Hip Hop Habit: Lee Emcee
posted in: Artist Features • Urban
I’ve always been perplexed as to why foreign accents never seem to shine through in song. From acts dating back to the British Invasion like The Beatles and Led Zeppelin to modern ensembles like The Noisettes and Florence and the Machine, English voices have always sounded thickly American. Such is not the case when the artist comes from the land down under, as does this week’s featured Hip Hop Habit rapper Lee Emcee. Born to the metropolis of Brisbane in 1989, Lee Emcee (aka Jeames Williams) has spent his 21 years on this earth using his innate musical talent to experiment with a wide range of instruments, compete in freestyle competitions and write raps both diffident and devotional”all in that fantastic Aussie accent.
The vulnerable You Mean So Much is about just what you would think; Lee paying respects to a lady. The twist appears about a quarter of the way in, where Lee follows love song suit by acknowledging the mistakes both members in the relationship have made, but then surprisingly tells of how he appreciates his partner more for them. In a rare display of humility in a genre infested with unapologetic alpha males, the meek emcee hangs his heartbreak out to dry I’m a man I’m not afraid to tell you how I feel and explains his reasons for staying: choices you and I make can be wrong/ but together in arms we belong. This rocky romance narrative travels on top of a contemplative landscape, where Lee’s musical background is put on full display in an elegant symphony of orchestral sounds replete with a crooning oboe, lush piano and full string accompaniment. Together the content and its sonic counterpart create a cozy nesting mood, poised to inspire listeners to achieve the benefits of togetherness.
Williams’ passionate saga journeys on in Music Makes the World Go Round, another song sporting content not drifting far from its title, this time laying it on the line for his art form of choice. This track’s introduction is unique in the sense that it slowly seeps in through echoing keyboard vamps that revolve around your head with a great use of panning, each of which seem to grow to an overwhelming point until the familiar bass & drum beat drops. Emotion in this track is tame, and the jazz influenced beat stays chilled throughout compared to the aforementioned audible bleeding heart, but that doesn’t prevent Lee from instilling in his listeners how important he perceives music to be. 
Though the consequences he lists of music’s potential absence are overdone and thus only mildly threatening (without the sound/ we’ll cause a riot underground and without music in my life then my soul would detach), there’s always something to be said for an artist sticking up for what they love, especially when it’s done with such loaded optimism: music will carry on like the human race.
After receiving some hard earned awards at battle competitions in Australia (he took 3rd at Megiddo Street Battles in 2009), Lee has decided to keep riding the wave and has plans to release an EP and mixtape some time soon. With concurrent projects underway across three continents, his offbeat brand of hip hop, trademarked by honesty and alluring sun burnt accent are destined to bubble up to the surface some time soon. Keep him on your radar and let us know how you feel about the puzzle that is Lee Emcee in the comments!
