Browsing Tag

Houston hip hop

Sweet Limb shattered the illusion that police brutality is a 21st-century novelty in his single, Relate

Posted on 1 August 2023
https://soundcloud.com/sweetlimb/relate/s-IiQUS59TzrV?in=sweetlimb/sets/nice-ep/s-2n9eP7YYwU2&si=cf909d6b7849473ca2165c37802b2c11&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Sweet Limb took his latest hip-hop EP, NICE, right back to the old school and around the Bronx block to deliver an urban atom bomb of nostalgia.

With his standout single, Relate, the Austin-based flow king reigned supreme as he rode the steady rhythmic waves of the funky basslines and 808s, which become the centres of gravity in the minimalist polished track that shatters the illusion that police brutality is a new issue and the only one that marginal communities feel the forces of oppression from.

While many rappers rushed to contribute to the voices in the BLM movement, Sweet Limb bided his time to speak for everyone who can’t relate to the portrayal of the onslaught of police violence in the media, not because it wasn’t a barbaric travesty, because it was a tale as old as time and pretending otherwise is just another brand of injustice.

The NICE EP will hit the airwaves on August 1st; hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

DOM – SDA ft Erica Banks: Female Empowerment Has Never Been Fiercer.

Posted on 8 June 2023
https://youtu.be/yYsjwlBrdCs

Collaborating with her fellow Texas flow queen, Erica Banks, the Houston hip-hop heavyweight, DOM, rolled with all the party-rocking punches in her latest single, SDA.

The Missy Elliot-esque energy as the collaborating artists rap their unfuckwithable-with-attitude and empowering bars ensured that the vox are just as big as the beats in this exemplification of the heights hip-hop acts should strive for in 2023.

Aggression may be the overarching emotion in SDA, but written within the infectious energy is an affirmation that no one will hand you the power and bodily autonomy; you’ve got to take it for yourselves and own it as well as DOM and Erica Banks did in SDA.

As a singer, producer, rapper, and co-owner of VgnBae Music Group and Studios, DOM has exactly what it takes to hold dominion over the Houston hip-hop scene.

Watch the official music video for SDA via YouTube or stream it on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Lemar French created a jazzy celestial tapestry with his suspensefully filmic hip-hop single, Moving Stars

Posted on 9 March 2023

Here to prove that hip hop can be classy and gritty in the same suspensefully cadenced breath is the Steel City, PA native and seasoned MC Lemar Fresh, with his immersively elevated hit single, Moving Stars.

With all the smoke and glamour of a metropolis after dark, Moving Stars moves like a starlet on a red carpet under his magnetically low-timbered bars and jazzy interludes, which find the perfect balance between sultry and sophisticated.

With 15 years as an MC under his belt and production receipts with everyone from WQED to Rhymefest to Mac Miller to Diamond D, the Houston-residing artist strove for hip hop purity and came up with 24 karat hip hop gold.

Stream Moving Stars, which was released on February 27th, by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Bradspectacular has stormed in with his latest fiery chiptune rap track, Games

Posted on 18 March 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UelKgIh2hSY

Here to finish what Atari Teenage Riot started is the alt hip hop artist, Bradspectacular, and his glitchy chiptune hit, Games, produced by Trust201. The Virginia-born, Houston-based artist takes influence from Zack Fox and Baby Keem, but in his latest stormer of an alt electro-rap track, he is standing in a fiery 8-bit league of his own.

The energy in his bass-riding playful yet convictive track is nothing short of infectious, and with his authenticity making an instant impression, it is only a matter of time before Bradspectacular ascends into the mainstream.

Games will officially release on March 18th. You can check it out for yourselves by heading over to YouTube and Spotify. Keep up to date with new tracks via Instagram and TikTok.

Review by Amelia Vandergast