Michael G. BarilleauxBen Hayden, better known as a rapper by the name Huskii, is a tremendously skilled and deeply haunted individual. On his seven song project “Antihero,” the Australian rapper spills his guts one track at a time and leaves the listener attempting to take apart the lyrics of one song while also eagerly awaiting the next. On “Antihero”, Huskii lets out the demons that torment him through a darkly-edged sincerity bolstered by a robust lyrical sensibility.
The first two tracks on this project, “Heroin Rap” and “Ruin My Life” both lyrically exude a potent atmosphere of drug dealing, addiction and the occult, just to name a few of the particulars that Huskii intertwines in order to depict the vivid imagery of his intricately grim rhymes. With lines like, “Give a bitch a habit say I love her now we soul mates,” on “Heroin Rap” and “I could’ve been something more than another fish in the sea / So why the fuck am I back out doing these stick-ups in creeps?” on “Ruin My Life”, Huskii’s raps give off the aroma of a troubled, devious and trapped soul.
On “Cape Fear Big Wave Contest”, Huskii raps about a life of couch surfing and dope moving. He doesn’t go it alone on this track, however, as MCs MIKE POMPEI, IDES and Shadow all join him with verses of their own which, for the most part, pick up where Huskii leaves off and fall right into the swing of aggressive drums accompanied by a metallic guitar strumming.
The last track, “Toxic”, finds Huskii in an overwhelmingly somber mood as he talks of his girl leaving him, his return to drug dealing and how he feels that he will likely “die in these streets.” This track’s instrumental begins on a higher note but quickly drops as slower drum patterns are introduced and dreary piano chords take over. “Toxic” portrays a side of the rapper’s lonely, dysfunctional life in a way that the tracks preceding it do not as it takes away any sense of cockyness or high energy and replaces them with a more direct feeling of one hitting rock bottom.
Listening to “Antihero” is like taking a stroll through a series of bleak, shadowy back alleys where drugs are dealt heavily, sadness and hopelessness are seen plainly in those around you and the feeling of being eternally stuck in one spot fills the air like a stagnant fog.
Huskii is a more than capable rapper, unshelving his problems with dark but clever rhymes and matching the sonic levels of heightened intensity with lyrics that will take the listener by storm upon first listen. On “Antihero”, the downtrodden yet fiery MC sets scenes and depicts his reality artfully.