Immaculate Flave Records is a Seattle rap label responsible for a handful of releases over the last twenty years. Immaculate Flave arrived in 2000 with releases by Freeze, Dank P, and Metaphoric. A fourth release that year was a tape called Bangable from rapper X-Kid, who had formerly been part of the duo Players On Wax. Two years later, X-Kid put out his second solo project, called Madd Demos. According to the credits, he produced, programmed and performed every aspect of this album.

There are six songs on Madd Demos. Opener “The Program” is a solid track which touches on social issues. “But I’m still in the streets, hot in every spot, from the Central to the South End’s a big boiling pot,” he ominously warns. Vivid imagery in “Red Apache” takes your ear on a historical journey, “The Oklahoma bomber head to head with Jeffery Dahmer, nuking Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Okinawa.”

“You & Me” and “Good Livin” are more about chasing women and living the player life. “You & Me” features Dank P rapping, and lovely vocals from Kasi Jones. Actually, “Good Livin” is probably my favorite cut on the CD. X-Kid’s delivery here is top notch, showing breath control and verse construction. “Futuristic when I plug in the mic, and then ignite the spark, the club’s packed, and the lights is dark, we got the queens and the gods and my thugs with heart,” goes a nice line.

The album’s beats are somewhat experimental, with many elements combined together. This works well at creating an interesting soundscape as a backdrop. However, sometimes the noisy music competes with X-Kid’s lyrics in that mid-level EQ range, for example “Souljah Field” could use a more minimal production approach in my opinion. Professional mastering can usually alleviate issues like this. X-Kid continued releasing albums throughout the 2000s. His crew 817 Inc dropped a compilation project in 2017 called The Legacy Continues. Indeed it does. Written by Novocaine132