Offie Mag

Growing up, for some reason my parents never wanted to get me an Xbox or a PlayStation. I assume they thought it would rot my brain. However, they were more than happy with Nintendo. My childhood was a lot more Mario and Pokemon than it was Call Of Duty – probably a reason for my specific brand of nerdiness.

Due to boredom I would occasionally play my older sister's games, one of which was Harvest Moon. I never finished one, I had no idea what was going on and I couldn’t care less about virtual farming. But one thing I do care about is high quality rap music, and ST3R3O and Guerilla Kerby are providing it on Harvest Moon, brought to us through Ovengloveboys Records.

Harvest Moon marks the most recent collaboration between Brighton based producer ST3R3O and Croatian-English rapper Guerilla Kerby. Over the last couple years we have seen ST3R3O develop as a producer and find a sound that he can call his signature. He really lets the samples do the heavy lifting, with additional drum programming adding the real beef to the tracks. Kerby’s verses are strong throughout, adding real nuance and a refreshing tone and cadence to vintage samples. Features from Young Theodore, Viere IK, 32 Burden and George elevate the project, with my personal highlights coming in the second half of ‘Rest In White’ and ‘Corsica’.

Harvest Moon looks to showcase a more alternative Hip-Hop sound. It feels authentic for the sonic world they are trying to create, and this is further expanded on with each track coming with a short visual bringing the project into the physical realm.

Harvest Moon is also the name of a Neil Young album, written about his wife. Very sweet. The title track starts with Neil saying “Come a little bit closer. Hear what I have to say,” and that works for this project too. These two have a lot to say, and in my opinion it’s worth listening to.

Words from Louis Rowland