Hailing from a new-school breed of Kenyan MCs, “Point Blank” Evumbi is a student of the early 90s hip hop, reminiscent of Large Professor, Eric B & Rakim and Pete Rock. Point Blank is not your traditional recording artist. He is a killer-cypher MC, gaining prominence when he became the 2009 Kenyan Champion of the continental rapping contest, Emcee Africa 2. From many platforms, such as the stages of WAPI and airwaves of Ghetto Radio, Point Blank has been working on his music for awhile.

You hear this in his intro, “Its Finally Here”, where the hunger and determination in his voice comes through. On the playful piano riffed “Pizza and Soda”, Point Blank explores a lazy Saturday tale of afternoon blues that ends up at a food joint. He affirms his love for West Coast hip hop on the laid back, Dre- influenced “Westside”. Here he gives props to his favorite rappers from that region— Snoop, Ice Cube and WC—for influencing him. Point Blank breaks down his hip- hop history on the Pete Rock CL Smooth sampled “My Whole Life”.

The head- banging “One and Only” is a warning to weak MCs to steer away from the industry. He warns of the ills of hype on “Celeb”, a catchy tune. Lyrically, Point Blank is on point. He avoids subscribing to the club-bangers’ formula, a fact that may not get him top radio airplay, but may instead earn him a back-pack MC label. On Volume One, he explores matters close to his heart, such as love, relationships, his life’s purpose, and hip-hop career. Point Blank is definitely on the map as an MC to watch in Kenya. He now needs to translate this into records. Volume One is produced by Big Mic of Big Beats, another monster MC, producer and winner of the 2008 Emcee Africa contest. Listen to a sample of Point Blank's music at www. soundcloud.com/point-blank-evumbi.