something new each time through. On the mic, Swamburger sounds hungry as ever as he tackles subject matter like the state of politics and our current crisis, the state of hip hop and the music industry at large, his hometown, and his upbringing. He’s got a versatile flow, but it’s always clear and delivered in his raspy voice, which just makes it sound all the more urgent, like he’s been preaching all day and he really just wants y’all to wake the fuck up and take action. He’s not above cracking some jokes and throwing down with some clever wordplay, but ultimately this album wants listeners to take notice about what’s happening in the world today. When you put all of this together, you get an album that is reminiscent of early Pharoahe Monch, which is part of what made this album so exciting to listen to. It’s just some damn good underground hip hop.

Orange State Project Vol. 1 was so successful, I can’t wait to see what happens with the next volume. Swamburger and Jakal have great chemistry together, and the resulting album is bursting with energy and urgency.