NO PANIC NO PAIN: ALBUM REVIEW
Flohio’s newest project, No Panic No Pain is 30 minutes of perfectly constructed bars from East London. The project is a seamless blend of styles and a thematically dense work. Through this project, Flohio manages to access a lot of deep-seeded anger, while allowing you to step into her shoes and understand her world. The idea of trying to live through the trials of life comes up over and over on No Panic No Pain, but rather than this dragging the project down, Flohio uses these experiences as examples of how she has grown.
Flohio’s vocals immediately jump out at you from the mix. She has that kind of battle rapper flow that makes you sit at attention. She seems to always be on the attack and makes sure you understand that you are listening to a young legend in the game. Every single bar is crystal clear, and she makes sure you can hear exactly what she wants to get across. She switches flows with ease on songs like “Roundtown” where she spits over a simple beat and navigates the melodies within it with ease.
It’s hard to say exactly what genre No Panic No Pain fits into. While it mixes elements of drill, it moves beyond the basic flows and brags of drill to embrace a more mainstream sound. The song “Booby Traps” shows this off best as Flohio raps over a relatively typical drill instrumental, but handles the verses and flows in a way that pushes the song toward something different. On the hook Flohio chants, “Yes, yes I’m pressed”, while the beat swells around her. The way she layers her vocals makes it sound like she’s got the force of an entire army behind her.
Even on the poppier songs on the project, Flohio maintains a feeling of realness that is rare in mainstream rap. On the song "Medicine," Flohio slows it down, almost dipping into a sing-song flow over a beat full of guitar chords. Everything about the track prepares you for two minutes of corniness, but Flohio refuses to give in to the typical drill lullaby. Even when she talks about the messiness of relationships, she gives what feels like a more honest take than we normally see. There is no talk of perfect endings or makeup sex, everything she says sounds like it comes from the heart.
The song “Active” perfectly sums up what I love about this project. Flohio’s vocals feel like they’re being piped directly into your ear as the beat gently glides in the background. There are some absolute bars on the song like, “Top 10, more times when I’m trapped in. Act up I’m active.” The album is full of these songs which are just so fun and technically tight that it is hard to find anything to not like about them