- Seattle emcee Nacho Picasso has been openly plying his rap trade for the best part of five years with minimal fanfare from the musical masses. With ten studio quality mix-tapes and a lone EP to his name, a regular person might be somewhat perturbed by the lack of quantifiable success that has come his way. That person is not Nacho Picasso. Nacho seemingly happy enough to bypass the usual, outdated channels and sticking with distributing his music directly to his fans via Bandcamp and the like. Even a real scumbag stickler like myself has been persuaded into handing over my hard earned clams after being wooed early on by a handful of excellent free tapes.

Nacho Picasso's latest release and third already for the year, Blunt Raps 2, is the direct sequel to the rappers very first official release that first came out at the tail-end of 2010 to the sound of crickets. The original Blunt Raps was a lo-fi, diamond in the rough. A mixtape that laid the foundations for Nacho's current rap blueprint but now sounds horribly dated, especially so considering his output since. With its sequel unleashed on the world the original has become merely a fascinating footnote in Seattle's blossoming hip-hop scene while that new tape could, and downright should, pave the way and set the bar for any and all comers.

In the past Nacho's most compelling works have been the four tapes he laid down with the production duo of Blue Sky Black Death, while the music resulting from working with multiple beat makers has proved to be slightly more hit and miss. Blue Sky Black Death's dark and moody soundscapes always the perfect accompaniment to nacho's tales of Greek gods, pro wrestling and breasts. After already receiving such a tape already this year, Blunt raps 2 see's Nacho Picasso hook up with six different producers including Raised Byy Wolves, Eric G and Harry Fraud- the latter releasing Blunt Raps 2 on his very own Surf School record label and features the red hot producer on two tracks- one featuring a particular killer Pearl Jam sample that finally brings two of Seattle's best assets together in the least horrible way imaginable.

Nacho Picasso like his name is an emcee you'll either love or hate. His style and delivery could be seen as shallow, punchline rap to anyone that takes him at purely face value. His lyrical content a mixture of exceptionally dextrous wordplay, meta references to previous raps and an aural tonic equal parts bravado and self depreciation. Blunt Raps 2 is a mixture of sex and violence, dark humour and deep-cut, movie dialogue that has been sampled and woven throughout an album that already feels larger than life, theatrical in a way. Nacho happily playing the drug abusing, anti-hero. Out of his mind and up in the trump with David Blowie and the Nacho Man Randy Savage.

Less than one month into 2015 and Nacho Picasso had already delivered a record that will surely go down as one of my absolute favourites for the year and now barely half way into he year and Nacho has delivered two stellar albums that will no doubt remain personal favourites come December. He’s bringing out new material as I’m still left digesting my last meal and I couldn’t be happier to make room in my hairy, bloated ear stomach. The self proclaimed drunk Obama quickly solidifying himself as my favourite modern day rapper. A dude that somehow is compelling as he is consistent. As interesting as he is prolific. Nacho Picasso is simply the real deal.

- Jay Edwards