There’s a very old idea in art that suffering makes you better. Usually this is nonsense. Suffering mostly makes you suffer. But hip-hop has always been unusually interested in what happens when people take the things that hurt them and turn those things into something useful, whether that’s a verse, a beat, a career, or
Some rappers take ages to curate an image, and then there is Spoony-B, whose response to all this artistic branding, to me, seems to have been-well, what if I just sound like a public safety risk? And yes, that is part of the enjoyment. The South Philly rapper (born Brandon Baich) is an artist who
Spoony B’s “99 Apples” Makes the Beautiful Mess of Spoony B Its Priority Read More »
There are songs that want to make you feel good, songs that want to make you dance, and songs that apparently looked at the fentanyl crisis and went, “Right, we’re going to need guitars for this.” That is “Salt,” the single from Washington, D.C. artist G Sharp BIG 40. Inspired by a news story about
G Sharp BIG 40’s “Salt” Turns a Fentanyl Warning Into Raw Hip Hop Rock Read More »
Some songs are atmospheric. Other songs just throw a mountain of reverb on it and hope no one notices it. MILYAM is squarely in the former camp with her newest song, “Dream.” The LA-based artist recently earned recognition beyond “Dream,” with her single “Intimacy” selected as a Semi-Finalist in the R&B/Soul category at the Unsigned
Milyam’s “Dream” Is the Perfect Late Night Track Read More »
R.A.P.by Realest$Gold offers a glimpse of an artist finding her voice across four tracks Art is never one to dictate the rules and it doesn’t tell us that to grow we need to start changing our sound entirely, run to a different studio or declare we have reached a ‘new era’. For Realest$Gold’s four-track EP,
Realest$Gold’s R.A.P Shows One Artist Finding Her Voice on Four Tracks Read More »
You’d have to have an extreme level of self-confidence to name your EP Void Where Inhibited. It sounds less like a rap title and more like the sentence at the bottom of a contract that you were absolutely supposed to read before signing. Which in fairness, makes it a pretty good name for a project
Black Silver’s Void Where Inhibited Finds Freedom in the Fine Prints Read More »
There are, broadly, two types of rap storytelling songs. The first ones you tell you about growing up broke, getting rich, losing your friends, finding your way, or discovering that celebrity isn’t nearly as rewarding as you thought it would be. They exist because people like to listen to other people. The second type are
