RapGems Re-Cut

Like a phoenix from the ashes, RapGemsUncut finds new life as Sonic HYPE.

YOYOYO, It’s LUX.

I’M BACK!

It’s been a minute but I’m ready to start highlighting dope music and artists on the up and up. Two years ago, I needed to take a step back from RapGemsUncut and focus on a career in industrial journalism. Fast forward to today, I realized I was unhappy and decided to strike it on my own as a music journalist.

RapGems started out as a passion project and along the way I made a lot of friends and hit some pretty interesting milestones (Elliot Wilson of Rap Radar and XXL followed me on Twitter AND Charles Hamilton acknowledged my existence??). Today, RGU becomes Sonic HYPE, a newsletter/zine hybrid that will showcase new artists, music and random shit I think you’ll dig.

But first…

The Sound off

I have to start this on a serious note. When I stepped away from my blog, I also stepped away from listening to hip-hop. At first, I thought it was due to burnout because I had just written a few top ten articles before the new year and I felt like I did too much too fast.

I would try to come back to the genre every now and then but anytime I tried to listen to new rappers, I typically changed it to whatever rock or podcast I was listening to at the time. Having more time to reflect on the issue, I think I’ve figured out what the issue is…

Mainstream rap music fucking sucks.

Now… I am writing this fully knowing I don’t have a trigger finger bone in my body. But I do have ten Twitter fingers and a laundry list of jokes to get off my chest. So here’s what I think about the VAST majority of artists making music today:

-Mainstream Rap music today is like a recently built fast food restaurant: formulaic, bland and copied. Boom roasted.

-Mainstream Rap music today is like a Run The Jewels album cover. ITS THE SAME FUCKING THING WITH A NEW COAT OF PAINT EVERYTIME. Boom roasted.

-Mainstream Rap music today is like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, oversaturated and boring. Boom Roasted.

Readers of my old work know I am not typically a negative writer. However, I am writing this to make a point - it seems like rap music is stagnating.

Recently I’ve been listening to a new podcast from ItsTheReal called “The Blog Era,” and it’s made me realize that back in the blog days, there was so much variety that people could have a legit conversation about whose sound was better. It was weird too…they did a segment on how Mickey Factz cut an ENTIRE mixtape from N.E.R.D. beats and pretended to be Pharell’s latest co-sign all so he could get on NahRight.

Now, it feels like every one just mixes, Cudi, Travis Scott, Chief Keef and the sounds my stomach makes after too much Taco Bell because they know it’s going to sell. Don’t get me wrong, I respect the hustle and money is money, but don’t the listeners deserve more than a two minute soundbite of adlibs and mumble rap?

Who has the balls to steal someone else’s music and Trojan horse that shit into the public eye? Where’s the innovation? For every Kendrick Lamar, Kipp Stone or Chance the Rapper, there’s ten rappers doing the same shit as the next. Also, there’s a rapper that made their whole persona…taking shits?

This isn’t to say this music isn’t necessary. Often times I play some hype music from a rapper I like in the car with friends and then instantly get slapped with like five slow songs from their album that really harsh the vibe. Sometimes I just want music I can put my fist through a wall to.

Also, I’m not saying ALL mainstream rap is boring. Jack Harlow, Raesremmurd and others have recently released DOPE albums that deserve praise in their own right. Also, I keep UglyGod in rotation at all times…@ me.

Really where my frustration comes from is that I feel like I listen to the same beat or rhyme scheme by ten different rappers before I find a sound that’s innovative and different. It truly feels like there’s one form of rap dominating the airwaves when it wasn’t always like that.

I think part of the problem, per my last roast, is that hip-hop has become too oversaturated. For more than 20 years, rappers have been tastemakers, trend setters and essentially community mystics that have contributed more to our culture than any other group of artists. It is arguably one of the most coveted professions in America because of all of this. But before anyone could cash in a quick check, they needed to pass a smell test in the early days of the internet.

When Tik Tok, Soundcloud, Spotify and Apple Music became essential to the listening experience, the need for gatekeepers like NahRight, IllRoots and XXL, quickly diminished. We let an algorithm replace what used to be human intuition. It’s 1s and 0s, who has the most traffic on their page? Who brings the most eyeballs to Youtube? Not who will have the most cultural impact.

Whatever does break through the mold, then becomes the mold and the cycle continues.

Now, anyone can get famous if the beat and the hook is catchy enough. In some instances this is great (see Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow) but mostly, this has led to rappers that get hot for a few months then fade into the abyss. There are of course, other factors that contribute to this but we’ll dig into that later.

While these platforms democratized the music industry for the better, it also made it more diluted. We need blogs like Lyrical Lemonade and Fashionably Early, because they have real people listening and curating dope music - not an algorithm.

As for Sonic HYPE, hopping back into hip-hop journalism and looking for people/music to cover, I can still find that innovative sound. It just takes a little longer. If that’s the compromise I have to make to enjoy Hip-Hop music again than it’s one I’ll make.

End Rant.

THE HYPE

JOEY VALENCE & BRAE

Speaking of putting my fist through a wall…Joey Valence & Brae make me want to do that and flip my car from bobbing my head too hard or go back to college and overthrow the dean just by partying…Also I’ve been really thinking about going back to get a degree in like…multimedia production or sound design...

That is to say that these dudes are my go to when I want to get the party started anywhere I go. Straight up, they are the second coming of the Beastie Boys.

LOOK. I know I just went on a full-throttle rant about new music not being innovative or futuristic. This spotlight may seem a bit antithetical to that rant but life, especially rap, is cyclical. Action Bronson was the second coming of Raekwon, Joey Bada$$ was 90’s New York rap personified and now we have Joey Valence & Brae covering Biz Markie and the Beastie Boys.

Their whole vibe reeks of the 90’s/early 2000s aesthetic and their lyrics are funny and catchy. Valence, who produces everything in house, told AAABackstage that his inspirations come from Biz Markie, Beastie Boys, Heavy D and more.

Their beats are clearly inspired by 80s/90s rap but have a crisp modernity to them that the music back then didn’t have. They’re fast, gritty and clean while also paying homage to the source material. If mainstream rap has an air of wavey trap surrealism pop to it, this music is a sucker punch to the ears.

It’s punk ass fuck and I’m here for it.

Their lyrics are in your face, high energy and clever. I don’t know how anyone can make a reference to the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers in one song and then argue that Mario can double jump when you consider Super Smash Bros, but these guys pull it off seamlessly. It’s a light hearted affair that doesn’t get old after multiple listens, mostly due to the sheer number of jokes and references they pack into their bars.

Which leads me to my next point.

I think what I like the most about this group is that they don’t seem to take themselves too seriously. Accompanying their sharp bars are these DIY music videos that further shows of their personalities as these guys that are here for a good time. It’s probably why these dudes have brought in more than a million views on Youtube and are essentially viral sensations on Tik Tok.

One more for good measure…

Keep an eye out for their debut album coming later this year

Also on the playlist:

ARMANI WHITE

TRENT THE HOOLIGAN

SOUL GLO

And finally…

THE SHIT POST

Stare long enough into the abyss, eventually it stares back.

Just don’t expect it to like what it sees.

-

Recently I parted ways with my 9 to 5, which sucked for a few reasons. For one, I lost my steady stream of income and it kind of left my future uncertain.

However, it was also a blessing in disguise.

When I worked there, it was hard to see the point in a lot of things, even listening to hip-hop. It felt like I was staring into the void. Life was going in slow motion and I didn’t know how to press pause.

A few days after I left the job, I started making plans for all the projects I wanted to do but never had the time. When I got to work on these plans, my mental health instantly improved and things started to matter to me again.

Since then, I’ve written two short films, a web series and a television pilot that are all currently making their rounds in the competition circuits. This kind of left me with nothing to do while I waited. Last week, I posed the question “Should I relaunch RapGemsUncut?” To my surprise, people actually wanted it to come back.

Thanks to those people who told me to relaunch.

-LUX

P.S. I am looking to start directing music videos for local talent. Hit me up if you’re interested. I’ll do it for free so I can build a portfolio.