BigDaddyChop & Dreego Join Forces on The Golden Ticket

Fly, Young, Flossy Hip Hop from Off the Top Rope

While you may not think of the city of Antioch, California as a hotbed of Hip Hop and rap talent — perhaps you should. Two of the strongest talents in the scene today are coming straight out of Antioch and bringing lyrical heat over fuego tracks produced by a coterie of their homies and usual suspects including Fuzzy, Jimmy Stubbs, Zoomo, Divine Drummah, Bacomartinez and Ian James. To bring extra heat, The Golden Ticket — the long-awaited follow-up to the Dreego and BigDaddyChop album “The Forgotten Treasure” — features guest appearances from L X S, Infamy and noted Canadian MC Raz Fresco.

The Golden Ticket is full of dropped jewels, golden easter eggs, and good-game gems for the fans, friends and foes. On “Bench Press” (produced by one of the standout beatmakers of the project, Jimmy Stubbs) Dreego and BigDaddyChop effortlessly hit the listener with barbs, bars and bragadoccio-laden lines in on this anthemic track reminiscent of The Jacka & Andre Nickatina on Glamorous Lifestyle.

Another notable banger from Dreego and Chop is “Carmen” (produced by Zoomo) which delivers heat and flavor over a tropical track you could easily wind your body too if you weren’t busy dissecting Chop and Dreego’s back-to-back bars. Finally, Jimmy Stubbs returns to round out this project with a track called Santeria, where BigDaddyChop and Dreego exchange verses with purpose. A dope way to end one wild ride of an 8-track EP. The Golden Ticket takes the listener on a number of journeys and upon first listen you can enjoy this project’s lighter lyrical fair — but a deeper listen opens doors to deeper discussions on wax (or CD in this case, and for just $15 in Bandcamp it would be a bargain at twice the price).

From Chop’s examinations of his own demons it’s clear he’s an MC who is rapping to escape negative voices in his head, unafraid to examine tough topics in his rhyme-schemes as a sort of self-therapy and to build a bridge with his fans and the first-time listener alike. Dreego brings his own depth as well, touching on difficult yet au courant topics such as “baby mamas” and some of the ways certain women keep children from their fathers.

There’s a method to the madness, a humility and humble-brag aspect to both of these MCs lyrics that endear you to their work, and make a first-time listener want to become a die-hard fan. Both Dreego and Chop are part of a young, 20-something ad-hoc collective of Bay Area, Central Valley and Northern Cali artists who bring a fresh perspective to Hip Hop and Rap — sons of hyphy who had to grow up fast but learned from the generations before theirs — their wisdom is ageless & timeless. No matter your age or “race” or socioeconomic background you can *learn* something from these young stunners. They step into the ring dripping with sheer, raw talent and draw the listener in from there, giving artistically as much as you’re willing to get from the blood, sweat and tears they so graciously and generously leave on the mat at the end of the match.

Made even more notable by the collectible cover art designed by Chop the Head, immaculate sound quality due to mixing by Dreego himself and mastering by Timepiece — it’s a no-brainer to $upport this indepedent release on Bandcamp.com at https://bigdaddychop.bandcamp.com/

Watch the first video from The Golden Ticket, ROYAL RUMBLE.

Read an exclusive interview with the artists on Drums and Ammo.

Photos courtesy of 1017chocs, photographer extraordinatire and purveyor of Franchise Players lifestyle garments.

Follow BigDaddyChop on social/music media:
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Follow Dreego on social/music media:
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Bandcamp

Walasia “MJ” Shabazz ~ former Associate Editor, The Source Magazine // former/founding Editor, Complex

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