Oso Negro is an emcee now based in Pensacola, formerly based in Oregon. Over the years, he’s collaborated with such artists as PH8, Doze, and Weighn Beats, just to name a few. For his latest project, he reached out overseas to a British producer now living in Cambodia, Mute Speaker. Together, they present a new EP, Unk Funk.

Mute Speaker is a really talented producer, best known for his work with Gajah, along with a rich solo catalogue. Over the years, he’s shown a penchant for making some killer boom bap beats from old psychedelic records, but then his travels and musical curiosity took him to Cambodia, where he discovered a whole new source of amazing music as he begun a deep dive into the golden age of Cambodian pop music, and his production has just grown from there. The real key to Unk Funk, though, is not what any one artist is bringing to the table – it’s the chemistry that Oso Negro and Mute Speaker have with each other, even when they live halfway around the globe from each other. This EP will immediately grab you with the opening of the title track, as Mute Speaker establishes this infectious groove around a funky guitar riff and some drums that are pushing the tempo just a little, all accentuated by a killer sax sample. Oso Negro feels this groove, jumps in the pocket, and then starts rhyming with ease as he jumps around with some clever wordplay. As you work your way through the EP, the two do a great job of balancing their moments of pure hip hop and their pop sides. Oso Negro actually has some nice melodic instincts and a good singing voice when he opts to drop a hook like on “Inside Job,” or the playful “Mr. Fat Cat.” He can also hop in a cypher and spit with the best of them, as demonstrated by the expert trading of verses with Ekym1536 and Mike Wird on “Woof.” He can be serious when he needs to, but Oso also has a great sense of humor, as demonstrated on the silly “Six Alexes,” where he ruminates on how many people he works with that have the same name. I would be lying if I said my mind didn’t immediately think of “The Daves I Know,” from Kids in the Hall.

Unk Funk is only a seven-song EP that cracks the twenty-one minute mark, but the chemistry between Oso Negro and Mute Speaker is so good, and the music has much substance to it, it’s easy to get lost in it and lose track of time. There are great beats that will have you turning up the speakers and making stank face, there are clever lines that will have you rewinding and playing them over, and there are huge hooks that you’ll be singing along to. Not bad for their first project together.