San Diego, California emcee Sham Blak teaming with PHD Beats for his 5th studio LP. Coming up a decade ago off his debut Money Well Spent, he returned 7 years later for the ShamRock & D Day Project EPs followed by the sophomore effort Gratuity & Something Out of Nothing. We recently got a sequel to ShamRock several months ago & he’s looking to finish the first half of 2025 by enlisting a bunch of collaborators for Red October.

“Window” featuring Von Dreaam was a menacing boom bap intro putting your trust in them on their way to get the bag whereas “War Scriptures” featuring B-Rell keeps it in the basement to talk about being built for this. “Spooky Dilemma” featuring Chop the Father & Rhamis Ali finds the trio linking up so they can all go into their Jason Voorhees shit lyrically while “Silent Waters” featuring 25th Enigma finds the 2 likening themselves to hunters.

Knollege & Tay da Crown join Blak on the dusty “Encrypted” making the whole crowd stand back with their hardcore flows just before “Iron Curtains” featuring NVY Jonez LKR brings the pair together to talk about taking the high road because they may not live to see another day. “Never Shall We Die” looks back on the way he used to hustle back then becoming played out with time passing on, but then Paper Pat & Von Dreaam appear for “Periscope Visions” talking about not being content with moving backwards.

“The Captain’s Gambit” featuring Baegod goes for a jazzier direction instrumentally figuring out how you go from being up 1 minute & down the next while “Escape Route” featuring Benny Watts grittily talks about needing to get away from all the negativity. “Torpedo Blow” featuring RMthePoet speaks of learning to use their actions as tools because the virtue of patience while “Submarine” by Banish Habitual soulfully dismantles their competition.

Sick Rick & Smalls Uno not to be confused with Smallz 1 lay the final Red October guest appearances down during “Spooky Sonar” layin’ out those daring to fuck with them using firearms & “Red Dawn” finishes the LP with a piano/boom bap fusion talking about breaking away from the shackles along with the block being hot not taking anything away from what he’s trying to do. 

Taking a different approach compared to what Sham Blak has usually done, Red October sets out to make the most conceptual body of work in his entire catalog & eventually succeeds cementing the epitomization . The boom bap production has some creative sample choices top to bottom & the guests all contribute to the story Sham’s telling of struggle, triumph & self‑discovery.

Score: 8/10