We’re back! Another 1st Listen Review, Saq with the words, I hardly write anymore but when your favourite artist is dropping you have to return. Shout out Nines, just when Arsenal are their worst, he cheers us all up with a surprise album out of nowhere.
Let me clarify the rules of a 1st Listen Review again, the aim is for you to just dot down your thoughts as you’re listening, unfiltered.
– No skipping
– No rewinding
– No pausing (emergency cases only)
– Minimal editing (crazy grammar mistakes & typos can be corrected yes but can’t change what was actually written)
Right, with that clarified, let’s get into One Foot Out.
Intro
Intro’s sounding powerful. Nines always has a dope Intro. Punchlines in full flow everywhere. Ooh politics with a Labour reference. Ahhhh beat dropped, nice. Great start.
Going In
Ahhh, nice piano on this second joint. That laugh following Zino Records is legendary. OKKAAAAAAY this is serious! Bit of Skrapz, the whole of Ice City just spoke there. This beat is SO cold. Serious head bopping right now, moving like the Churchill dog! Maybe it’s because I’m Asian but there’s like a hint of a Bollywood sample / flavour to this beat. “Fuck the champagne where the Henny at” yeah that’s getting tweeted a 100 times by the fans.
Trapper Of The Year
Get a quick 3 minute break here as I’ve already heard Trapper Of The Year so can’t review it as it’s not a first listen. Due to rules, I can’t skip or forward this either, have to take the album in whole. Sitting back and enjoying. Weirdly enough I proper disliked this tune when it first came out and then it grew to be one of my favourite songs last year.
Love 2 The Game
Yep, this is nice also. Production on point again. Nice catchy hook from Hudson East, he’s got sooooo much potential. Nines always has wavy hooks actually, Lyrican on Money On My Mind, Tiggs on Yay, Hailie on Can’t Blame Me, that kind of track record can’t be luck he must have a great ear.
Getting Money Now
Woaaah that hook scared me haha, came out of nowhere. Not really feeling the vocals too much, bit strained. “If you had my chick you’d probably never cheat” haha nobody can brag on bars like Nines, amazing. Yeah I think I cursed the hook because this one is not great on first listen, maybe it’s just too late at night to appreciate it.
These Keys
Okay okay, into one of the intriguing collabs. Berner from Taylor Gang with Nines, not sure if he’ll be singing or rapping let’s find out. Did Nines just say he has a friend call NuNu? Like the hoover on Teletubbies? Mad. “Never going broke again I’m cool with the traffickers”. Nines has blessed the hood with enough Insta captions for the next two years. Yeah Berner’s got flowwwww, I don’t know who hooked this collab up because it’s mad random, but it’s working.
Stacey Adams
High pitched vocal samples always equal good tracks from my experience. Ahhhh drums kicked in, enjoying this beat. Haha “Armani I’m sorry I keep blowing up.” FUCK OFFFFFFFFF BAR OF THE YEAR HANDS DOWN. THE RULES WON’T LET ME WHEEL UP BUT I’M COMING STRAIGHT BACK TO THIS!!!
Hoes
Yaaassss. Tiggs Da Author, the chorus KING. Yep, he does not disappoint, this is wavy. Don’t truusssst these hoes. Amen Tiggs, amen. Another wavy beat, production has been very very solid. This is like Yay Pt. 2. Tiggs is surely going to be a platinum selling artist right? If he doesn’t, I give up with music, he has everything. Man’s got me waving my arms like I’m in a choir to a chorus with the lyrics “Don’t truuuuust these hoes”.
Nervous
This hook is nice aswell. Feel like it’s the same guy as track 5 but he sounds a lot lot better. Solid track not bad by any stretch but Nines has set a high standard so far and this is probably the closest to being considered “filler”. Slowed the mood down nicely, I wonder if that’s a shift in tone.
High Roller
Oh no I was wrong, into the head banger High Roller. Already heard this, banger as we all know.
Break Away
Okay okay, minimal beat, straight bars. This beat is going to drop at some point though. Haha “I just left the label Christmas party to go break down a pack” you know he’s not lying either. Okay, that’s not where or how I expected the beat to drop. Mad. “Immigration want to take my chain back to Cuba” “Looking through the Sun, see my ting on Page 4”. SO MANY QUOTABLES. That was Nines lyricism at it’s best.
I Wonder
Another interesting collab, seeing Akala on the tracklist raised a lot of eyebrows due to what Akala tends to talk about so I’m excited to get into this. Nines trying something different with his delivery here, very deep, showing a more thoughtful and vulnerable side. No doubting Nines intelligence, he’s very aware of current issues. Okay, sounds like an Akala interview has been sampled for the chorus, very nice touch. “Wonder will Arsenal ever win the league” haha don’t we all, feel you on that Nina. “Yo Nines” ends the track, sounds like he was dreaming, sick.
Trap Music
“If album does numbers then the prices on the bricks down” mad mad mad. Yeah this is nice, didn’t stand out compared to the others but very solid nonetheless.
Make It Last
Ahhhh, smooth vocals. Yeah, that laid back flow returns. This is one for the weed smokers I think, especially with that smooth hook. Perfectly placed on the album, it’s like the wind down tune, oooooooh beat just got chopped on some A2 kinda vibe, sick.
Outro
Outro time, great vibe, smashed it with the feel of the last two songs, perfect wind down songs, close the album superbly.
Well that’s that done. What a brilliant body of work. I had no doubt Nines would live up to the hype, he’s never dropped a bad tape if we’re honest but this was his major label debut and there was big pressure around it, yet he delivered. Production was on point, the hooks were mostly excellent, the flow, bars and everything Nines touched was gold. On One Foot Out, Nines hardly put a foot wrong.
Make sure you support and BUY your copy HERE.
Love
S