Project of the Week: S.O.O.N

This is a new series on i Am Classic Hip Hop brought to you by the blog team. We will review the hottest mixtapes, albums, EPs, LPs, projects or whatever you crazy kids call your stuff to decipher why it is the hottest release of the week. This week Boog Avery selected Sy Ari Da Kid for his latest project S.O.O.N. You can find it by clicking here. Enjoy the review below and let us know what you think of our selection!

Starting off the mixtape stirring some sort of controversial pot with the line “R.I.P to Eric Garner, got the game in the chokehold” and if that isn’t an emcee making “Something Out Of Nothing,” then maybe I’m always tripping on hiphop like a foil crown-rocking trailer resident in the woods.

Sy Ari Da Kid was once featured last year in I Am Indie Hip Hop Wednesdays where Ke Turner applauded him for having the ability to be versatile, a rarity in this industry nowadays. Most people like controlling a very distinctive path to create a name for themselves. Sy Ari has a career that consists of a path of many directions, and <i>S.O.O.N.</i> feels a lot like he’s drawing out his map for his new audience.

While I am a sucker for a rapper that can do it all – harmonize, spit consciously, create hooks and have fun – this mixtape is rather lopsided in showcasing Da Kid’s total package. Where it lacks in his ability to spit over a traditional hiphop beat, it overloads on melodic stripper music. Listeners can manage to appreciate his love songs “Stability” and “TLC” with his witty lyricism and puns over the nostalgic 90s R&B vibe in each song. <i>S.O.O.N.</i> makes me anxious for a more aggressive take in his next project instead of fully appreciating the body of work that’s out now.

His moments of aggression, his overall strongest suit as an emcee, come at the beginning tracks of <i>S.O.O.N.</i>, pops us in “The Real Nawfside” and ends at the mega posse cut “Say Word” for a few bars. Da Kid comes out swinging with such strong lines in the intro (see the top) and in “Lit” (I’m an MC with a hammer – too legit to quit) what was to follow felt settling, especially when D Kid has a strong battle background.

While I understand the many demands of a hiphop consumer according to today’s industry, I still believe the people want to see a body of work that fully reflects the artistic path our emcees take. Listeners will find songs on <i>S.O.O.N.</i> they really, really like and immediately skip the rest. I look forward to more from Sy Ari Da Kid this year, but I demand these questions be answered first!!!

Five Questions for Sy Ari Da Kid’s <i>S.O.O.N.</i>:

1. “Popular” has been on several different Sy Ari Da Kid projects. Why is it on here?

2. Who all was on the last track, and are they really cool with being a collective “26 artists?”

3. Where’s the boom-bap???

4. How do you manage all of these DJ ties to where you can have all of them on one project?

5. What happened in Meriwether County that has you warning journalists in “The Real Nawfside” to watch our back out there?

– Boog Avery

Boog Avery’s 2014 Year in Review

Honest Narratives

Thanks to Kendrick Lamar’s debut album in 2013, not to mention his call for competition in “Control,” there soon came an influx of open and honest narratives from emcees. From YG My Krazy Life to J. Cole 2014 Forest Hills Drive, from Freddie Gibbs & Madlib Piñata to Open Mike Eagle Dark Comedy and Big K.R.I.T Cadillactica, and many more, it seems like the spirit of GKMC resonated more than a diss response. And it was exactly what hiphop needed. Honesty and substance is the foundation for community, and let’s not forget those factors for element five, knowledge.

Ferguson and Police Brutality

Hiphop has been talking about police brutality and racial profiling in their arts, but this was the year to actually do something about it, from the artists to the consumers. Starting with protests in Ferguson, we’ve watched closely to see if our favorite artists would make appearances in embattled cities, and strongly reacted to the ones who did or didn’t. The hiphop community’s embrace of the I Can’t Breathe t-shirt campaign gave us hope, the funding campaign of arrested protesters and the local appearances in marches and rallies made most of us give hiphop a passing grade in rising up with the community.

The Meme Effect

Let’s face it – as much as we want to simplify it, we don’t discover new music by just opening our Twitter and Facebook apps. It takes until a meme – photo or Vine-style – catapults onto our timeline (sometimes multiple times in a scroll) for us to give the artist’s punchline or hook a listen. The upside usually revolves around the politically-driven stances or well-executed meme promos that closely associate with the artist’s talent to where they at least become an internet star. The downside goes to the many hilarious memes that lead to a disappointing listening experience, sometimes even if the song is hot.

Collaborations

This year was A+ in collaboration albums, from newfound collaborations like Apollo Brown and Ras Kass in Blasphemy and the merging self-titled album ¡MursDay! to the ones who’ve returned like Run The Jewels and Barrel Brothers by the NY duo Skyzoo and Torae who came together after multiple collaborations on individual projects. There were also great mega posse cuts! Although Ab-Soul’s follow-up to Control System was disappointing, his verses with Common, Lupe Fiasco and Statik Selektah made up for it. Logic had his strongest year thanks to hopping on other’s tracks. And let’s not forget when greats collide, like when Talib Kweli hopped on a track with Diamond D, Elzhi and Skyzoo for “Where’s The Love,” Cormega tapped Redman, AZ and Styles P for the jawn “MARS (Dream Team),” Saigon got Big Daddy Kane to spit bars on “One Foot In The Door,” and the scholarship campaign #DearJohn that featured the title track by Common and MC Lyte.

Anticipating 2015

2014 ended with such flames, from an artistic and resistance standpoint, that the entire world is on the edge of their seats to see what we do in 2015. From new music coming from Kendrick Lamar to new and returning shows from our iAM Classic Hip Hop-powered radio station Raw Radio to protests that WILL continue for the justice of the Black and Brown community, we have a lot of work to do, hiphop!

– Boog Avery

Boog’s Favorite Five Songs of 2014

As I reflect on 2014, now that we’re in 2015, I realize that it was a pivotal year with us wondering what’s next. Will we keep reverting to simplistic, machine-churned bubblegum pop music or emerge with a refreshing tone that speaks to EVERYONE in the hiphop community – or will we even revert back to being “conscious rap,” and live the cyclic life as America’s pet hamster? I hope that hiphop evolves.

So here are five of my favorite songs from 2014 that pushed the envelope for hiphop music, whether the artists steers away from the boom-bap or he decides to get his true grown man on. There were a lot of great albums, and that list is soon to come, but vibe with me on these five songs.

Flying Lotus featuring Kendrick Lamar “Never Catch Me”

King Kendrick kicked off his startling year in this collaboration with jazz-bender Flying Lotus. Before Flying Lotus and Thundercat went in on the sound poetry, K Dot spits intense lyrics of taking your mind outside of just simply “being woke” – because what’s the purpose when you fear the opposite of being unconscious? In the entire album You’re Dead Flying Lotus explores death as a means of meditation instead of escapism, so “Never Catch Me” includes Kendrick’s lyrical exploration of an out-of-body experience. This spiritual song also has a deep and beautiful music video featuring two youthful, dancing angels.

Run The Jewels “Oh My Darling Don’t Cry”/”Blockbuster Night Part 1”

The most urgent emergent group in rap today is back! Just when I decided I’ve overloaded on Run The Jewels, the second of this series comes and has me bashing my head all over again. “Oh My Darling Don’t Cry” has Killer Mike and El-P going back and forth over heavy bass reclaiming their throne in hiphop, and has the nerve to seamlessly run into the brash bravado “Blockbuster Night Part 1.” Lyricism in all forms are present the most in this stream of conscious.

Atmosphere “Prelude to Hell”/”Hell”

There are times where you have to admit that “yo, I’m too old for this shit.” Here to help you with that is Atmosphere. (Here I go again, picking two songs and making them one) The production of the Prelude gives you a wintry shakedown as Slug begins to paint a picture of a typical house party. “Hell” gives you the whole scope of the reality of being in the party scene beyond your prime, with Slug comparing house parties and drunk walks home to characteristics of Hell. This could possibly terrify you from ever going to another house party.

Shabazz Palaces “They Come in Gold”

The Seattle duo is back, and even more progressive than before. “They Come In Gold” was the lead single for Lese Majesty, and tarnishes the notion of a structure in rapping. Now, just because there’s no verse-chorus structure involved it doesn’t mean it’s harder to get the message. It’s a message that Palaceer Lazarro (Ishmael Butler, formerly of Digable Planets) has been relaying since Black Up – hiphop is set to shoot itself in the foot if they continue this dance with corporate America. Shabazz Palaces continues to let folks know that not every hpihop head is with that shuck and jive nonsense, and they do it in the most envelope-pushing way possible.

Statik Selektah featuring Ab-Soul, Jon Connor and Logic “Alarm Clock”

The future of rap is all over this track, and they don’t hold the bars back. Ab-Soul starts off with his spectacle of Pineal gland music – a spiritual and meditative examination of being your best – and including a shoutout to Joey Bada$$, who appears on his album These Days. Jon Connor goes on a lyrical assault in the best way a Midwestern emcee could. It’s pedal to the metal for his flow, and the same goes for Logic to end the track. Logic brings “Alarm Clock” to full circle by acknowledging how hiphop raised him – a parent that all three artists can agree was in their household. I look forward to these three the most in 2015.

– Boog Avery

Why Hiphop Will Never Have A Definitive Top 5

I had a conversation with a couple of friends last week after they’ve seen Chris Rock’s latest movie hit Top 5. Like magic, the theme of the conversation was “who’s your Top 5?” I prayed that the conversation would move on without my input of a list, let alone an input at all. The conversation starter (again, that damn magic) turns to me and ask “well, what about you Star?” As I shook my head I told him that I don’t have a top 5 because I don’t know how to rank nor would I like to rank emcees that way.

There are too many elements involved with such an already personal music culture. From politics to flow to our own tape decks, the community needs waaay more than five slots to collectively name an all-time best emcee. There is always the category of favorites, which leads to the most massive collective judging and debate of someone’s selection that ultimately leads to a definitive agreement based on that particular group’s pass/fail logic. Yet it still only belongs to that particular group, not the entire hiphop community.

Hiphop is far too advanced of a culture to scale down its power to just five acts. One of its biggest elements is geography. Where you’re from has just about everything to do with the type of rap you love, attach to or first acknowledge. Your average country bumpkin won’t appreciate Rakim the same as a Yankee fitted rocking northerner. Tupac has far more political influence from rapping in other countries than in the States. See how a conversation about hiphop with someone from Thailand will go.

And then there are factors such as groups. How do we include The Roots/Black Thought, or OutKast/Andre 3000/Big Boi, or UGK/Bun B/Pimp C? You can’t leave out greatness like Black Thought just because he has a band backing him. We’ve only received a taste of how Andre 3000 sounds without Big Boi beside him. We hardly got a chance to enjoy Pimp C, and Bun hasn’t been the same since his partner’s untimely death.

These are just small reasons. The major reason why we won’t have a top five is that we have no set parameters to name all-time greats when the music evolves every day. We can have this kind of selection in basketball because that sport doesn’t advance like music does. As much as I see Jay Z going along with the trends in spitting, it’s him hanging on – not his prime. This should let us know that factors like that are touchy.

That is why iAM Classic Hip Hop presents to you our Top’s of 2014 so we have some sort of structure for such a conversation. Maybe this is what all of hiphop should do and stick to. A commitment like that would suffice and even lead to a grandiose list based on the culmination of previous ones. We were gifted Mathematics in hiphop (know your science, people!), why not use it?

– Boog Avery

A Nobody’s Smiling Tour Review for Those Who Still Love H.E.R

Upon hearing the Nobody’s Smiling tour would make a pit stop in Atlanta, and with so much pressure looming over the hiphop community in light of recent oppressive events, I smiled. I anticipated a mature conversation from one of the best emcees of all time that would ease the pain, loosen me up and boost my energy to continue on in this world. Common, Jay Electronica and Sa-Roc did just that.

If Tabernacle was a high school, then Sa-Roc would be a science teacher, Jay Electronica would hold down math and Common would be the fun-loving history teacher. Tabernacle holds a special place in my heart as one of the most intimate large venues in Atlanta. The crowd had the atmosphere of being on a date. Looking at the scope of the whole concert, however, it was hardly targeting a sexual romance. The most love you felt after that concert was love for self and the culture. Although Common went through hits such as “Come Close” and “The Light,” with openers Jay Electronica and Sa-Roc the show stuck with the tagline – Nobody’s Smiling.

Sa-Roc introduced herself in a major way, with always-hyper Fort Knox leading the charge to the stage. As she commenced to dropping science to the audience, arms, eyes and ears began to open wide realizing what kind of party that night would be. In a short set, Sa-Roc fit in a surprise, bringing out singer Anthony David to croon on their track “Her Legacy” off her latest project Nebuchadnezzar. While the crowd anxiously waited for the headliner, heads bopped to the boom-bapping emcee’s set. However, Sa-Roc made her Atlanta presence felt with a separate show on the next day, featuring indie artists Yamin Semali, Boog Brown, Big Rec and surprise guest David Banner.

Jay Electronica’s set took place in the crowd more than on stage, as intended for a storyteller of his caliber. As the DJ dropped the beat to heighten Jay’s already-intense bars, the crowd would go wild after each line of mathematics. Every time he hopped on the railing (or over) the crowd cheered because they felt like a king was ready to speak to them, the people.

Common took his set’s collection back to his Common Sense days, but stopped short of Can I Borrow A Dollar. He began by running through his hits from Like Water for Chocolate, Be and Finding Forever, but outlined the rest of his two hours with various tales. Overall, his set was very cinematic, where selected hits would have storylines, monologues, and/or props. The crowd began to choke up as he performed a monodrama of his accounts with J Dilla, including his last days, in “Rewind That” from his latest album Nobody’s Smiling.

There were a variety of surprises that Thursday night – enough for me to justify skipping out the radio show Verses (my bad, Sonny Cheeba!) – from waiting outside with Big KRIT to get in to jamming out to a surprise performance of “Hip Hop” from Dead Prez’s stic.man to DJ Aktive and DJ Dummy The Genius throw down in an old-school scratch battle.

Hiphop was in the atmosphere, from the bombs of knowledge from the openers to Common’s theatrics and his band of DJs duking it out on the turntables. While I wouldn’t recommend fellas bringing the misses – Common will steal your girl in the smoothest freestyle you’ll ever hear – the love of H.E.R is aptly felt. Philadelphia, New York and Canada, get ready for the best total hiphop concert of the year. Yeah, I said it. BEST. HIPHOP. CONCERT. It’s your last chance in 2014 to feel a mature love for self, others and hiphop through the ever-so-smooth Common.

– Boog Avery