Hip Hop Habit: Yung Bizzy
posted in: Features • Urban
A few months ago this column featured Tru Quality, a laid back hip hop act from Portland, OR. This week’s act, Yung Bizzy, is another laid back hip hop act from Portland, where weed flows like wine. The Beaver State’ illicit reputation is audible in both acts’ sound, not that either group necessarily promotes drugs. Relaxed, peaceful, and inviting, Yung Bizzy’s rhythms and rhymes are likely to lull you into a meditative state only life on the Pacific can create.
Aside from the aggravating watermark, Problems is a pretty strong piece, and at the upper capacity of Bizzy’s energetic output. Other than the recurring crystalline piano/guitar unison riff, the beat is skeletal at best and certainly nothing special, in turn giving rise to Bizzy’s long-winded wisdom. For a mere 18 years of age, the kid is much wiser than that baby face will lead you to believe. In Problems, he assumes the role of a wallflower and mediator, both observing the problematic issues around him: she wanna live life cruisin’ in the fast lane/ wind up with a nigga dealin’ mad ˜caine/ on his arm at the mall spending mad change/ not known that she givin’ herself a bad name and suggesting remedies he knows won’t go down easily: I know what your problem is/ all that misplaced faith where the dollar is/ all that misplaced hate just model this/ and every one of your problems will not exist. Along with his sagacity, Bizzy uses the opportunity granted by overflowing verbiage to show off his technical skills as well, often rapping in quadruple time for measures on end.
Mine returns the tempo back to hazy northwestern normalcy, and with its hollow percussion and dinky guitar riff, it is very similar to Problems. Lyrically, it’s Bizzy’s modern version of Mo Money Mo Problems. Of course, at this point in his career, this is all imaginary, but it once again goes to show the incredibly mature foresight he’s capable of. Told from the voice of a future Bizzy, he regrets asking for what he received, claiming that all the baggage that inevitably comes with fame and fortune wasn’t what he meant when he vowed to get his: lost my friends to the fans in the stands/ my family to the popular demand of me. For every rap song dedicated to the cash and women that are ostensibly part of the fame and fortune package, how many tout it as something to avoid? If Bizzy sticks to his guns, his career in the rap game will last a lot longer than most.
Whether the moniker Yung Bizzy was born out of the fact this 18-year-old is always busy I’m not sure, but according to his bio, that would make sense. A full time rapper, Bizzy also co-founded his own production company Young Threat Productions and is currently involved with Turf Noize ENT. Having been accepted to St. Francis College in Brooklyn, he plans to enroll this fall and take his dream as far as it will let him on the east coast. It probably won’t be long before he’s performing locally, so if you’re from BK keep updatedwith his performance schedule!