Written By: Darrell Maddox
When it comes to nerdcore rap a name that can hold its own is Yoku Masaki. Yoku is a talented rapper, but not many people know that he is a unique genius as a producer. Musically he never disappoints me because there is a sincere honesty about what he has to say in his music that makes what he does different from his nerdcore rap counterparts. Starting January 19, Yoku finally releases his Delta Nexus album and honestly, I was wondering if I would ever get to hear it because when he sent me a copy of his first single from the album “TM77” I was hooked at that point. To best describe Delta Nexus, I would compare it to the trials and tribulations of Tenchi Muyo as he tries to find himself and transform into the man he will ultimately become. Yoku’s versatility is always recognizable: One moment you have up-tempo momentum going with a track like “Tokyo Noise” and then he slows it down with a tracks like “Shattered Truths” and “Individual.” Then you get put on cruise control with a track like “Wild Child” which is one of my favorite tracks because of that old school feel in the beats. Yoku focuses on his own evolution in this album. Yoku explained the album is named after an entity which his brother Arjenti created and the reason why he narrates on the album. This album is way different than his mind state from his sophomore album “Yoku Vs The World”
“I wanted to Put My production last on this album and focus on my writing skills because many producers never get a lot of respect as a MC.” Yoku Explains. “The features as well were put on hold as well, unlike my other previous albums; I wanted to have no other artist overshadowing my capabilities and my message.”
This time Yoku literally put his heart and soul into this album to the point his light hawk wings are shining brighter than Tenchi’s. According to Yoku “The four elements that make up who I am Growing deal with Faith, Love, Fate and Peace.” Yoku has truly proven why he deserves to be mentioned with names such as Mister Wilson, Mega Ran and Kadeshflow.
“Songs like Salem Freestyle and Echo shows my potential to believe in myself and doubt the naysayers who feel my music is not appropriate, and Fate shows my Ability to Push forward to the future in what I can or can’t accomplish and deciding what I choose will leave me either in the dark or light.”
I give Delta Nexus a solid 9 out of 10. I truly felt all the passion Yoku put into this project, if you want to check out more of Yoku’s music you can go to http://yokumasaki.bandcamp.com/ and to contact him you can find him on twitter https://twitter.com/YokuMasaki. I consider Delta Nexus to be a nerdcore hip/hop classic when it is finally released to the public. Get your copy of Delta Nexus starting January 19, 2014. Until then, here is one of the songs off his CD called TM77.