Vel The Wonder – Laced With Pearls (Review)

When I first heard Vel the Wonder back in 2012, I was blown away by her fierce talent on the mic. The videos for “Lizzy Love” and “Yellow Dress” had me begging for more from the teenage San Gabriel Valley based female emcee. But it wasn’t until January of this year when Vel released her debut mixtape Laced With Pearls. This is underground hip-hop at its finest. The boom-bap rythems and jazzy melodic beats bring back some 90s nostolgia. Laced With Pearls introduces you to production from Manifest and Eskupe, who both really come through and do their thing on this album. The hottest songs had to be “Los Arobles”, “Isaiah’s Father”, “Stella”, “If This Doesn’t Kill Me”, “Don’t”, and “Gutter.” The only way this mixtape could improve is if Vel spoke more on her personal life. Fans of Pro-Era should dig this project. Laced With Pearls scores a nice 4/5 flies.

Download Laced With Pears for free at http://velthewonder.bandcamp.com/

Check out the video for “Los Arobles” too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOx2pEhaOzw