Hip Hop Habit: Psalm One
posted in: Features • Urban
Chicago and rap music have gotten along pretty well over the past decade. Common, Kanye West and Lupe Fiasco have all done their part to bring eclectic sounds and fill hip hop’s glaring midwestern void. But one element is still missing, the female voice. That job is Psalm One‘s for the undertaking. Representing the Windy City’s fabled south side, you might expect her to have followed the same musical path the rest of the area’s escapees did. You would be wrong, because true to her words, Psalm is but a very different sister. For starters, she has no interest rapping in the name of furthering female emcees. She doesn’t want to be your favorite female rapper”she just wants to be your favorite. Period. Even more surprisingly, Psalm has a degree in chemistry from the University of Illinois. I’ll give you five bucks if you can name me another chemist-by-day/rapper-by-night artist. And no, Cut Chemist does not count.
Let Me Hear opens with a familiar riff, Psalm’s pillow-like tone finding middle ground between the warbled snaking bass and churning ethereal feedback. Simply put, the jam is flat out sex music. Arousing lines from the repetitious opening If the rhythm feels good to you baby let me hear you say uh¦uh to I’m positioned to please/ so let me put your little disposition at ease have the emcee and her listeners hot and bothered before the halfway point. True to genre form, the rhythm and beat remain constantly slow and sultry throughout.
When our heroine steps out of the bedroom in Woman at Work, the vixen image gives way to that of a burgeoning artist busy moving on up. Stressed from the start, a sonic exhale comes in the form of an overcast beat built on shuffle percussion and accented with a timidly wandering lead guitar. Psalm chronicles herself on top and breaks down the song writing process in the form of an extended cooking metaphor, from doing the dishes and pre prep to feelin’ it and peelin’ it. And, she’s more than happy to let you know she has yet to reach the top of her game”we cookin’ up a work of success/ put your fork down honey/ the meat ain’t done yet. While the food rhymes are fun, the song’s most nourishing line ironically is completely devoid of tasty connotations; Instructions for upward mobility like Dreamin’ is a block/ but doin’ is a city/ gettin’ is a county/ and rulin’ is a universe never sounded this simple before, and prove that Psalm possesses the essential understanding that there’s more to success than desire. The kick start comes as Psalm undresses her core message in the end, imploring open ears to understand that making it takes all you’ve got and then some: You gotta put your foot in it/ your queens, pawns and your rooks in it.
Being compared to Lauryn Hill is no small feat. Neither is signing to Rhymesayers. Through this mutually beneficial acquisition she’s had the opportunity to share the stage with Atmosphere, Del The Funky Homosapien, Camp Lo, Heiroglyphics and many more leaders in the innovative rap vein. With mentors like that, up is really the only way she can go. Player and comments below, you know what to do next!