Album Review: Gimar – ‘On My Own Buzz’

What a fantastic example of one of New Zealand’s up and coming hip-hop artists. While my strengths lie in other genres, I do quite like rap/hip hop if it is well presented with lyrics that are true to one’s self.

Gimar is a shining example of this. His lyrics come deep from inside, choosing to rap about debts, relationships and his general life instead of the “glorified lifestyle” usually associated with this genre. There are no apologies for his up-front delivery and it comes across strong and focused.

This is a slick, well -put together album that doesn’t have problems combining rock, pop and jazz bass beats. Stand out tracks for me were ‘Kool Rider’ with its hard hitting, catchy beats; ‘Just Like You’ with its piano underline and its slower pace; and ‘Whats It All About’ which featured Fresh and Elvee (Ghetto Klownz) whose vocals complimented Gimar’s.

I don’t believe it will be long until we will see this artist in the mainstream charts. This is a great album.