A year after the release of his debut mixtape, British-Pakistani rapper and singer Raf-Saperra leaned into his love for the boom bap era of East Coast rap for his follow-up project, “5 Deadly Venomz”. The five-song project mixed head-bobbing hip-hop with Panjabi folk melodies to create a striking piece of work that firmly established his voice in the diasporic Panjabi music scene. With features from Conway the Machine, Dave East, Big Body Bes, and Japjeet Sandhu, the project delivered in a way nobody expected, and ever since, no other artist could live up to it. Two years later, after an overwhelming response from fans worldwide, Raf-Saperra released “Venomz Vol. II”—an equally, if not more powerful extension of the original idea to marry both worlds in the most authentic way.

The EP opens up in the biggest, most outrageous way possible—a rousing algozay and bansuri intro, with intimidating gunshots, hype exclamations, and a simple dhol, followed by a filthy boom bap beat and the inimitable voice of one Kulwinder Johal. Penned by Adeel himself and with sampled film dialogue from Punjabi cinema icon Yograj Singh, “ART OF WAR” leaves you feeling like you can deadlift twice your body weight. The song serves as a fair warning to your ill-wishers that while you’ll never be the first one to throw the punch, you can very easily finish a fight when a push becomes a shove. Sappera’s clean and controlled voice pairs perfectly with the raw, earthy texture of Johal’s vocals. Your body can’t resist this song when you first hear it: you pull a face, your head bobs, and soon after, your shoulders and feet start shaking and stomping too. We’re immediately transported to the mean streets of Buffalo, New York, where Saperra unabashedly swagger raps about his success on the EP single, “BUTCHER’S SCALE”. While the first track sets the energy going forward on this project, this second track perfectly builds on the gritty East Coast foundation that the first EP built. Frequent collaborator and producer Taj Aulakh envelops you into this grimy world that forces Griselda’s very own frontman Benny the Butcher to say “ah, fuck it” and brag about overcoming adversity, challenging his rivals to come for his crown, and tales of his hustle mentality on the track.

“AKH DASDI” is this percussion-heavy, UK Bhangra-inspired hooligan anthem with strong, swaggerful, and unapologetic lyrics penned by featured artist Mani Longia, about self-confidence and youthfulness. Saperra and Longia’s voices pair together so well that you sometimes can’t tell them apart. If you loved the beat to “Jatti Lahore Di” but the attitude of “Lalkaareh”, this is your joint right here. “VENOMZ CHAMBER” is an obvious nod to Wu-Tang’s “36 Chambers”, but the song actually earns its reference by sounding just as dangerous as the source material, instead of clinging to or simply sampling its nostalgia. It seems like the moody follow-up to “Hood Harvest” from the first EP, with UK rapper Da Flyy Hooligan delivering an impressive 16-bar verse.

Onto the second half, here comes my favourite track off the entire project. “LEFT WITH ME” acts as a much-needed breather in this high-energy project by slowing it down with a more emotional and melancholic performance. Saperra finds the sweet spot between channelling LL Cool J and Ja Rule while singing about heartbreak and unrequited love, over this beautiful beat composed by Bobby Kang that immerses you in the cold, autumnal loneliness of New York. The scratching throughout helps keep the East Coast charm while Manna Amloh’s lyrics drive home the sad brown boy vibes. “SANJU” has perhaps the most unexpected featured artist on any Punjabi record to date. Heavy 808s, sharp snare hits, and a killer Usha Mangeshkar and Mohd. Saddiq sample from 1978 laid the perfect foundation for Raf-Saperra and Wu-Tang’s very own Ghostface Killah to go bar for bar with each other for three minutes. Tony Starks and the Snake Charmer. From Streatham Hill to Staten Island. I wouldn’t have even minded if Raf gave him the majority of the track to rap over like Rapsody did with Queen Latifah on “Hatshepsut”. It’s so crazy to hear an original co-founding member of one of Hip-Hop’s most influential groups drop a verse with a tumbi in the back.

In the wider context of the album, despite it being the lead single for the project, “CROOK” seems like less of a standout compared to the songs before it, and yet that’s no slight to him. It’s a classic, hip-hop-leaning Raf-Saperra track, with a moody piano melody, sampled Nas lyrics, and a solid tumbi rhythm throughout. Sahil Cheema writes raw lyrics that show the rapper off in his iconic hooligan aesthetic, unfazed by life’s hardships. He raps, “Banda labhya kade vi jatt jeha janda ni, lakh maruthalan vicho tenu paani labhju” (“I’m a rare breed, I’m built different. You’d pull water from sand before you find another me.”) within the first four lines of the song. The EP ends on as equal of a high as it started with. “PEND KHALLI” comes in hammering on the algoza, dhol, and tumbi as Saperra describes a love so intense, he’s willing to create a bloodbath and wipe out an entire village of family and friends to sustain his relationship. Bobby Kang’s explosive production is the perfect way to bookend this monster chapter in the Venomz series. Equal parts Panjabi, British, and American in its marriage of hip-hop and UK bhangra. I can see this song being used to end a concert on a high, with a sea of fans jumping up and down as he says his goodbyes onstage.

If this second volume is any indication of the kind of quality output Raf-Saperra will gift us while honouring his love of traditional East Coast hip-hop and Panjabi folk music, the world will undoubtedly crave more. “Venomz Vol. II” is a remarkably refreshing body of work that continues the journey that the first iteration started, of flawlessly bridging the world of traditional Punjabi folk music and peak gritty New York hip-hop. The nine-track project reads cohesively as it weaves through different styles and features, cementing his position as one of the most exciting South Asian and specifically Punjabi voices of this generation worldwide. “Venomz” seems to be the thing that brings him back to his roots after venturing into new sounds and daring ideas like the Qawaali of “She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not” or the Ikky-branded Punjabi Pop of “Renaissance”. Not only does it keep me excited to see where his music could go next but also how he’ll hopefully come back to create a stronger third instalment.