8ch2Owens: The Spillage - Mixtape Review | Vice City Cypher

Album Review by German DJ “AW Da Wicked”, a Supporter and Promoter of South Florida Hip Hop and Contributor of #WVCC #CyphLyfeRadio living in Zhongshan, China.

Introducing 8ch?

8ch2Owens ( pronounced H 2 O wins ), aka “Mr. 88er”; aka “Dr. Akwa”; aka “8ch”, an active South Florida MC, drops a new project called “The Spillage”.

This South Florida Hip Hop Veteran with more than 20 Years of activity in the local scene under his belt got first noticeably active in 1993 were he formed his first group called #Netcasters Assembly. The Texas born/ Little Havana raised MC continued his mission in 1999 with #ProFresh, mainly a collaboration of Kendall MC’s including Miami Legends Serum LaForest, Soloman Spectrum ( R.I.P. ) , Soarse Spoken, Rudi Goblen (Mighty Mowths) DJ Manuvers and others. In the year 2003, #IllLitterRats was formed together with Ben Miller ( better known as Wrekonize of Strange Music ) and Rudi Goblen ( Flip Side Kings ). In 2004 they dropped their debut release, IllLitterRats: InfestStations, which was well received by the South Florida Hip Hop Community. After a 4 Year hiatus, 8ch returned to form A1phaNum3rics with longtime friend J5 and young gun Acromadic. The group collaborated with many local acts such as The Benchwarmers Clique, Saheed, Hindu Rock, LMS, Corner Stoners, and more, as they compiled records for their first release STRENGTH IN NUMBERS, which never got officially released. In 2010 , While writing, recording, and Performing with AlphaNu, 8ch and long time friend Charles Fast started Vice City Cypher and a battle league platform called #StreetWars for hosting Rap Battles and promoting hip hop Events with larger Indie acts in South Florida. Vice City Cypher has stayed active in the So Flow scene since 2010 and has now evolved into #WVCC radio show broadcasting twice a week.

Its been a minute since the StreetWar’s mixtape series appeared in the streets of South Florida, exactly 10 years ago. A project 8ch2Owens & Charlie Fast put together to shine light on South Florida’s Underground Hip Hop Scene and to give Battler Rappers a vehicle by which they could exhibit their recorded material. Thru this mixtape series and several Hip Hop Events hosted by VCC, 8ch dedicated his time and energy to making sure South Florida Rappers had a stage and method to get their music out to an audience that appreciated their sound.

This is where the Spillage Project hooks in, as it consists of many tracks from the Post IlLitterRats/ Alphanum3ric5 era. The mix is a journey thru 8ch2Owens early life and mirrors almost every aspect, ups and downs he experienced back in the days. In such tracks as the Wake Up Call, Hypocritic Oath, 925 Frustration, and noticeably in June 14th and The Darkest Hour along with Dreams he opens up the door into his personal life. People that have known 8ch a long time may get a renaissance of memories while listening to the mix and mentioned tracks.

Zen teaches “you about being, and me and being me”, that we all fit into this world without exception.
On No Holds Barred, in my opinion one of the stand out Alphanum3ric5 track, the feature Saheed spits real nice bars and makes this track extra lively.

One of my personal favorite tracks besides Zen is H3ad Or Tail5 featuring Acro 1 with a nice complementing female hook. In case you like digits and mathematics, check out the explanation of the natural number following 665 and preceding 667 in the track Sum Of All Sums with The RNF Status ( Mic Sessionz Dalessandro ) on the hook and a surprise appearance by BoogieMonstah’s legend Vex Da Vortex.

In Tamales – as a side note – I feel a slight change in 8ch’s style of flow and seems to be more the spoken style, working with a more serious voice. Indeed, 8ch2Owens triggers emotions with his style of delivery.

The mixtape is full of well known South Florida features such as Eric Orion Toledo on Ain’t No Love, Serum LaForest – here we got an early Serum, but already with his well-known, sharpened, ad-hoc made lyrics as we know him today – on Jokes On You, EyeConz with The RNF Status ( Mic Sessionz Dalessandro ), and productions by Wrekonize “Wake Up Call”, DJ Sharp Sound “The Corners” “Dreams”, “June 14th” and others.

When we talk about a South Florida / Dade County mixtape, it wouldn’t be authentic without some Spanish lingo, right? 8ch seems to have this base covered with songs like “Te Mato” featuring Seth Brundel De La Guerra & Yury Sunshine. And 8ch shines spitting in Spanish on the unreleased AlphaNu track “Brillaire”.
The female component isn’t missing either fellas… For this, go check out the track Just Me with Susy Luna Green on Vocals, and Love Song featuring Melodik Flows, aka Mrs. Joka Wild.

The mix is laced with many different styles, from the jazzy Feed Me Funk (produced by Rudi Goblin) to the Future Boom Bap sound of Turn The Party Up ( Mr. Nixon ) to the electronic and abstract Snot Rocket featuring Far Fetched. The 35 track mix is like an audio journey with 8ch2Owens and doesn’t miss any of what a hip hop head would expect in a great album. The intelligent content delivery and the various styles of beat compositions by Sharp Sound, Rudi Goblen, Llama Beats, Wrekonize, Citation Sounds and more; along with its features makes this a very well-balanced project over all.

As a last note, from a DJ’s perspective: This is a hand-made, classic-style mix with turntables made by Damien “DJ Proof Beatz” Colson, who has been dubbed Miami’s Boom Bap King. The hands on approach to mixing these tracks seamlessly is the reason why I consider this a “real mixtape” as it supposed to be ( OK, it’s not on a magnetic tape, but I assume we can drop such characteristic in 2020 ).

To let you know what time it is … A new project by 8ch2Owens and DJ Proof is already in the works and will be released Summer of 2020, named The WaterProof! Don’t sleep on that, as it continues 8ch2Owens story in the South Florida hip hop scene!