Let me be up front: mainstream hip-hop isn’t really my thing, but I recognize talent and hook when I hear it.
I went to a listening session in Ardent Studios recently-renovated (and incredible sounding) Studio C last week and had the chance to hear this track and see this video from Memphis newcomer Russ P. Like a lot of young rappers, he’s promoting himself as everything all at the same time — CEO, artist, producer, songwriter — and this kind of swagger is normally something I flee from instantly. It’s a known fact: there are just too many rappers who talk all this big shit and most of them ain’t got anything on it except the idea and the dream. Maybe the bullshit most rappers come at you with comes out of the bravado of youth, that feeling like you’ll never die and the “I don’t give a fuck” attitude that it takes to make it out there in a flurry of entertainers trying to get all the recognition, pussy, money and whatever else comes with success.
But see, luckily for Russ P and everyone else, he’s not full of shit: in it’s own way, ‘Dirty Taylors’ comes across as a hype track with solid production and a dope-assed video to go with it. It does not try to be anything other than what it’s meant to be, and it works. Russ P, unlike a lot of those phony rappers, actually has the bumping tracks and the verses to go with all the titles. To top it all off, my man’s rapping about wearing the most basic of basics, everyone’s favorite sneaker, the classic Chuck Taylors.
So in this rare instance, I gotta give it up for a mainstream track that caught my ear. Russ P and his producer, RayNel, took a heavily overworked area of hip-hop and gave it a unique twist. This track feels like a hit, but what do I know? I’m not a blogger, I just tweet a lot.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Dirty Taylors (Explicit)
[ Purchase 'Dirty Taylors' from Bandcamp for $0.99 ]
Related posts:
James Pants remixes Tyler, the Creator's "Sev...
Tyler, The Creator gets arrested or possibly detai...
I am unqualified to write about Gil Scott-Hero...
