Psalmurai & Teck-Zilla: ‘Enter The Double Dragon II’

Enter The Double Dragon II is the sequel to the EP of the same name by Nigerian veteran emcee/videographer Psalmurai and globe-trotting producer/DJ Teck-Zilla.

While the first EP was just 3 tracks long, the sequel goes full throttle with 7 tracks that continue the duo’s fusion of martial arts and hip-hop with their distinct twist.

Bolstered by Teck-Zilla’s cinematic and exotic soundscapes made up of dusty samples, original compositions and snippets from classic Run Run Shaw flicks, 70s cartoons, and anime, listeners are taken on an epic journey that runs the gamut with Psalmurai’s verbal jousting.

The project starts with the aptly titled “Intro” where Psalmurai states his claim and pronounces the power of the tongue with lines like “You got the power of speech use it before they mute your lips/ When that time comes you can bet I’ll be a fugitive/ Rhyme pugilist knocking you haters out the freaking ring”. This is followed by the epic-sounding track “Gang Star”, where he implores listeners to be “gangster” in their self-improving efforts. Over the pounding soundscape, Psalmurai delivers the message in his distinctively smooth flow and impassioned demeanor as he reminds us to take the bull by the horns with lines like

“I’m talking Martin Luther king kind of gangster I’m talking Malcolm X, yeah you know he a Gangster

I’m talking Nina Simone, I’m talking Nasir Jones I’m talking Jay Z, yeah that kind of Gangster”

Things switch up on the battle-ready MMA-inspired “King Of Fighters” where Psalmurai references legends such as Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Muhammad Ali, and even Goku and Akuma. This is followed by the somber “Crocodile Tears (Cries)” where listeners are pulled into a tale of fatal seduction and the need to guard one’s heart jealously. “Kintsugi” is an insightful driven track inspired by the traditional Japanese style of using gold to mend broken pottery and it’s pure poetry in action with vivid rhyme schemes such as

“From breakbeats to break dance, Rap to DJ’ing Heavyweight knock your arguments out when I Weigh in
This is the Reassembling after the Breaking Made me more human than a newborn baby”

The fun continues on “Silver Slugs”, a dark gloomy tune that sees Pslamurai as a silver bullet-wielding Vampire hunter who is out to get Dracula and his blood-guzzling minions and the project closes out with “Bushido Cheat Codes”, a mid-tempo jazz-infused cut that displays pure bravado in the face of a dying culture where gimmicky rap is preferred to everything else.

Psalmurai sums it all up with the first few bars of the track with lines like

“This is not the usual this is something different

Every rhyme is out of here vocabulary alien”

and concludes with a befitting hook reminding us that he is cut from a different cloth worn by his Hip Hop predecessors. Make sure you STREAM THE PROJECT HERE!

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Tags: Double Dragon, Double Dragon II, Hype Magazine, MC Bravado, Psalmurai, Teck-Zilla

About the Author

MC Bravado MC Bravado is an emcee/educator from Baltimore by way of New York. He's received noteworthy press across mediums, including but not limited to Billboard, Rolling Stone, HipHopDX, CBS, FOX, ABC, SiriusXM Shade45, Okayplayer, DJBooth, HotNewHipHop, The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Magazine, Earmilk, and REVOLT TV. Performing alongside or collaborating with the likes of Bone Thugs, Scarface, Joell Ortiz, Statik Selektah, & MANY more, Bravado is a veteran presence.  No stranger to big stages (Warped Tour, A3C, SXSW), MC B is showing & proving his way to rarefied air. That being said, the former Baltimore city high school English teacher still keeps a leg in the classroom as program coordinator for nonprofit Music Education program Beats Not Bullets. He also co-owns Label Necklace, an independent record label that empowers & educates other creatives while running the label’s boutique PR branch.