Fifty.Sixth.Time.Around

Yo, real quick, I'm going to let you finish....

But Good Kid m.A.A.d City was the chiz. Kendrick has worked oh so very hard this year and I have to hop up on my soap box for this one.

Kendrick Lamar's album was highly anticipated and critically acclaimed. The thought provoking album featured some of Kendrick's best written verses and collabs. I am deeply disappointed in Kendrick not winning any awards; it is an honor to be nominated but to be robbed so blindly before the public is disgusting.

Hops off soapbox...

A Heist of Grammys

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis swept the nominations with 6 (more than Tay Tay Swift! with 5) and brought home three, including the coveted Rap Album of the year. The Heist beat out Yeezus, Magna Carta Holy Grail, and most notably Good Kid m.A.A.d City. The album, which is well produced and a good listen is not my favorite. The Heist, to me is an album that amassed a cult following of fans that relate to what Macklemore is and was going through. Not an album full of bangers, urban truths, or universally relatable songs. I do not discredit Macklemore and Ryan Lewis- they worked equally if not harder than K.Dot and are amazing in concert- but their album is not as strong from an urban or rap standpoint. 

As for Best New Artist- I think that Macklemore deserved that one. It is important to remember all of these award shows and rankings are relative and debatable. Macklemore and company did indeed come onto the scene with a strong single (Thrift Shop), dropped their album (The Heist), and toured well (The Heist World Tour). Also, remember that Macklemore did everything he did without being signed by a major recording label. For this sole reason, I feel that Macklemore does deserve a little more gas. (Not enough to beat Kendrick though)

Royal Confusion

I am not really sure I get the hype behind Lorde and her song Royals. Her album Pure Heroine is completely lost on me. She isn't very appealing to me and her voice has zero range. Artists whose songs where I like the remixes better- I leave alone. Props to her though for grinding so early in life and taking charge. I commend her on her win, whether I like her music or not.

Album of The Year

Dear Complex Magazine- you are fully discredited by the Academia of Music and Grammy organization. If I do recall correctly you ranked Random Access Memories as 45th best album of the year under a mixtape released by Migos. Well, I'm sorry to tell you that you have mis-voted and Daft Punk has the appreciation they deserve. R.A.M is one of the best albums of all time and encompasses so many styles of music while still garnering new fans and cohesively bringing the original fans around for more.

As a quick little jib- shout out to Good Kid m.A.A.d City for the nomination. To be so close in several categories and lose it must sting a bit for Kendrick. However this is a battle well met- and a loss he'll most likely chalk up. R.A.M was really good.

That's All Folks

All in all, the 56th Grammy awards were cool. There were dope live performances, awards given when due, and a classy-star-studded red carpet. Every award show has some drama over robbed awards and this year is no different. Kendrick should've walked away with something; at the end of the day though Kendrick is always hard at work and his music still bangs. Good looks to Macklemore for the dedication of his award to Trayvon Martin and for his text to Kendrick.

P.S.- Shout Out to Alicia Keys on her win- and Little Big Town for their nomination. Those are two artists I love.

Grammy Winners               Grammy Robbery           Macklemore Wins A lot

Locality.Statements Pt. 2

She Had No Man, Now She Has No Gown

Yeah guys, naked women. 

Wait it gets better…. Lemonade.

Ryan Naylor, AKA Bucky, thee Royal Warlord hails from… somewhere in the 757. His stuff sounds really good in Richmond right now, though. Another VA native has some tracks out making the rounds on music sharing sites and in collegiate apartments. His latest releases (reviewed below) are rolling out and getting his listeners ready for his debut project which does not yet bare a name.

Mysterious..

Rusty

PROS: This song sounds like a straight freestyle- if dude wrote this thats still crazy. The days of continuous writing and spitting endlessly are coming back. The flow in this song is hungry yet playful. If the songs Vitamins and Watch For Detox, by Mac and Kendrick, respectively, had a song baby it would be Rusty. Bucky shows linguistic dexterity, going bar for bar with no hook at all. He hits all authentic points too: he's not sleeping but he's working, he isn't getting proper dues, he's smoking, etc. 

CONS: The production is lackluster for sure. I like the beat and feel like I recognize it from somewhere, (what's sampled?) He got his message down- but production is important. The right words always need the right beat. The right rapper always needs the right producer.

Stand

PROS: Again the flow here is confident. Even the trained ear could be fooled into thinking that Bucky has been at this for awhile. The relaxed and serious tone in this song offsets his young voice. It can be debated that Bucky sounds too clean-cut but the contrast created from his vocals saying some crude truths is his claim to fame, honestly. A listener can easily bump to his clear and enunciated bars. The content is there- cliche story of getting caught up spun originally. Iconic little verse from the track: "I'm taxed out the a** to get by. Yes I'm getting stressed- won't sell. But yes I'll get high,"

CONS: I'm not stuck on any. Nope, showing bias here.

Lemonade

PROS: This song is fun. The flow is lazy. The hook is catchy. The verses are just as catchy and easy to rap along to. This is an all around feel-good track that will bring a listener to the chill days of summer. Naylor shows some musicality through his voice inflections and meter of his flow on the beat. True there isn't as much content chocked up in these verses as his other songs but thats the beauty of it: He's chilling- and so are his listeners. There are some girls out there thirsty for lemonade- his spin on this phenomenon was made into a song thats honestly fire. If you miss pre-Lean Mac, from his K.I.D.S. days then you've found gold, man. Another dope thing about this track is that its Bucky's vocals on his own hook- which is catchy. Like... I Hit It First catchy.

CONS: I thought this song was the best produced out of all three releases I listened to, however, through a co-listen with my close friend, he pointed out this would sound even better with better production. If you don't like feel-good music where the point is to just "listen and chill" and instead prefer hard-hitting-thought-provoking music… this song isn't for you either.

Conclusion

Coming out of the production-heavy year of 2013 is one of the major problems on these singles. But when it comes to legit rapping skills and genuine flow talent: Bucky has it. This artist is young and has plenty of room to grow; his name will be one to watch though if he wants it to be. I personally like to listen to what he releases and that is always the point of music: to listen and enjoy. This sound that he has, this sound is natural talent. Naylor's story is interesting- let's see what the Royal Warlord does in 2014.

Look For The Project

"What you see you in the store- I can afford. And I'm whippin that beamer, don't f*ck with the Ford,"

Locality.Statements

Do You Support Local Artist?

Do you support? Do you fly your local flags? This isn't a gang initiation, no.

What is this Tico?

This is a serious step in many artists' lives. Being put on and helped out by those around them- very important. I've ventured into mainstream and other areas' artists- but my own backyard? 

That's a bit controversial...

So was that Kanye/Sway interview… so onward we move.

DC/Maryland/Virgina

Hailing from the DMV is young Cyrus- this dude is not even out of high school but sharing his vocals with the world. His debut project Ethos, dropped December, 29, 2013. He has been featured on other local artist's works and has made the rounds on rap blogs and music sharing sites. At such a young age he has been compared to rebellious Asher Roth- whose flow is lazy yet engaging. I can see the parallels, especially with Asher's more recent sound, but Cyrus has stamped his own in this area with his verses and bars.

Whats The Word On The Flow

This kid's flow is before his time. Again, I see the parallels between him, Roth, Vic Mensa, and possibly even Big Sean. A nice open-mic, mix tape-like, and earthy sound is heard on his EP. The syntax and rhyme scheme is dope and not even of this area. To some, this sounds a bit lazy, (which he can be reprimanded for). While he doesn't sound as hungry as others on his tracks, I think that a young artist can only get better in terms of bar structure and musicality.

What's Being Said?

The content is not deep. Masochistic and degrading verses sprinkle the drug references with counter-culture hooks introducing themselves. It's not that he can't rap about something of substance, this is debatable and relative. What's important to one may not be important to another. Rapping on girls, weed, and…. rapping isn't necessarily ground-breaking though and on that note I nod accordingly.

Hey I like bangers on chill subjects such as those…

I do too but the game is over-saturated in bangers on nothing. I expect better from this locality.

The Beats Though

Ethos has awesome tracks that fit Cyrus' flow like puzzle pieces. These beats are reminiscent of throwback 90s tracks or Midwest production- I'm especially keen on the few samples included. The old man yelling about money? Classic. While I like the beats- production gets a zero. EP's by definition are about 10-15 minutes in length… 4 songs maybe. This EP is just around 10 minutes and has 7 tracks. There is not enough room nor any variability in the production to capture a wide fan base. The beats are nice yeah, but there is no different sound which is sad because there were seven opportunities to do so. These tracks being so short show Cyrus' weakness in a production team or his weakness in writing enough to fill out a whole song.

An even worse predicament is that there is no hype surrounding this young rapper's release. There seems to be a small twitter wave within certain circles but researching this dude's life shouldn't have proven to be as difficult as it was. For another release, Cyrus, you don't have to give us a NWTS album (way long) but more would be appreciated. This EP is more of a trailer as to what you want to say- no track even reaches 3 minutes.

The Conclusion

Ethos gets a "pat on the back" and a "what's next". I don't mean to sound harsh but the youthfulness of the artist is heard clearer than his bars on this EP. Being new doesn't discount talent though- while Cyrus has a ways to go, it's not like people won't watch him get there.

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