One of the many reason I've always felt that hip hop was different then any other genre of music is because it deals with relationship building. What do I mean by that? It's simple. If you're from Brooklyn and you're listening to Jay Z once you find out he's from Brooklyn, that alone gives you a reason to rock with him. Then when you find out Jay sold drugs and if you sold drugs too, now ya'll got something else in common. Then when you find out Jay's pop wasn't around and your pop wasn't around neither, now you've damn near got more in common with Jay then with you're best friend! Which helps to explain why I've seen grown folk literally come to blows over who's the best MC, Biggie, Jay Z or Nas cause half the time we actually believe these cats are part of our squad cause we have (or rather "had") so much in common with 'em. Nowadays the problem is who can REALLY relate to what these rappers are talking about now? Not many. Nowadays it's more rappers painting a picture of a lifestyle that the average fan WANTS to have but not necessarily the lifestyle they actually do have. And that's just one of the million ways that the game has changed. So, here's the question of the week...for somebody 35+ years old, who's married or in a relationship, with kids, who goes to work everyday but but still LOVES the hip hop culture, what current MC can they relate to? Off the top of my head the only person who comes to mind is Phontay with his "Charity Starts At Home" album. But outside of North Cakalak's finest who else do we have? Which is why we need more of what I like to call "adult contemporary hip hop" which in a nutshell is hip hop that grown folk can relate to. See, back in the day on shows like the Cosby Show we got to watch Denise, Theo, Vanessa & Rudy grown up and mature right before our eyes but with hip hop it's like these cats suffer from the Benjamin Button disease of turning back into kids with their rhymes. Talking about nonsense, dumbing their lyrics, etc. which leaves us grown folk out in the cold. But there's no reason to fret cause we've got another MC on tap with an entire project that deals with the in and outs and the highs and lows of relationships and who can't relate to that?
If you're a football dude, then you've probably already heard of Yaw (formerly Yaw Geez) cause money blesses us on ESPN every week with his The Journey videos to kick off Sunday NFL Countdown. If you STILL haven't heard of money, no biggie cause after checking out his sophomore album "Hump Day" you'll mos def be familiar with him. "Hump Day" sets off with "Feels So Good" where Yaw breaks down how ill his shorty is over some classic Harold Melvin, "considered by me to be the epitome of classy, she cute as a button attitude a lil sassy/entranced by perfume soon as she passed me, it's like cupid walked right up to me and stabbed me/cooler then the andes, tickle my fancy/nonviolent but she keep a can of mace handy/phenomenal pair of bossums and a great fanny, man you should see the way that ass looks in lace panties", "Lights Off" freaks the classic T Boz line from "Diggin' On You"and has Yaw telling his shorty "there's a party and she's the only one invited" while "The BBQ" has Yaw kicking his game to "now who's the little lady in the lavender, giving me the wild stares without a banister/I think I need to have a chat with her/walk around the block and do a lap with her, Cys could you grab the spatula (yeah I got you) spectatcular/she said her name was Angela, representing Canada, definitely bumpin' "Entry Level" I'm a fan of ya/diggin your vanacular, the fact that you're from Africa, my friends won't believe I met you, let me get my camera." "The Coffee Break" uses the same Smokey Robinson break Dilla made famous on "One Eleven" and is a quick pause for the cause from all of the relationship talk to let ya'll know money's just as ill with his bars as he is with his storytelling with lines like "ya'll are all soft, as a roll of that cottonelle, you can get it on instrumental or acapell/I'm handing out punishments as hard as Roger Goodell, said he wanted rap beef, I treat him like Taco Bell."
"Every Once and A While" is dope, "The Office Fling" tells the story of the classic office romance while "Nothing Stays The Same" slows the party down but that's not a bad thing by any means. "Heartbreaker" ends the album with Yaw spittin' about the downfall of a relationship over a laid back beat that samples of my fave Sade songs "Frankie's First Affair" but my fave banger on the album is the first single "Cool." Over an uptempo banger you've got Yaw spittin' "I got my eye on you, yeah you lil mis 5 foot 2/thick frame skirt, color highlighter blue, go with your fresh peddi and that peep toe shoe/I think I might like you, cause ain't nobody fine like you/I'd like to polly with your mommy if she got a lil time to, and I'm gonna keep it short sweet like a haiku/more like sorta like you, can I be forthright for the night boo/you looking like a beat that I oughta right to, and that thing up in them jeans making all the right moves."
I never understood why every MC on the planet earth all rhyme about the same thing when there's this thing called "real life" that you could rhyme about but wants to touch that. I mean, you literally could have your own lane to yourself talking about what's real and REALLY keep it 100 but I guess nobody wants to take that rout cause cats are STILL talking about the same ole money, cash, hoes hoopla. (some 18 yrs later after Jay coined the phrase...REALLY think about that, there's been a entire generation raised off that nonsense) That's like taking a contested off balance 18 footer while the lane to the basket is wide open...I mean, who does that? But I can tell you this, with "Hump Day" Yaw's not taking any contested off balance jumpers cause money takes full advantage of the wide open lane to finally give us grown folk some music we can relate to. Salute and do me this justice and go out and support the brother while also supporting DOPE hip hop and cop the album here!
4 outta 5
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