The pendulum of life swings from simple to complicated and swoops across everything in between. If the devil is in the details, the true meaning is in the grey areas. Whilst the quest for nuance is noble, sometimes, it pays to be intentional with your target and get to the point.

For their first collaborative project, Str8 Shot, Gary “Sivion” Watson and Maurice “MALEX” Alexander aim, fire and spit with a barrage of hard-hitting Hip Hop that will inspire new and old heads alike. Across the beats and rhymes, the duo showcases kin-like chemistry, which extracts depth from simplicity. The opening salvo on Str8 Shot is like a special ops assignment meets manifesto. Heavy Gunner introduces MALEX’s spaced-out Blade Runner-esque bounce, where Sivion shoots for the stars while swinging “a hot sword of the spirit”. The experimental production and Sivion’s staccato style sound like a chauffeur-driven ride in the Delorean from Back To The Future. Sivion then links up with long-time collaborator Braille and the Dallas freestyle king, Infored, on the latest single, Come Through Me. All three pilots plot a flight course to a higher level of mental liberation. MALEX’s mischievous bleeps and blips encapsulate push-and-pull energy. The cheeky bop, in turn, opens up Sivion, Braille and Infored to go all the way in with a call and response flows while calling out pretentious folks prone to take the bait of what this world supposedly has to offer. The firing squad take a breather to reload their bullets on Straight Cool featuring Mokah Soulfly. Sivion, Malex and their fellow gunners shoot the breeze straight to the milky way and write bars on Mars. With live bass from the masterful Nigel Rivers (Erykah Badu, Royce Da 5’9″ and Eric Roberson), sonically, the track converges with genuine reflections of their come-ups, tinges of otherworldliness and dashes of a five-star resort turn-down service.

With eight tracks, Str8 Shot is a short, sharp, stirring experience that puts peps in steps and batteries in backs. Headshots and head nods abound as Sivion and MALEX revel in their sharpshooter roles and excellently execute the mission with Bret Hart precision.

Str8 Shot by Sivion and MALEX is out September 8, 2023 on Illect Recordings.

Written by Christopher Mitchell for Ten Pounds of Gold and Breaking Atoms.