halfBREED — 3P EP

C Dot Castro's rise from a casual guest on the mixtapes of an emerging rapper friend to one of the most listened to Virginia emcees on streaming sites began a long time ago. The guy took part in Logic's entire "Young Sinatra" series, participating in more ("Beggin", "Disgusting") and less successful pieces ("Back and Forth"), going with Logic himself on his first North American tour in the spring of 2013, the "Welcome to Forever Tour".

Halfway through the tour, C Dot Castro is cut off for some reason. He's also expected to guest on at least one track on Logic's mainstream Def Jam debut "Under Pressure", but the Maryland rapper intends to release a personal album without guests and leaves him off the tracklist: on the other hand, Logic keeps a place for the friend for a subsequent deluxe version of the album, Castro refuses and definitively breaks off relations with Hall. The guests for that deluxe version will be Childish Gambino and Big Sean.

In 2015, Castro, born in Virginia, lived in DC, grew up in Maryland, releases an independent mixtape that features several digs at the former friend (and includes a cover almost identical to that of "Young, Broke & Infamous"), but that doesn't allow him to get the attention of critics or a considerable response from fans. In the following years, Castro changed his moniker to Shy Grey, he also ends up in prison, he comes out after many years and makes up with his former friend Logic, with whom he finally returns to collaborate around 2020. Castro participates in Hall's next two studio albums (and in that one released by Logic as Doc D), the last with Def Jam ("Vinyl Days") and the first as an independent ("College Park") and then also created a short project as a duo together with Logic.

The duo is called halfBREED — the group's name still refers to the fact that Logic is half-black; Castro too — and the first project released is a short three-track EP that serves to rebuild and establish a niche audience for Castro. The duo immediately tries the banger by opening the extended play with "Vroom Vroom": over a generic trap production created by 6ix, Banshee the Great and Keanu Beats, Logic makes room for Castro. The second is "That's What She Said", where Logic creates the beat and sings the hook, the only stanza of the song is recited by C Dot Castro, in what is an indie pop tune that reminds us that Logic is a singer, not a good singer, and that he actually already released an indie pop album a few years ago with disastrous results. The third and final choice is "Game 6", Logic drops a boastful first verse over honest boom bap production by 6ix, Logic himself, PoST and Kevin Randolph. After a chorus with talk-box, Castro closes the track with a personal verse, a much better lyrics rather than Hall and good rapping.

This showcase for Castro is a negligible effort that fails to highlight the rapper's full potential, 4/10.