Ohio based artist Dirty Needles (dirtyneedles330) dropped his third project “Cathartic” on June 30th, 2020. I’ve been following this brother for years now, dude has never put out wack music but has always brought a fun, creativeness to his craft that stays fresh like some new kicks. The LP is 34 minutes long with 10 tracks in total, so lets operate on this album this is “Cathartic.”
“Borderline” starts off the LP with a fast flow that punches in the rewards card for dope references. We’ve all been on the edge where we wanna just snap, well Needles snaps harder then a Slim Jim on both of his verses that are over a fire beat, I like the 80’s East Coast vibe it brings while also reminding me a bit of DJ Premier on the production. “Revenge of the Nerds” is dedicated to all of us geeks and nerds in the rap game, titled after the 1984 classic film of the same name we see Dirty Needles start off the track with some solid flow/delivery as well as bars for days. Liz Rees is our first guest feature who brings a nice mixture to this track, her flow/delivery was solid with rhymes on point, word to Phife. Ra’s al Ghul would be proud of track 3, titled “Lazarus” when Dirty Needles shows his grimy side, I liked his aggression on this piece. “Like Glue” sticks in your mind like peanut butter on your gums. I liked the wordplay on display that pops like art, this brother shows his passion in the flow/delivery that stays crispy like a freshly folded shirt. “Nintendo 64” sees Dirty Needles take us to his past, explaining what changes formed him into the MC he is today.
“Shattered” has some wicked production, I enjoyed the more theatrical theme as Needles raps about his inner thoughts, inspirations and regrets in life. “Somber” is a harsh reminder for many us who handle mental illness the pain is brings, Steph Geber (stephg729) joins the track as a guest vocalist. Her voice is beautiful on the this track of redemption after a long battle to become better. “The Awakening” features DJ M-Rok (djmrok) with a nice sample of what I believe is “Everybody Loves The Sunshine” by Roy Ayers. Now if you’ve ever felt woken from a deep state this track is for my brothers and sisters who has risen from the darkness into a new beast. I loved the entirety of this song. Alexa Gold (alexa_gold) is the guest vocalist for “Makin’ It”, a song about taking yourself from the bottom to develop into a business mind, this song was a favorite of mine from this whole LP. “Barbasol” is our final track with some of the best wordplay of the whole album. Starting with East Coast beast Coast LoCastro (coastlocastro)who brings heat, I’ve known of brodie since the Cypher Circuit days who hasn’t lost his touch. Revyved (revyvedhiphop) fills in the middle as Needles concludes a lyrically dope album.
Overall this was a dope album from Dirty Needles who has been putting in work for years. Production was great, all the songs had character too them, very well fleshed out. Lyrically the entire album was solid, the flow/delivery across the board was well done. Features were handled properly, the vocalist was a nice switch up while his guest MCs didn’t overcrowd the songs they shared. My favorite tracks would be “Borderline” and “Lazarus.” Both songs showed off some of the best bars from Dirty Needles while co-sharing the best production on this LP in my opinion. This should be peeped by all looking for that real rap shit, make sure to show homie some love, I am The Musical Hippie and these are my thoughts on “Cathartic” by Dirty Needles.
The Musical Hippie 