Evan Nabavian is all about Five Deadly Venoms.
Those That Slay Dragons. Adamantium Dojo. The Dark Shogunn Saga. Dreams of Medina. Tha God Fahim’s titles read like a shelf at Midtown Comics. He dresses threats, brags, axioms, and literary detail in the colors of trenchcoat noir, Eastern mystique, and ancient legend to transcend simple street rap. Swap his onomatopoeia catchphrase (“TA-TA-TA-TA-TA!” like semi-automatic gunfire) for Shaw Brothers sword strokes and you get something resembling second generation Wu-Tang. He already has some Bronze Nazareth beats.
Fahim puts gaping empty spaces between lines for dramatic effect and maybe to let his cinematic beats breathe. But he’ll also sing about the seasons over Earl Sweatshirt’s psychedelic soul and then he’ll purposely rap off beat, reporting from somewhere between urban dystopia and the lower stratosphere. Disorientation seems deliberate. Guests are scarce except for regular appearances by Mach-Hommy, with whom Fahim shares a Rae and Ghost synergy.
Fahim’s history with Griselda bleeds through in his unsmiling beats, but he and Mach have carved their own lane since leaving the label—more exuberant, surreal, funny; the cover of their Dollar Menu 2 album turns Lebron James into Scrooge McDuck. Fahim said in an interview with Tea & Converse that he left because Westside Gunn wanted Fahim to be an in-house producer and not so much a rapper. Fahim has released six projects in 2017 as of this writing, not counting production duty for others. He has way too much to say to limit himself to soundtracking Buffalo massacres.
