#HEAVENSGATE VOL. 1 - evilgiane (2024)

By Kiran Berger

evilgiane is your favorite producer’s favorite producer. Now, I'm not sure if that's true, but he definitely is mine right now. A key figure in the SURFGANG collective out of NYC, evilgiane has been making a splash in the underground hip hop scene for years. SURFGANG is notorious for their rapid turnout, made possible with collaborations within the rappers and producers in the group’s roster. evilgiane is the current posterboy of SURFGANG, a genius producer who melds musical worlds on euphoric sample drill beats. On his 2021 collab with Harlem rapper POLO PERKS <3<3<3 “PUNK GOES DRILL”, post-punk and grunge classics such as Yeah Yeah Yeah’s “Maps” and Foo Fighter’s “Everlong” were sampled into classic New York hithat and 808 patterns. From there, evilgiane was a sought after producer in the sample drill scene, and projects with underground legends such as RealYungPhil, Harto Falión, and Atlanta’s K$upreme caught the attention of mainstream artists. evilgiane recently struck the holy grail of production credits, curating the beat on Kendrick Lamar and Baby Keem’s 2023 hit "The Hillbillies”, and has also collaborated with up-and-coming Florida rapper 454 on 2023’s “FAST 5” EP.

With “#HEAVENSGATE VOL. 1”, it’s clear evilgiane is eager to keep his momentum going into 2024. The 23-track album has an impressive feature list, with appearances from 454, Rx Papi, Slimesito, K$upreme, 03 Greedo and many more. Across the 23 tracks, although evilgiane seems to lean into the “euphoric drill” label, the varying production influences provide musical palette cleansers, with the evilgiane producer tag being the only unifying element across the album. “WHAT SHE’S HAVING” is a mind-bending drum and bass beat, with LUCY’s lyrics alluding to the famous Katz's Deli scene in “When Harry Met Sally''. Despite N.A.O Quelly’s fairly disturbing opening chorus, the production on “STARBURST'' is met with a masterful verse from personal favorite 454 (big things to come). Another highlight comes later in the album, with 03 Greedo providing Lil Yatchy-esque crooning over dreamy evilgiane production on “SIP SIP”.

As with most sample drill projects, there is much lacking in the lyrical department. You’ll surely find yourself cringing or just straight up laughing at some of the lyrics packed into this project. However, on the production side of things, evilgiane shows why he is one of the most exciting talents in hip hop at the moment, and hopefully this project kicks off a groundbreaking year for the Brooklyn producer and NYC’s SURFGANG.