When it
comes to rating hip hop I will admit that I’m a natural born hater. I’ve been
around since its inception, so I have seen it grow from fun party music to
socially conscious to colorful clothes that included backwards overalls to
gangster music and back. I have seen and heard it all and it’s ok if you
are in it just to make money but at least bring some creativity to the game;
regurgitating old UGK and Jay Z lyrics however just doesn’t do it for me. Now
even though scrubs were frequently popping up, I never really hated on anyone
until I watched a stupid VH1 show where they had old school mc’s rating the new
mc’s and Heavy D, yes Heavy D, rated Tupac below Eminem because he thought
Tupac was just “aight”. What?!?! Listen, I loved Heavy D back in the day; so
much so that I even walked around calling myself the Underweight Lover Kelly D.
But after hearing that, both my love for Heavy and my stupid nickname were
gone! I figure if people can hate on Pac, then I can hate on the true scrubs that
are coming out today. So with that said, here are two new hip hop artists to check
out that I’m probably being just a bit too hard on.
First up is
the Baton Rouge native Kevin Gates. If you are wondering if he sounds like
every other rapper from Louisiana, the answer is yes. But that’s not
necessarily a bad thing because the south has a distinct sound that it needs to
hold on to and improve upon. The East and the West Coast have been doing it for
decades, so why not us? Even though his
beats are crazy commercial, you can’t help but find yourself nodding your head
to them; so expect to hear frat boys and sorority girls bumping this from their
SUV’s in the next year or two. He already has a nice flow and definitely has
the image necessary to catapult him to stardom. His mix tapes are about his
life story and mainly focus on the days he started hustling on the streets to
help him cope with the loss of his grandfather. The good news for him is that
he is already getting love from some pretty influential people in the game by
the way of Lil Wayne, Pusha T, and Curren$y, so the future could be bright for
this up and comer. The fact that he can sound like a less annoying Ja Rule at
times with his love songs is the reason that I will give him a rating of kind
of WEAK for now but that could change as he grows in his music. Check out some
of his highlights in Just Ride, Weight, and Neon Lights.
Next up is
Rome Fortune from Atlanta. I honestly
don’t have too much info on this guy but I do know that he’s starting to pop up
on quite a few artists to watch lists. His rhymes don’t really blow you away
and he sounds like a slightly more coherent version of Lil B, but that’s not a
compliment. You remember the 4 foot 5 inch Lil B don’t you? He’s the guy that
embarrassed himself and hip hop by riding his Big Wheel up to the Fader Fort
stage to perform Wonton Soup and Ellen Degeneres. What makes Fortune worth
checking out are his beats which are laid down by Childish Major. Due to his
tight beats and tight hooks, I will upgrade him from wack to WEAK. Check out
his best track in Get the Guap.
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