Ahh ramen: perhaps man's most versatile delicacy. Whether you're enjoying a bowl of the good stuff in a trendy Japanese restaurant or you're balling on a budget in your dorm room, this sodium-rich food doesn't discriminate. But if you're eating ramen on the daily like iiND Nature, you might become a RAMENdon. Named after the San Francisco based rhymer's fond memories of cooking like he was back at it, the EP uses the dish as a conduit to explore his relationships with his family, friends, and most importantly, Top Ramen.
In the same way that you can throw everything from eggs and green onions to pieces of chopped cabbage and flank steak into the mix for a unique meal, RAMENdon serves up a tasty batch of unique flavours. From the spacey sounds of the EP's opener, "Ickey Shuffle," to the bright, cheerful beats on "Bad Combination," we get a variety of styles from the likes Green Assassin Dollar,Luvjonez, and Evil Needle. iiND even gets braggadocios with tracks like "MISSILEaneous" and "Nasty Stuff," the former of which has him calling out people that are saltier than a bouillon cube.
Although the project bangs from front to back, it's RAMENdon's closer, "WELFAREwell," that deserves multiple spins. Packed to the brim with a ton of wobbles and Dilla-esque grooves, the joint is pure butter thanks to iiND's bars, especially on the last part of the song. You might even notice that these tracks were meticulously arranged; RAMENdon also doubles as a quasi-cookbook because of the steps given in the song's titles. Give the EP a listen and get your ramen on today. After hearing this project, you'll never see the staple the same way.
