20-Year Old From North Carolina Finds His Voice 3:00PM ET May 9th, 2012 Contributor : John West A Rocky Williform Company
You hear rappers say all the time that they were 'born to do this,' but very few can make close to a literal claim to that cliche. Hip hop upstart Driicky Graham can say that he made his first appearance in a hip hop video when he was barely walking. He had a cameo as a toddler in a video for Lords of the Underground. "At age three," Graham shares. "If you watch the "Tic Toc" video, I was the baby [on-screen] while Tariq was rapping. I was the little baby with four silver caps in his mouth. That was me."
That rather unique introduction to the world of beats and rhymes was just a preamble for Driicky. The rhymer was a teenager living in North Carolina when he realized that hip hop was something he could use as an avenue of expression. "I waited until around the age of 14," he says of his initial forays into writing rhymes. "That's when I first started writing--[about] family life, my friends, peer pressure, different issues out on the streets. All that stuff."
Once his mother challenged him to figure out what he wanted to do post-high school, Driicky decided once and for all that he was going to pursue a music career full-time. "I took it upon myself," he says. "I came to Jersey, and my father's side of the family [were] kind of connected and they knew people. I was like 'I can really do this.' That's when I felt like 'OK we're about to go in real hard for this.'"
And Driicky went in hard. He's caught a significant amount of buzz from his heartfelt response track to Don Trip's "Letter To My Son." Written from the perspective of the son instead of the father, Driicky poured his heart and soul into the lyrics. "That's more of a personal, heartfelt record that I think everybody can relate to," Driicky explains. His "Snapbacks & Tattoos" has also joined the ranks of Generation Y hip hop anthems and was born out of an experience that virtually everyone can relate to.
"I'm sitting and I'm getting my first tattoo," he recalls. "I was excited about it. Being young, you get excited about the first time you do anything. [And when] snapbacks came out and I went snapbacks crazy. I wanted an anthem-type of track. I'm on a plane leaving charlotte, headed to Jersey and the hook just came ot me. I hooked up with Yung Berg and he produced the beat and so I sat and I waited for at least six months and I heard the beat and was like 'This is crazy.' I don't know what made it click. But all of a sudden the lyrics came out smooth and it manifested itself."
Creativity comes naturally to Graham, but he admits that he's had to learn how to navigate the business side of the hip hop industry.
"Its just that…in this game, we all know there's a business side and there's a musical side," he explains. "I do love the musical side--the business side is just okay. There comes a time when you have your fun, but you have to really get on your job. Its a lot of things that come with it. There are a lot of ups and downs. Certain things aren't going to always go your way. I feel like I still made it and I passed a certain point. It ended up working itself out. I just know that through different experiences, its made me stronger as far as how to deal with both sides."
Driicky's "You Gotta Start Somewhere" mixtape is almost street-ready and the ambitious rapper is just getting started. He expects his debut album to be released in late 2012 or early 2013 and has no limits on how far he can go. "I really work hard on my craft," he says. "I really want Artist of the Year. [laughs] I just wanna be looked upon as a serious artist that's here to stay."
Follow Driicky Graham on Twitter at twitter.com/driickygraham
Check him out at YouTube.com/top40ent
Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded
6:00PM ET April 4th, 2012
Contributor: Todd Williams
A Rocky Williform Company
Rating:
Nicki Minaj has gone from Internet sensation to global pop star in a little more than two years. In that time, her image has transitioned from hypersexed battle rhymer to cartoonish button-pusher, with many of her critics deriding her stylistic schizophrenia and controversial performances as tell-tale signs of an artist more concerned with gimmickry than artistry.
On her second album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, Minaj doesn't exactly shatter that perception.
The album, divided glaringly between a hip hop-centric first half and a more dance-pop themed second half, showcases all that her fans love about Young Money's First Lady--and everything that her critics despise. On the positive side, her rhymes are as nimble and oddly quotable as ever--and when she's on, she's one of the more clever and inventive rhymers in mainstream hip hop today.
But when she's off?
Well...we'll get to that part later.
The Afrika Bambaataa-referencing "Roman Holiday," despite its famously-loathed Grammy performance, is an entertaining oddity that reintroduces Minaj's male alter-ego Roman Zolanski. Not that the character is as central to the album as the title suggests--'Roman' is barely a focus throughout the remainder of the album.
The bass-heavy "Beez In the Trap" is a banger and benefits from an appropriately loopy 2 Chainz appearance; and the frenetic "Come On A Cone" features Nicki at her most boastful and off-the-wall, rapping lines like "Put the b*tches on lockout, where the f**k is ya roster?" and "Put me on ya song/But ya know it'll cost six figures long." It's easily the best thing on the album. "I Am Your Leader" re-treads similar territory as "…Cone" and suffers by comparison, with spirited-but-unremarkable guest turns by Cam'ron and Rick Ross.
The Lil Wayne-featured "Roman Reloaded" is fairly standard Young Money, seemingly echoing Weezy's own "A Milli" but without an ounce of that tracks infectiousness. Nicki attempts to remind everyone that she began as around-the-way-girl and gives shout-outs to the the Violas, Sherikas, Lauryns and Ieshas on the triumphant "Champion," one of the album's strongest, if somewhat formulaic, tracks.
The second half of the album sags considerably under the weight of Nicki's half-baked pop vocal aspirations. "Sex In the Lounge" is almost amazingly uninspired. A song about sex shouldn't be this unsexy and features far too much Bobby V. in what can best be described as a phoned-in performance.
Sadly, things go downhill from there. As hip hop's most high-profile female emcee decides to shoot for Katy Perry-ish Top 40 pop and Gaga-influenced dance grooves.
And she falls decidedly short of even attaining either of those fairly-modest ambitions.
Minaj is at her best as a fire-breathing bizarro wordsmith with idiosyncratic voices and references; so the generic material she's chosen to display her vocal 'abilities' comes as something of a disappointment.
"Starships" is sub-LMFAO dance pop, with its banal hook ("Starships were meant to fly…") and run-of-the-mill production. "Pound the Alarm" and "Whip It" both feature more of the same: bubbly Eurodance with generic hooks and none of the charisma or wit that Nicki displayed on the album's hip hop-focused first half.
The album closer, "Marilyn Monroe," is Minaj's heavily-AutoTuned attempt to ape the Clarkstons and Ke$has of the world, and is robbed of any emotional resonance by Minaj's cybernetic vocals and a cluttered production.
Nicki Minaj is one of the more polarizing superstars in music today, and Roman Reloaded is likely to be a polarizing album. Minaj should be applauded for her willingness to take risks, but the musical detours on …Reloaded feel so forced and phoned-in that its not a stretch to believe that not even Nicki believes in them. It's telling that the dance pop songs are herded to the album's second half, and she never sounds comfortable aping Madonna.
Its a shame, because if Nicki truly believed in her sound as much as she claims, she could've made quite a compelling album. Instead, Roman Reloaded stands as a half-baked miss that showcases an artist in the midst of an as-of-yet unrealized transition.
Houston Speed-Rhymer Reps His City 3:00PM ET March 31st, 2012 Contributor : D. L. Thomas A Rocky Williform Company
Rappers are notoriously confident.
Cockiness is a cornerstone of emceeing, but for Houston's Marcus Manchild--confidence in hip hop wasn't immediate. The former basketball standout may be one of the hottest up-and-comers in the Lone Star State, but in the beginning, he wasn't exactly bursting with confidence at his abilities. "I thought I was bad," he says with a chuckle. "But I started getting better and better and my partners would be like 'You killing it' and I just fell in love with it. They motivated me, basically. Since then, I've been going."
And going, and going.
Manchild has become one of the most talked-about young rhymers in the game--and he's gotten cosigns from veterans ranging from his fellow Houston rhymers Slim Thug and Bun B to Chicago spitters like Lupe Fiasco and Twista. The latter is one Marcus' major influences.
"Shoutout to the homie Twista," Manchild adds. "I give him all his props."
Being from Houston, Manchild knew that his own speedy delivery would set him apart from his peers. "My partner told me it kind of made me versatile and gave me my own kinda lane," he says of his rhyme approach. "We tend to hear stuff on the radio and on the internet and its hard to not mimic it. It gets stuck in your head--especially when you're not own. It kind of shows in your rap. [I said to myself] 'If I can make this happen, its gonna be unexpected.' Especially coming from down south, from Houston."
The speed-rap approach was actually a happy accident that Marcus attributets to a few too many libations in the studio during one session. "They had a song called 'Bottoms Up' and I remixed it on my first mixtape ever called 'Preseason,'" he shares. "I told my homies, 'Let me be in here by myself with the producer.' I was f**ked up and sh*t and started rapping too fast and he was like 'You still on beat.' Since then I was like, 'Let me practice this.' So I kept going with this."
The veteran support Manchild has received from notables like Bun B and Scarface hasn't gone unnoticed, either. He believes that the key to his success in the industry is his ability to listen and absorb. " Its a blessing that they even gave me a chance to get on records with them," he says of the Houston rap elite. "Shout out to them. It tripped em out when Slimm first gave me some advice: 'Don't ever think about the business first, because that'll take the fun out of your rapping.'"
Manchild remains humble--despite the A-list fans and the praise he's gotten in his hometown. He credits much of his success to his affiliation with the AMG label and the familial approach they've taken. "They keep you working and keep you going," he says. "They make sure everything you're doing is on-point. Its a brotherhood. All of them are older than me so they treat me like a little brother. its more than music, its actually family. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be in the position I'm in now. Nobody would know who Marcus Manchild is."
More and more people are learning, however. And Marcus Manchild's track "Problems" has helped his ever-growing fanbase see a different side to the fun-loving rapper. The intensely introspective track is Manchild's proudest moment thus far. "Shoutout to Bun for being on that," he says of "Problems." "I always talk about the good stuff that goes on and i never really get to express to people what has happened in my life and what still goes on in my life. I felt like I had to do that for fans to respect me and my music, instead of just thinking 'he's another ni***a that's rapping.' I feel problems was just a good track to put out there.
But, despite "Problems" and its heady subject matter, the young emcee is still enjoying himself. And he's still learning the game. Both off-stage and on.
"In Minnesota I had a bad incident where I went up and shouted out Detroit," he reveals, laughing. "They was rocking, they was hype and at the end I was like 'Y'all get down here in Detroit!'"
WZRD
10:00PM ET February 28th, 2012
Contributor: Todd Williams
A Rocky Williform Company
Rating:
It's easy to roll your eyes at the idea of another high-profile 'hipster' rapper releasing an alt-rock album. After all, Lil Wayne's Rebirth, hackneyed vanity project that it was, didn't do much to endear that particular movement to the masses. As loathsome as the late 90s rap-metal boom was, it didn't initially come off as cornball and forced as many of these 'rock-rap' releases.
But WZRD, the duo comprised of rapper Kid Cudi and producer Dot Da Genius, have crafted their own entry into the burgeoning subgenre. Their self-titled debut makes for an interesting listen--but doesn't always hit the mark that they undoubtedly sought to achieve when the project was announced last year.
But even it's misses are compelling--though that could be damning with faint praise.
The processed power chords of "High On Life" don't seem to mesh well with Cudi's somewhat stiff singing. He sounds unsure of himself on a track that would be a triumph if he just allowed himself to cut loose. When he sings "I'm ODing, High Off Life," you don't really believe him. "Love Hard" suffers from a similar problem--but here, the issue is a song that's all feel that doesn't really go anywhere musically. "Live & Learn" is a near-hit for the duo, but its bouncy verses are undermined by a non-hook that is near-unintelligible and makes the song sound unfinished--despite the fact that its heavy coda is one of the more dynamic moments on the album.
"Dream Time Machine," which features Empire of the Sun, finds the duo attempting what sounds like an approximation of late 90s/early 00s Radiohead--a feel that permeates a lot of the album. And its closer to Cudi's own druggy, moody singsongy style on his 'normal' releases. He sounds much more at home here, offering more of the po-faced introspection his fans have come to expect. When WZRD find this sort of combination, the songs typically work. "Brake" is probably the most atmospheric moment on the album, full of hard percussion and ethereal distortion, with Cudi's trademark druggy, echo-heavy vocals floating above the din as opposed to wallowing in it.
"Teleport 2 Me, Jamie," is an obvious choice for the first single. Not because it has 'hit' written all over it, but its probably the most 'conventional' sounding song here. With its singalong hook, lovelorn lyrics and off-key "na-na-na-nas," its probably the most akin to Cudi's previous releases. And the slightly off-kilter cover of Leadbelly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" (which is actually more of an approximation of Nirvana's 1994 'unplugged' version) works well and shows that WZRD understand where they want to go musically.
If only their original tunes had the songwriting heft to back up their ambitions.
What hinders much of the WZRD project, like a lot of rappers' recently-released excursions into alt-rock, is that while Dot and Cudi nail the feel of the rock artists they are obviously influenced by, they forego melody and structured songwriting. Behind all of that pathos and angst, there has to be a melody--or at the very least, if you're going for abstract and unconventional, (a la Radiohead or Mars Volta) it helps to have the chops to pull it off. But, one has to admire WZRD's commitment to their vision. Even if all of their ideas aren't fully realized on this project.
Sultry Singer/Songwriter Carves Her Own Niche 7:00AM ET February 10th, 2012 Contributor : D. L. Thomas A Rocky Williform Company
"I hate interviews. I really do."
You have to at least appreciate honesty. And, Brittany BOSCO, the doe-eyed beauty that fronts the BOSCO Band, is nothing if not honest. The Savannah, GA native has built a following on the strength of impassioned songwriting and an artistic fearlessness that has won her fans from Atlanta to Austria. Her genre-bending sound and ever-evolving image makes David Bowie and Annie Lennox comparisons understandable--but they're also a little too easy. BOSCO is a unique force, and Brittany's voice is all her own, and beneath the veneer of the unapproachable auteur lies a very relatable Southern girl who credits her personal and musical roots for her sound.
"I am really grounded in that whole very grass roots, very organic feel," Brittany says of her background and its influence on her. "Savannah is very organic--that's my style. Its something that I brought [from there] that was different compared to the music scene in Atlanta."
She pauses thoughtfully, before adding, " I think thats how i relate."
Her senior year of high school, when she had to sing in a cathedral, Brittany began to understand how stepping out of her creative comfort zone could yield great rewards for her artistically and personally. "You do this piece in another language," she shares of the experience. "You have different people come look at you; different colleges and stuff like that."
That recital was the first of many experiences that set her on her current path, but even as she moved to Atlanta and took her first steps towards becoming one of the city's most promising indie acts, she found herself having to prove to cynics that she knew what she was doing. "You always figure 'Ohmigod, this is something that i wanna do,'" she says. "[But] its like, to people dreams can seem so far-fetched and not tangible."
"But its almost like getting over that fear of other people's insecurities," she continues. "I was just like 'Enough. i've had enough of that.'"
A 2010 tour of Europe helped crystallize for the young artist that she was doing what she meant to be doing, and her art was most important. "Right when I got back from my European tour," she says. "That's when it all resonated with me."
Despite Atlanta's reputation for hip hop club anthems, BOSCO has helped remind fans that the city's musical identity is far more varied than some may realize.
"You have to create your own scene. you have to have that burst of creativity," she says. "But on the flip side of things, i want to cultivate and bring to the surface that there's more than mainstream hip hop in Atlanta. There's soul. There's indie rock. There's more than just that. "
Brittany represents the latest in a long-line of Georgia artists that are building their followings from the ground-up. Building on the tradition of indie rock godfathers R.E.M., BOSCO is putting together another DIY tour. "We're raising money to go on tour," she reveals. "We decided to use KickStarter to raise $5000. We're going to do a southeast tour in May and Europe in September."
Brittany BOSCO is confident that just being true to herself will make or break her career. She isn't planning on selling herself short or selling out. "If that was the case, I would've been signed two years ago!" she says with a laugh. "If I wanted to do that I would've been signed a long time ago. But I refuse. I'm just gonna keep doing what's true to me. It's not my fault if people don't comprehend. Just continue to walk and do it until their level of consciousness catches up with yours."
