Lee Reed is an emcee from Hamilton, Ontario who has been making political hip hop for over twenty years. He came to the attention of a lot of U.S. listeners when he released Before & Aftermath on Strange Famous Digital back in 2018. Like many others in lockdown, he got the urge to create and work through all of his thoughts and feelings, now giving us his quarantine EP, Murder Hornet Landlord.

It’s certainly been interesting to see how artists have responded to this pandemic, whether it be going into the vaults and putting together compilations of older material, or maybe using the creation of music as a source of peace and meditation in these times. If you”ve followed Lee Reed over the years, you know that neither of those are his style. His music has always had a dark and urgent edge to it, and Murder Hornet Landlord is no exception. With beats by I.Khan of Dollar Bin Brothers, Murder Hornet Landlord is giving you that dystopian underground sound for anyone that need a good cathartic angry rant about how fucked up everything is outside. Over the course of five tracks, Reed is railing against capitalism and connecting the dots between all the dominos that have been falling over since the spread of the virus, whether it be corporate greed and the callousness of businesses towards the value of human life, or the failure of our governments that were elected to lead and protect us through times like this. It’s a pretty straightforward EP, but if you’re looking to let out some good, focused anger for a few minutes, Reed has you covered.

Murder Hornet Landlord is exactly what you want and expect from someone like Lee Reed at a time like this. It’s smart and creative focused anger being channeled through hip hop. It’s an EP that will let you vent, much like the first track, about “What a Fucked Up Time to be Alive” this is.