Sometimes I come across projects which are so tight and cohesive and just good, they get me all inspired and excited to write music myself. ‘It’s Not Much, But It’s Mine’ is one of those projects. I just have to finish this feature before I get to writing some tunes because you need to know about Jiles, a charismatic storyteller who’s as distinctive as his husky delivery and signed to Van Buren Records - the label and collective out of Brockton MA who’ve been building quite the buzz.

From the opening skit, we’re immersed. We’re in a house chilling with his friends, we hear the sound of a song being selected and boom, on comes opener ‘Stones’.

Keeping the same energy as debut EP ‘Fuck Jiles’, lyrics can be blunt to the point of brutally but that doesn’t diminish their subtlety. Softness is mixed with hard, innocence countered with darkness, ‘Molly she my only niece/She my queen/ she do no wrong/Uncle time me and her/ Peppa Pig her favourite song/ Fuck the pigs they raid the spot/week before/ mama found it/ so we had to move the glock’.

Jiles has a talent for balancing rich imagery with unflinching Danny Brown-esque realism. The listener is presented with themes of crime, addiction, poverty and pain, but the subject matter is given space to be complex. We’re shown his perspective, ‘people lying ‘bout the lifestyle/wouldn’t wish it on no one/cos I lived it’ and left thinking about it long after the tracks are done. Coming in at a concise ten minutes, the project deserves some straight repeat listens.

The production, like the writing, is slick. The beats are intricate and varied. The driving paranoia of ‘Stones’ (a collaboration between Ricky Felix, Tee- waTT and M.Ali) contrasts with the West-Coast bounce of the Damien Alter produced ‘Alibi’, but each is finished with such a finesse that makes it sound as effortless as Jiles’ rap.

Features are curated with an eclecticism and on track chemistry that brings Griselda to mind - a comparison that doesn’t come lightly, indicative of the project’s calibre. The closing skit states proudly, ‘Another classic, that’s two in a row’ - we can’t wait for a third.