Every Friday on the OurStage blog, I’ll be featuring a great example of flow and lyricism in hip hop songs pulled from the OurStage ranks. I’ll get the artist’s thoughts on the song, as well as post the lyrics or best verse so fans can follow the flow themselves.
Our “Friday Flow” this week comes courtesy of Underground Realroad (and Mr. Bits). Bricc and DJ Drex know what it is like to be down and out, and have some great perspective about climbing their way from the bottom. With an addiction to rhyming and a passion for music, Underground Realroad do it for the love of the game. Here’s what the guys had to say about “Maybe”:
Braggarts, grand-standers, blatherskites—rap is full of them. If they’re not name-checking the labels on their clothing, they’re advertising their lyrical swerve or sexual prowess. Aspirational thinking (or flagrant machismo, as the case may be) is a key element in hip hop’s oral tradition. However, you’ll be called out if you don’t have the chops to back up your own hype, and your castle made of sand will melt into the sea (eventually).
A.B.Y.S.S. doesn’t have to worry about her kingdom crumbling any time soon. The New Jersey MC constructs verbal skyscrapers, but the fortunately their foundation is rock solid. “Get.It.In” is a relentless banger, where sinewy guitar lines add a sinister edge to a thumping anthem. Like a boxer set to enter the ring, the MC comes out swinging: “I’m a demonstrator, not a hesitator / I’m going straight through the roof, f*** the elevator.” One of the most refreshing qualities of A.B.Y.S.S. is her low threshold for the status symbols ingrained in contemporary hip-hop. In “(Death of) Swag-Up,” she takes the counterpoint to materialistic MCs, saying, “No shades? / You ain’t got no ice? / Au naturel? / Damn you looking nice!” The track is original enough on lyrical content alone — add to that a rattling, percolating beat and you have something special.
A.B.Y.S.S., whose name is an acronym for Ask Before You Speak Stupidly, is fiercely independent—insisting on “(Death of) Swag-Up”: “I don’t need a huge crew.” Unfortunately, with chops like hers, a widespread following may be inevitable.
According to their bio, RAS has a helluva mission on their shoulders: to “fight against whatever mainstream media and culture offers the masses today …uplift and create spaces where atrocities against people of the African diaspora can begin to heal … through remembering the past, exposing lies, expressing emotion and resisting self-hatred.” Not a job for the faint at heart. Luckily, the husband and wife hip-hop team has a whole lotta heart, and some mighty voices to back it up.
Winners of the 2008 Lennon Songwriting Award for hip-hop, RAS (Riders Against the Storm) is comprised of Rhode Island MCs Tiger Lily and JBro. Together, the duo vacillates between confessions of self-consciousness and chest-thumping demonstrations of verbal prowess. In “Never Alone,” JBro likens himself to Bobby Brown, “stressing every little step,” against a throbbing bass line and fluttering keys. Though lyrically anxious, the melody is self-assured. But its songs like “Ready or Not” that really show RAS at the peak of their potency. A remake of the Fugees hit, the track brings the drama with sweeping strings, reiterating percussion and the electronic hiss of synths as Tiger Lily and JBro chant, “RAS is right on target / First in the flame with the power to spark it.” It’s an explosive mantra for a duo that’s determined to burn down the house.
Every Friday on the OurStage blog, I’ll be featuring a great example of flow and lyricism on a hip hop song pulled from the OurStage ranks. I’ll get the artist’s thoughts on the track, as well as post the lyrics or best verse so fans can follow the flow themselves.
Today’s “Friday Flow” comes courtesy of Doujah Raze. He’s been around the block a time or two, and is sick of the way things are. He’s been able to garner recognition by taking his own path; doing things his own way. With reasonable success in both touring the world and playing festivals in the United States, Raze has four albums under his belt (one of which was a Japan-only release). It’s pretty clear what this week’s flow is about, but let’s hear it straight from the source:
For most bands, paying your dues usually takes at least a year or two. So consider One Block Radius accelerated learners. In the course of one tour in 2005, the hip hop-pop act was shot at in Albuquerque, robbed in San Francisco and subjected to a blackout onstage in Phoenix. But instead of taking this unfortunate series of events as a bad omen, they saw it as giving their pedigreed hip hop some much needed grit.
The Los Angeles trio, made up of vocalist Marty James, DJ MDA and MC Z-Man, hail from venerated hip hop and rap communities that include Beastie Boys’ Grand Royal label and Del Tha Funkee Homosapien’s legendary Hieroglyphics collective. Now signed to Island Def Jam, One Block Radius has upped their serotonin-level, turning out bouncing, club-ready singles. “Shoplifta” is a reggae-influenced club banger that delivers lines like, “Her and her girl was A & B and that they want to C me,” with juvenile gusto. “Screwing It Up” follows suit, spinning a sad yarn about waking up pantless in the front yard against an infectious 80s pop beat. One Block Radius views the definition of dance music through a wide-angle lens, sampling unlikely dance floor heroes such as “Electric Avenue” singer Eddie Grant and White Stripes. Hey, it doesn’t matter who comes to the party, as long as they can move.
