‘Pressure on the Curb’ comes from the pen of West London rapper, Handles TDNB, and it hits with the weight of concrete. Raw, unfiltered, and uncompromising, the EP from TDNB sounds like it’s made with steel-toed boots. Breaking the iTunes UK Hip-Hop Pre-Orders Chart Top Spot prior to release, the five-track project is not just an EP, it’s an energy – a body of work with a narrative to each track. Rap, voice, street, hustle, volume, pride, earworm, and penetration are all words to describe this new EP. ‘Pressure on the Curb’ is the story of a man who built everything without a label. A man who walked the city on streets paved with CD-R’s, pirate radio airtime, and club shows where word of mouth sold out venues, and those that underestimated him get this message loud and clear.
“The Style of Life” drops like a declaration. It’s not the first time TDNB has got a listener’s attention, but he has a way of honing it. The tone is distinct, his delivery is clear, he sounds proud, and the bars confidently come from someone with an appreciation for both sides of the coin. “Handles Flow 2” comes through with the boss energy. If he’s flexing on these bars, then he’s holding the reigns with one hand, and letting the beat take him while rewinds drop for his listeners. The mood drops on “1s & 0s”. Darker energy with this one. There’s a switch in the cut that sounds like he’s saying more than just the binary system and coding. Codes, monitoring, and the powers that be all seem to feature in his bars on this track. There is a dichotomy of living or breathing to exist, to live large, to be someone, in style.
“Tokyo Drift” is the closing sprint to the finish line. The beat is gunning and he comes in like a motorway tailwind. A street global final lap for the London heavyweight. In all, ‘Pressure on the Curb’ is a balance between the pressure of life and pride of self and knowing that he has earned every syllable he speaks. ‘Pressure on the Curb’ is no sound you turn up casually, it demands the volume knob. It also further cements that Handles TDNB is building his empire one solid brick at a time.
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