ShowYouSuck is an emcee from Chicago, best known these days as part of the group Air Credits alongside Hood Internet. Recently, he paired up with a different Chicago producer, Walking Shoe, best known as one half of the group Bad Ambassadors alongside Rich Jones. Together, they have crafted a new EP, BUMMER.

For this EP, Walking Shoe is channeling a sound that is reminiscent of the New Wave and Synth Pop of the early ‘80s and filtering that through a hip hop lens. The result is a sound that is moody, wavering somewhere between lonely and isolated and happy and soulful. It’s a delicate balance, but it’s just what this project calls for, and he does an amazing job of walking that line. This sets the stage perfectly for ShowYouSuck, who does a great job of crafting lyrics that are equally moody but are lightened by his pop culture references and sense of humor. His flow on the mic is very conversational, which really makes the whole product feel very much like you’re hearing an emcee read from his diary, contemplating the ways in which the world is unfair, different ways in which he feels like he doesn’t fit in, and so on. The two artists have great chemistry together, and overall this makes for an impactful, short project together, the kind that you can really get in your head with while listening to it on headphones. The only real problem with the EP in the inclusion of the last track, “a message from SNCKPCK.” I get the point of it, to end the EP on a message of hope, but instead we get a grating, overly long message that crosses the line of just trying to spread some cheer and just being blindly and forcefully cheery to the point of being alienating. By the time I got to the track on my second pass with the EP, I was already stopping the track before SNCKPCK could get started. I just couldn’t sit through it a second time.

One small problem aside, BUMMER is a strong first project from Walking Show and ShowYouSuck. It has a distinct sound to it, and allows both voices to shine equally, while giving us some hip hop that allows you to get in your feelings for a bit without wallowing in the sadness.