Who woke up Bonkaz? Thorton Heath’s own made a surprising return last week with his latest tune in ‘Khabib Flow’. The South London rapper has been absent for all of 2019, leaving fans to question what happened to the guy who used to Run The Block.
Bonkaz came up around the same time as Stormzy with charisma, flow and pure bars, separating himself from the rest as a clearly elite rapper. He was a rapper that always seemed to have his foot in different lanes – one day he’d be shelling down raves with grime MCs and hopping on Heavytrackerz beats. The next he was working with big names like Chase and Status or making laid back tunes to vibe His mixtape run on his “Mixtape of The Year” and “Fuck Fame” projects also displayed his level of versatility.
With Khabib Style, he attempts to steer things back, coming for the necks of any of his doubters. The song is one of his hardest since his breakout 2014 hit ‘We Run The Block’, but really, the songs couldn’t be more different.
The first thing that will catch you on Khabib Style is the beat. Produced by Rude Kid, the song is a call back to his early more melodic grime beats you might hear Ghetts rap over back in the day. However, you might not even guess that Rude Kid produced the tune – he’s always been a talented producer but this song is more ethereal and spaced out, giving Bonkaz the room to really shine with his flow. There are some interesting parts of the beat which does switch up towards the end to keep things interesting, and Rude Kid adds some unique synths to stick to his grime roots. Bonkaz makes his mark clear on the tune, calling out those who say “Bonkz couldn’t do the grime ting’.
Bonkaz lyrically hasn’t missed a mark. This song is more of a freestyle though, with Bonkaz switching up If anything, this song and his latest Hotbox freestyle prove that he’s still in another tier and not a rapper to be taken lightly. The song is full of a drive and aggression that he hasn’t really shown us before, even when he was shouting (ironically) for people to ‘beat up the cops’ on We Run The Block. His third verse especially comes hard with the punchlines and imagery, with one impressive bar saying that he’ll “turn road youts into potholes”.
Needless to say, Bonkaz is hungry and ready to come for the game. Khabib Flow is a fitting title for a song this cutthroat.
This song is a clear statement that even as 2019 reaches it’s end, Bonkaz is still very much active. This run shows that he’s gearing up for something hard and tells us that for the rest of the year onwards, and definitely into 2020, Bonkaz is going to be one to watch. The video is blacked out with a dark vibe matching the song. You can find the video below.
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