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Bas on Shane Eagle's Ap3x Remastered could be the best US feature on a local track

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Smoke Break on Tour: This video is laid back and undemanding. It looks like the two decided to shoot a stroll they took in Amsterdam
Pictures:supplied
Smoke Break on Tour: This video is laid back and undemanding. It looks like the two decided to shoot a stroll they took in Amsterdam Pictures:supplied

Shane Eagle taps US rapper Bas for Ap3x Remastered which could very well be the best American feature on a local trap writes Phumlani S Langa.

Shane Eagle featuring Bas
Ap3x Remastered
. . . - -

I remember the late HHP paying a large sum of money for Nas to appear on his song Keledimo in 2010. This was one of my first recollections of US rappers collaborating with local cats. The unfortunate thing with that feature was that Nas flipped the same verse for a track on his Distant Relatives album with Damian Marley – and his verse didn’t tie into what HHP’s track was about.

Since then we’ve had local acts Babes Wodumo, Yugen Blakrok and Sjava appear on a Grammy-nominated soundtrack for one of the most overrated films pop culture has seen, Black Panther. Nasty C tapped Harlem’s A$AP Ferg for a feature on his track King. Reason managed to get a beat from Swizz Beatz for the title track to his 2017 release, Azania. Leading the league in international features is Cassper Nyovest who has had DJ Drama appear on a track as well as verses from The Game and the prolific Talib Kweli. You might think the best of the lot came in the form of Kwesta’s Spirit with Wale.

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This was an epic offering but, to be blunt, Wale is not really as nice on the mic as he was in, say, 2009. I do believe Shane Eagle may just have earned himself the best international feature we have seen. I say best not in the sense that Bas is the best rapper on this illustrious list of internationals. Bas, who is signed to J Cole’s Dreamville label, is not as established as someone like The Game. He’s yet to deliver a monolithic record like Nas’ Illmatic and he perhaps doesn’t have the hype A$AP Ferg does. If we spun all these verses back to back, you may just find this one to be the hardest.

The two met when Bas was in South Africa last year. He played a surprise set at the SA Hip-Hop Awards and Shane Eagle got the chance to join Bas on tour. Fans have been urging J Cole to sign Eagle to Dreamville. Eagle is at present an independent artist.

In the video to this track, two well-structured verses are dispensed as the pair stroll around Amsterdam smoking that good-good. Bas starts off talking about being “cosy in Jozi”. It would’ve been a nice touch to have this guy rolling around in Joburg. This is what gave Kwesta’s Spirit the edge on international features with accompanying visuals. Nasty decided to shoot his King video abroad, which got lots of views, but views don’t equate to something being as dope as it could have been.Guys should consider how many other videos like that we’ve seen.But I can’t overlook the quality of these scripts and the video is still more polished than most.

Some people don’t enjoy Shane’s synthetic US accent when he raps. The content is there; perhaps he should re-work the delivery to sound a bit more local. The beat for Ap3x Remastered is mature and mellow. This is a record for grown folks, no turn up over here. A timely return to the groove that has this track on heavy rotation at my house.

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