When Blind Council first arrived on the Seattle hip-hop scene, Blak was its sole M.C. Three-odd years later after a couple of additions and subtractions of personnel, Blak again stands as the sole M.C. on Blak Plastic, B.C.’s first release intended for public consumption. And now, just as he did years ago, Blak’s lyrical content and flow are making a lot of M.C.s revamp their own thoughts and styles just so they can weather the storm.

Blak Plastic starts off with “Art Of Jack” and “Only When I’m High,” concepts consisting of: 1) the details and reasoning of a sin committer, and 2) the thoughts that run through a nigga’s (Blak) mind when he’s high, respectively. Side Two in particular rips shit all the way through, beginning with “No Hoopla” into “I’m M.C.ein,” all of these songs being the type of cuts that unnerve insecure and paranoid M.C.s.

Production on the E.P. is handled by the more than capable hands of D.J.s Topsin and King Otto, who both bring out the menacing tone of Blak’s vocals, enhancing the dark mood of the E.P. immeasurable. Blak’s lyrical style is cryptic; it takes a few listens to fully grasp everything he says, but the concepts are easy to grasp. (The titles tell you what you need to know, but true listeners will get more meat out of the songs.) His flow is some ‘ole ill shit, with a highly complex and rhythmic non-cadence style. Bottom line, hands down this is the best local tape to come out in quite a while. Lyrically and beat-wise it fucks with anything out there, major label or independent. If you see it, buy it. (This review originally appeared in The Flavor and was written by Truth.)