The Bug – “Box” ft. D Double E (Singles Going Steady)

Chris Ingalls: An excellent collaborative effort that seems completely natural. Producer the Bug teams up with grime MC D Double E and it’s a deft pairing. Everything clicks. The Bug’s stuttering beats and blips are a perfect foil for D Double E’s rapid-fire rhymes, creating a contemporary urgency. The arrangement is dense and stuffed with interesting sonic choices – there’s something new to discover on each listen. [8/10]

Pryor Stroud: Kevin Martin’s career has been defined by a restless eclecticism. His hands are dirty from his work in a wide array of genres; his fingers calloused from the many sonic transgressions he’s committed across his discography. Whether it’s dancehall, ragga, dubstep, grime, or some other protean amalgam of electronic music, he introduces a certain off-kilter sensibility into every track he touches, for better or worse. This holds true for “Box”, his latest track as the Bug, which jitters along for its curt, three minute duration like a surrealist hip-hop seizure. “Don’t let them into the box / You’ll end up in a box / I’m thinking outside the box,” D Double E raps, his East London accent edging his words with an alchemical combination of spite and aggression, and even though it’s unclear what exactly he means by “box”, you know you don’t want to cross him. [6/10]

Chad Miller: Kind of a funny lyrical focus. The mechanical beats were pretty good in the song and do a great job differentiating sections with similar flows. The vocals were enjoyable too. Overall there’s not a lot to get excited about here, but it’s decent nonetheless. [6/10]

SCORE: 6.66