Buff1

Scrappy lyrical up-and-comer Buff1 couldn’t have picked a more apt lead single than "Beat The Speakers Up” to announce the intentions behind his strident sophomore disc, There’s Only One. The rambunctious, stabbing beat, dramatic choral backing vocals and sparing flow that characterize the cut set a mark that Buff does well to maintain throughout. Over an array of varied, key-led soundscapes and tough rhythms, the Michigan native tackles each verbal theme with equal intensity, taking an old school R&B musical backing track through his own "corners” observations on "Dream Streets” and cataloguing each of his hip-hop heroes by birth name on the would-be square-circle anthem "Classic Rap.” Warm synths rain down midstream in a typical showing that helps soften the cracking percussion and mix up a delivery that, though maintaining a relatively unchanging cadence throughout, does what it does well enough to keep things solid from beginning to end.