Sydney’s MC Losty has been on his grind for a long time now. He has raised maintained his name by working as an MC across an array of genres, from drum n’ bass, to fronting a band, to raves and now to this his debut release.

In my time across the various message boards and websites, Losty has been somewhat of a divisive figure; always happy to air out his opinions, he has also been heavily derided for his involvement in the rave scene. I have no interest in judging him on his reputation nor criticizing him for a vast array of musical tastes, as often that can lead to the most rounded product. Roll With The Punches however for me just really struggles to gel from start to finish. Production is handled heavily by Weaver with some guest spots from Weapon X, Lewis One, the US’s Chops and others. Weighing in at a deep 20 tracks there is plenty of scope for each to stamp their sound across the tracks given. One thing Losty has done exceptionally well is picked his beats to suit his topics; when the beat rides smooth and a sung hook kicks in he heads deep, or when things get a little more up-tempo he has the flow to match. Too often though the beats just don’t have enough crispness to pull of the mainstream hip hop sound they are steering towards, but neither are they grimy enough to be dope for their lack of polish. To me they just kind of wander midstream in the world of bedroom beats.

Lyrically the first thing you will notice about Losty is dude sounds like he needs a Strepsil. His raspy delivery reminds me of The D.O.C, but that particular rapper went through a windscreen and had his vocal chords severed. It isn’t necessarily an annoyance though, as on repeated listens it softens and could actually become a selling point if he sharpens his lyrics. Sharpening of those needs to be Losty’s main and immediate focus. For someone with so many live gigs under his belt and years of honing his skills, the subject matter here is thin. The same themes seem to emerge over and again where Losty tells tales of a criminal life, how he is going to sleep with your girl and how he has a lot of haters. His punches also come across as overly simplistic, forgivable a little on a debut release sure, but with so much quality music being made out there, the end product needs to be better than this. Strongest tracks here are Time’s Up, Lock Down and Adore You, but if I’m being totally honest none of them have me rushing back to hit repeat.

I’m sure Losty doesn’t care what reviewers think as he seems to be someone who truly makes music because he loves it, and much respect to him for that. All I want to suggest is listen to the phenomenal music being released here and worldwide, learn, and elevate your writing to make the most of the opportunity that your profile gives you.