Haka began making a name for himself when he first made beats with names such as Logic (PDC), Lowkey (Poisonous Poets) and Mic Assassin (Elite Team). He went on from here, in 2007, to work with Kalldean, from the legendary UK rap group, So Solid Crew, as well as working with other artists such as Big Cakes, Nathan Adams and DVS.

Moving on and using his experiences, Haka decided it was high time he created his own production debut. This was done using all of the best artists he had worked with since 2006 and was to be the making of the nineteen track project called Underground Journeys.

This project is a myriad of music genres from hip hop, R'n'B to soulful slurs and gritty orchestral pieces which are infused with cultural beats and sounds such as Oriental and Mexican vibe tracks as on 'London's Calling', 'Strong Arm' and 'We Got Dat'. These really help break up the album and make it more interesting to listen to.

Not wanting to stick to the same style throughout this project, Haka has mixed it up with some emotional tracks like 'Live My Life' and 'Who Are You'. Both feature gritty orchestral pieces in the background which bring emotion and a certain attitude to the spits.

Then there are the darker tunes in 'All Bout Money', 'If Roads Your Life' and 'Bang Bang'. The first of these seems to be smoothed over a little with the lightly played piano throughout but don't be fooled by this play on sound, it's still dark in nature.

My favourite track on the album has to be 'Makes Me Say' it's a laid back smooth tune which has soul and a certain coolness about it. The chorus is subtle yet catchy. Similar, in style, to this is 'All Luv', another good song.

'Rough With The Smooth' opens with the strums of a harp, a very beautiful song mixed with street lyrics and rapping. It's an odd mix but works well together. Tamara's vocals are purposely off key, I assume this is done to mirror the title of the track.

Haka has done himself proud on this project, he has managed to mix his styling and keep each song original rather than mixing them into one of the same.

8

Helena Rea