Review: Fliptrix – Elevation

Born and raised in South London, few people in UK hip-hop embody the doctrine of ambition more quietly or consistently than Fliptrix. He’s spent close to two decades releasing music, founding and running High Focus Records, and sitting at the centre of a scene he helped shape, all whilst most of the mainstream looked the other way. Ten solo albums, three with The Four Owls, collaborations with DJ Premier, Roc Marciano and Masta Killa, and a label that recently crossed 300 million YouTube views – he’s most definitely one of the best in his field.

Now arriving with his eleventh solo album, ‘Elevation’, he once again reorients his creative compass to provide another great project to his discography. Linking up with Forest DLG, who has been a close collaborator for the best part of fifteen years, mixing, mastering and creating the occasional joint track, ‘Elevation’ is the final product of a full joint album materialised. 

Fliptrix reached out to Forest with the clear view of creating something entirely different from his previous boom-bap heavy project,  ‘Dragonfly’, to elevate his craft and provide something different. Responding with a pack of over 70 instrumentals, Forest allowed the direction of travel to become crystal clear. The result is an album designed to lift the listener into a higher state of consciousness and trigger real conversations about the state of the world, in the hope of enacting positive change during turbulent times.

The collaborative nature of ‘Elevation’ shines through in full effect with unwavering commitment. While Fliptrix focused on writing, Forest went away and built the entire visual world around the record – artwork inspired by Fliptrix’s experiences with the Shipibo tribe in the rainforests of Peru, running from the single covers through to the album cover and merchandise. The vision and the aesthetic feel perfectly aligned, like two people who had been circling the same idea for years and finally found the right moment to make it real.

The opener, ‘Teacher’ sets the tone early, with contemplative lyricism and bars floating gracefully over lo-fi keys and modulated guitar plucks, before the following track ‘Transform’ sees (no pun intended) Fliptrix transform his approach in delivery to offload more intense, fast-flowed bars over a more heavy-hitting beat with an infectious hook. ’33 Vertebrae’ finds Fliptrix in a new soundscape, a cohesive blend of hip/hop, drill, and hip-house elements, with ‘The Divine Feminine’ a pointed and unflinching statement on misogyny and how we should “love our women, trust our women, respect our women” – a refreshing subject topic amongst the issues in digital society today. 

Having worked with all the greats in UK hip-hop, Fliptrix actively sought out new energies for Elevation, with lead single ‘Energy! Energy! Energy!’ and electric collaboration with jungle forefather General Levy. A high-octane jungle track that no doubt will be one that goes off in the raves, the pair go back to back with inspired bars and flows that effortlessly make your head wobble and nod along. Grime legend Frisco brings weight and edge to ‘Visionaries”, Ayah Marar takes the previously mentioned ‘Transform’ somewhere soulful and open, and Da Flyy Hooligan, Kamakaze and Coops each leave their mark across the record in ‘Mighty’ and ‘Freedom’ respectively. 

A major standout track in ‘Elevation’, however, comes in the form of ‘Dangerous’, where Fliptrix takes us back to the core High Focus collaboration. A 19-strong HF posse; Fliptrix, Forest DLG, Renelle 893, Jman, Harry Shotta, Ramson Badbonez, Spark, Farma G, Verbz, Dabbla, True Mendous, Coops, Leaf Dog, Jazz T, BVA, Verb T, King Kashmere, Kemastery, Vitamin G, Cracker Jon and Babylon Dead all go bar for bar over more than seven minutes of a stunning, droney boom bap production. It’s a masterful curation that some have dubbed an ‘Avengers Assemble’, one that, if you have been familiar with High Focus over the last decade, embodies everything collectively loved about the label and its artists. 

In comparison to ‘Dragonfly’, ‘Elevation’ does exactly what the title suggests and sees Fliptrix level up once again. Each of the 19 tracks plays its part, and with the depth of collaboration, there’s always a new spark around the corner ready to fill your headphones or speaker. Fliptrix reaffirms his legendary status as one of the pioneers and torch-bearers in his field, something that anyone who has been following his work over the years will not be surprised by whatsoever. For those coming in fresh, ‘Elevation’ is as good a place to start as any. 

Rating 8/10