Seattle emcee Onry Ozzborn has been releasing albums since the late ‘90s, both as part of groups like Oldominion, Grayskul, and Darktime Sunshine, as well as working as a solo artist. The last couple of years has seen him focusing on his solo career, with Duo coming out in 2016 and cvpiid coming last year. He keeps working at that steady pace, now giving us Nervous Hvnd.

While the last two albums had concepts to them, Nervous Hvnd is a bit more straightforward in its approach. Ozzborn is still working with Rain, who produced cvpiid as well, who again finds the right balance between weird and accessible with his beats, bringing in some electronic and psychedelic elements to his boom bap. This works well for Ozzborn, who has walked the that same line his whole career. He doesn’t have a big voice, and he’s never gone for the big hooks or boisterous delivery on the mic. Instead, Onry Ozzborn just spits this flow that sounds kind of conversational, but is jam packed with double meanings, clever wordplay, and incredibly honest and emotional poetry. It’s the type of hip hop that you might vibe out to at first, just kind of sit back and bob your head, but once you start listening closer to Ozzborn’s lyricism, he’ll draw you in with his raw honesty as he rhymes about dealing with trauma in his past, mental and physical health issues, continuing to make his way as an independent artist, and trying to take care of his family. Because of Ozzborn’s disposition on the mic, Nervous Hvnd becomes this album that will feel really familiar very quickly, like you’re catching up with an old friend. On top of everything else, we also get an appearance from his daughter on “Holy Moly,” who performs under the name vioLIT, and she absolutely crushes it.

There’s something to be said for consistency, and Onry Ozzborn has consistently brought it for over twenty years now. Nervous Hvnd is a top quality album from a veteran emcee who hasn’t lost a step as the years pass by.