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Charlotte Forever - King Carter (feat. S-Dub, Revenue, Royal-Tee)
This has been sitting in my drafts for nearly a year, and the only reason was because it is about my hometown of Charlotte, NC. But, the shocking fact about the song was someone told me this song wasn’t too bad, and apparently that person was me, as the only note I have on this video was: “King Carter is not too bad”, which isn’t entirely untrue but the rest of the song would not get such kind words.
Honestly, I have suppressed ”Forever” from my memory, as it was an unwanted sequel to “Swagga Like Us”, which was an awful mash-up of ego and a cheesy way-too-of-the-moment sample from M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes. So, when I played the video for the first time in a year; the instrumental brought back all of those painful memories of lines about sprained ankles and one of Drake’s most lifeless hooks. Thankfully, Drake isn’t found on “Charlotte Forever”, but that’s the only positive I could say about this song. The hook is handled by someone that shouldn’t be singing in an elementary school choir and even more so with the auto-tune. Despite the number of rappers on the track, all of them delivered the type of generic street rap verses that stopped registering with me a while ago. I will note that I wasn’t all wrong in saying King Carter was not too bad, as his verse is by far the best, but even giving him that credit doesn’t mean it or the song crossed over into the realm of good.
“Ke$ha may be super untalented, but no one can deny the fact that her music is fun! haha”
-A Facebook friend, describing how plenty of people think about Pop stars.
blackbeans asked:
Is Texas-style vibe prominent in Charlotte rap?
Morning (EST)!
To answer the question no, not really. A lot Charlotte rappers I have heard usually fall into biting the style of Atlanta rappers (some self-admittedly, and some move to the city in hopes of striking it big there). I’ve talked about this before, and I guess this is largely informed by my view of Charlotte, but the lack of any real rap stars from Charlotte is not surprising:
1. Who is pushing music here? I mean Huntsville, AL has had rappers play in Europe, and featured in websites that feature readership all over the world. Charlotte, NC a larger/more well known city barely has any rappers that are known beyond the state lines. There is no Cody G (to my knowledge) finding lanes for these artists that will actually lead them somewhere.
2. What are they saying? Looking at rap from North Carolina as a whole, some of the bigger acts are J. Cole, Little Brother, 9th Wonder are not Dope Boy #231 with their own gang of unknowns and unwanted weed carries. Charlotte rap songs you run across online or on the radio, are usually generic southern rap song with nothing that says I AM FROM CHARLOTTE except for shouting out to the Carolina Panthers.
3. Production, Production, Production. The amount of quality producers that sitting on quality beats across the country and even further the world makes me wonder why I hear rappers ride on top of sub-sub-Mannie Fresh beats. Honestly, it is 2011, if you are rapping on generic/boring production and wonder why people beside your family does not listen to your music, you may want to consider if rapping is for you. Just because you know the producer does not mean you should stick with them. (Also, if you cannot tell you are rapping over some sub-Soulja Boy 2007 beat, then please expands what your ears are listening to)
4. Lastly. This is Charlotte, NC. Not NY, GA, CA. Unless a particular sound is established from this city; it will continue to have small local hits but nothing national, because a boring rapper from Atlanta will a lot more backing, support, and HISTORY, than an uninteresting Charlotte rapper. I mean even those Alabama rappers got Dirty as a reference for the history of their music, who do you go back and reference if you want to talk about Mr. 704. I mean watch “Crown Royal”, it is about the history of Charlotte rap, and it hits on most of what I said, but tell me if you recognize any of the song or rappers, I am young, but I do not think any of those artists or songs found an audience outside the queen city and the local clubs they were playing.
This is a lot longer answer for a simple question, but eh this is always in my mind when I actually hear about local rap artists.
Lately - Mr. 704 (feat. Spicey Mike & Big Mountain)
When I don’t recognize a song on the radio, I always assume the best and hope that maybe a well known artist is getting some unexpected radio play—I thought this was Bun B at first. But, nope. Instead, I end up getting a “Lately”, which I assumed would be heard of once and never again; but I was wrong, heard it a few more times, and have come around to the song.
Local rap radio listening and Myspace cruising of southern rappers is a great reminder that for rappers who cannot go after big names: Swizz Beatz, Timbaland or Kane Beatz and do not go to young hot producer like Araabmuzik or Lex Luger, there are plenty of small time producers ready to step up to the plate. “Lately” produced by Soleternity, could be a lost No Limit/Cash Money track with melting synths wobbles and slightly off-kilter drums. Mr. 704 southern drawl gives the chorus and his conceited hook, an undeserved sweetness. The same cannot be said of Mr. 704’s rapping which moves between an average Texas rapper verse and a bad Gorilla Zoe verse; the other rappers are best forgotten. “Lately” is not a great song (it barely crosses the good line), and getting mixed between Master P and Fiend hits on a Saturday radio mix is not going to get it topping the charts, but it is moving up and being heard by more people.
Anonymous asked:
Write more reviews like the one about 50 Cent!
Sure.
I mean, I just got back home from school, so I will have a lot more time, I hope to write somewhat more well-thought out posts. I mean; I cannot just continue to post 50 Cent quotes, can I—I doubt it.
Of all of the things I missed while still at college, Araabmuzik performing at Charlotte Bobcats Areana.
“Crown Royalty” is a documentary by Mehka King, about Charlotte rap.
I know so little (NONE) about the history of Charlotte Rap. So, I thought it was an interesting watch. The problems of the Charlotte Rap scene that the film highlights are rap in Charlotte has no particular sound or style. Resulted in rappers sticking too close to the biggest Southern city in Atlanta, which is pretty true, as a lot of rappers/production from Charlotte are just retreds of whatever is popular in Atlanta.
The film mentions of a lack of local support not only by the radio, but by the city itself, which I find pretty true. WPEG the main rap station, sometimes plays music by local artists but not all that often. The station this year has seemed to be following WHTA (Atlanta rap station), more than it has in the past, because I used to feel WPEG had a more New York lean to rap music than it has today.
The other issue being faced is the actual quality of the music. There are some okay rappers and songs being produced but nothing that stands up and says this is Charlotte Rap and you should listen. If you enjoy seeing the documentation of a city that has never gotten national recognition for rap, and does not seem like it will anytime soon, this film answers the answer of why that recognition has not happened yet.
Stukes, who was released from a N.C. prison in December for convictions including assault with a deadly weapon, was the man injured in the shooting. His attorney, Adam Seifer, told Observer news partner WCNC-TV this week his client had no part in the shooting. “He was an innocent bystander who only went up there to talk to Mr. Waka about getting a record deal,” Seifer said.
What It’s Gone Be - Bettie Grind (feat. Tavarius)
I was the in the middle of writing a post on the Backstreet Boys’ “The Call (Neptunes Remix)”, and this song came on the radio. So, that post is not going to happen, and to summerize it quickly the song is fine, hearing the Clipse pre-Lord Willin’ is sort of odd to me, and their rapping isn’t good but it is a Backstreet Boys song so that is not too surprising. I came across the song reading Then That’s What They Called Music!by Nathan Rabin at the Onion AV Club, the series is pretty amusing, and reminded that Baby Bash went from having hooks sung by Frankie J, Akon, and T-Pain, which is some Flo Rida level of trend hopping.
Now to sadly bring this post back to “What it’s Gone Be”. Bettie Grind nor Tavarius are not good at rapping or singing, and the after trail of the synths makes this song sound cheaper than it already does, which is pretty massive feat considering there is a hook on the song that says “she could be on the cover of playboy”. I still feel compelled to post any songs I come across by Charlotte rappers, even more so if I hear them on the radio, because not many other people are talking about them and because I am sure one of these days I will like legitimately like one of these songs by one of my hometown’s rappers.
