Fakemink - London's Saviour (2023)

Styles: Cloud Rap, Art Rap | UK, England

Fakemink, 909gate, drilldance, London's Saviour.

He's been one of the most enigmatic and alluring rapper of the past few years, especially in the blossoming UK scene. What set him apart from his peers has always been the world he creates through his music, especially in his music from 2023-early 2025. Before being the biggest new rapper from England, for years he had already been an active (albeit unknown) tumblr user under the @drilldance handle. What we see here is mundanity sprinkled with some more aesthetic photos and writing. You can also see his appreciation for british and canadian artists like Dean Blunt, Skepta and Drake, the latter which definitely influenced him even if it may be hard to see in the music. 

All of this combined made way for one of the best runs any rapper has had in the last 10 years, with a string of genius singles along with his magnum-opus, London's Saviour.

Fakemink with fellow british auteur Pretty V (2023)

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„Essex boy, only thing I'm missing is the spray tan“  

Released just a few days before Christmas, this tape perfectly encompasses the sound he'd been building up until this point. Opening with Kill Everything (probably inspired by the Hype Williams EP, Do Roids& Kill E'rything), he flips Imogen Heap's 'Headlock' which had in the past almost been a sort of underground classic in and of itself, being sampled by A$AP Rocky, Soulja Boy, Lil B and many more. It ends with a sample from the French film The Beat That My Heart Skipped, a neo-noir about a man struggling between his criminal past and desire to be a world-renowned pianist. Maybe this is an allusion to Fakemink himself, or maybe this movie was just popular on Tumblr a few years ago. The production on this tape in general is so urban and hazy yet still very clearly defined; you can hear his influences but he makes his thing of it instead of just a lazy homage, something his peers could definitely learn from. Just a masterpiece of a song, on its own but especially as an opener.

Fakemink with fellow British auteur Pretty V

Up until this point I've focused a lot on his influences, but make no mistake London's Saviour is one of the most artistically and sonically daring albums of the decade so far, and I don't think it will be usurped any time soon in that regard. 

After the opener comes a more ambient track 'Phantas-Ma-Goria which alongside a few others throughout the album helps the album's atmosphere a ton while also being enjoyable songs on their own. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, phantasmagoria is "an exhibition of optical effects and illusions"; a confusing series of hallucinated images. 

Just Kitten is my favorite track on here, with some of the hardest verses of his career until and after this point with an amazing beat. A lot of great lines on it like the one quoted at the top of this section, that reveal a sort of carefree but still sardonic tone and view of the world around him. Air Head is a short but hard track sampling the Crystal Castles track of the same name. In the middle of it quickly cuts to the same movie sample as the opener, which is a nice callback. 

London Life, Loser Monologue and Celebrity Deathmatch are more serious and lyric focused, though I'd call the second one my least favorite of the main tracks. Don't get me wrong, it's still really good but it's just a bit too repetitive for my taste while not having amazing bars. The latter, though, is a top 3 off the tape, the beat is simple in terms of the percussion and rhythm but the samples help give it some texture and melody, while Mink just raps really well. 

One More, Then I'll Sleep is a nice, simple synth-driven instrumental that serves as a good send-off to the tape. Though it's possible he might've gotten some help from his close collaborator and friend GhostInnaFurCoat, it's still important to mention that this entire tape is self-produced, a massive achievement for such a (at the time) small artist to make such a concise work of art completely on his own. 

Overall, London's Saviour is one of the best releases of the decade and especially in the underground rap scene. My only real complaint is that I wish it was maybe a few tracks longer, but for what it is it perfectly blends its influences while staying unique with incredible production, flows and rapping. 

9.5/10

See also: Pretty V, GhostInnaFurCoat, Dean Blunt

Listen here: Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, Bandcamp

- kreyzi

stillbeaches' rating: 7.5