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BLM

Amytra – Writ of Love: Soulfully Socially Conscious Hip-Hop.

Posted on 17 July 2023

After watching Malcolm X and MLK speeches, Amytra launched the most socially conscious hip-hop hit of the summer by debuting her playfully soul-driven fourth single, Writ of Love. Writing on difficult topics doesn’t typically result in serotonin-spilling sonics, but Amytra defied the odds and broke new ground with Writ of Love.

After starting with a definition of the word Writ provided by Siri, the funky basslines feed the liberating high-vibe atmosphere, which will throw you right back to the 90s as you drink in the empowering lyricism inspired by recent acts of injustice and the pervasive influence of systematic oppression on society.

The only people who could bring themselves to love to hate this infectious hit are the regressively abhorrent zealots who cling to discrimination under the illusion of falsified superiority and throw their new favourite buzzword, ‘woke’, around like it’s an insult.

Writ of Love was Co-Produced by none other than Dr Ron Moton, best known for being a 22-year member of the Platinum, Grammy award-winning group, Confunkshun.

Watch the official music video for Writ of Love on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

King Brian calls for an end to injustice with his latest cinematic RnB single, Reparations

Posted on 18 September 2021

King Brian, AKA Brian Christopher Brown, is an American singer-songwriter, dancer, filmmaker and producer; he poured all of his cinematic poise into his latest single, Reparations. Starting with the hard-hitting lyrics ‘we’ve been cursed for so long, but we are still strong’, emotional investment in the single is non-optional.

His latest single does plenty more than just run you through 400 years of sufferance and oppression; it acts as a celebration of every triumph over adversity. King Brian takes plenty of influence from artists such as Michael Jackson, Tupac and Prince; there may not be much sonic resemblance in the soundscape. Yet, Reparations undoubtedly carries the same sense of soul that will test your own soul’s capacity to feel.

The Radio Edit of Reparations is now available to stream and purchase via Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ty Bru commemorates the Eastside March with his latest single ‘Can’t Sir’

Posted on 16 June 2021
Ty Bru

With his latest single, Can’t Sir, the luminary hip hop artist Ty Bru proves that forceful, convictive compassion is the most efficacious. The release of the single commemorates the first anniversary of the Eastside March in Asheboro, NC. It was just one of the singles released by Ty Bru on June 6th to keep the reason for taking to the streets fresh in minds.

Can’t Sir runs through the glaring issues within our society that infuriate you every time they come to mind due to the unfathomable injustice behind them. Yet, through the passion in Ty Bru’s bars, you’ll find the inspiration to find the same resilience and refusal to accept that systematic oppression has had the power to ruin dreams and lives for generations.

Can’t Sir is a flawless work of Jazzy Eastcoast hip hop, sentimentally and sonically. Around his activism, Ty Bru has found time to share stages with Method Man, Andre 3000, Ludacris Nappy, Snoop Dogg, Linkin Park, Yelawolf and plenty more legendary big names.

Can’t Stir is now available to stream via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

London’s drill luminary Kidavelly internationally extends solidarity with his latest track, Donald Trump Jr

Posted on 16 April 2021

London-based rap artist Kidavelly extended his solidarity across the pond with his latest drill single, Donald Trump Jr, which gives his visceral perspective on the dark times endured during Trump’s presidency and shares the energy necessary to keep fighting for equality.

Five days ago, a government report declared that institutional racism doesn’t exist in the UK in a government report. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together will recognise the absurdity and get appropriately angry. Kidavelly tells a more realistic story in Donald Trump Jr that creates parallels between the injustices in the UK and the ones that we powerlessly watch on the news.

By touching on the discrimination in the UK, including how black communities have been blamed for the spread of COVID then hearing Kidavelly’s passionate bars requesting that kids in cages are freed, Donald Trump Jr is a powerful track, made even more bruising through Kidavelly’s nuanced dynamic style that incorporates drill, grime and old school hip hop styles. To give the track, produced by Mikabeats, a truly internationally empowering feel, Kidavelly collaborated with Evander Griiim & Tony Schwartz (Author of New York Times best-selling book Trump: Art of The Deal)

Check out the official video via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

2Deep the Southern President wraps up 2020 in his latest life-affirming track.

Posted on 12 April 2021

Memphis-hailing hip hop artist 2Deep the Southern President paved the way to mental resilience with his latest single, ‘2020’, that dropped on March 20th.

By utilising his talent for storytelling and lyrical wordplay, he was able to summarise the atrocities of 2020 and create a time capsule that we’ll be able to throwback to in years to come and hopefully see how pivotal it was to spark social change.

With lyrics such as “it took a pandemic for white folks to notice their knee on our neck, it has been there for a hundred years, can we finally get some respect”, it’s a sobering track that unapologetically asks the listener to see past the media spins, look into the root of societal sickness and do something about it.

It’s a stellar feat of old school hip hop, born from 2Deep the Southern President’s affinity for artists just as Jay Z, UGK, Outkast, 88 Ball and MJG. His sound already packs the same punch. For your sanity’s sake, get him on your radar.

The official video to 2020 is now available to stream via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The LOOP – See Me Beyond My Skin featuring MZ Starr & Marcia

Posted on 12 April 2021

Boston-based RnB pop duo the LOOP made their debut in February 2021 with their soulfully interrogative single, ‘See Me Beyond My Skin’, featuring collaborative artists MZ Starr and Marcia.

It’s the pinnacle of elegance as it confronts subconscious and conscious prejudice and invites the listener to look deeper when attempting to understand women of colour. The single possess plenty of sonic power, but the real weight in this single is how it allows you to find compassion for people who are in view but never truly seen.

Hopefully, one day, tracks such as See Me Beyond My Skin won’t need to exist; for now, we’ll have to heed the words of artists such as the Loop who are bringing that day closer with their melodic grooves, unfiltered lyrics and harmonically sweet vocals.

See Me Beyond My Skin is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Mychael Gabriel wrestles with racism and intolerance with their Funk-Rock track ‘Fury’

Posted on 14 November 2020

With a funk/rock pedigree that includes collaborations with artists such as Sheila E, Stevie Wonder, Ringo Starr, John Legend, St. Vincent, and George Clinton, Mychael Gabriel is at the forefront of a new Minneapolis Sound generation. Now, with ‘Fury’, he brings forth probably the most danceable groove of a protest song that Michael Jackson never wrote.

Sounding like early, Off The Wall-era Jackson coupled with some of Nile Rodgers’ best ‘Chic’ guitar chops – plus some proper ‘guitar hero’ funk shredding on the solo at around the two-minute mark – ‘Fury’ rages at the injustice of peaceful protest scapegoating rioting and unrest, wrestling with racism and intolerance, but always with a style and groove that lifts it above being ‘just’ a protest song. ‘Fury’ is a bona fide funk/rock powerhouse of a track, chock-full of swagger and funk alongside its outrage and, well yeah, Fury.

Check out the video for ‘Fury’ on YouTube. Follow Gabriel on Facebook.

Review by Alex Holmes

December Fades pays a stunning tribute to the fallen with “Say Their Names”

Posted on 26 October 2020
December Fades

We all need to slip into a little minor-key melancholy from time to time when we want to be torn away from our own pensive narratives and tune into new ones to find less-odious ways of viewing the world.

December Fades’ latest single Say Their Names does exactly that. It poignantly, poetically and powerfully commemorates the lives of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd while softly, scathingly attacking the injustice which brought about their deaths. It may be a sorrowful single, but it affirms that beauty can bloom from tragedy. December Fades and their darkly soulful approach to Pop is exactly what 2020 needs, a reminder that vengeance doesn’t need to be violent or ugly. Kill them with kindness. Kill them with poetry entwined in melody.

Say Their Names was released on October 23rd, you’ll be able to check it out for yourselves by heading over to the artist’s Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Maya La Maya – Keep on Fighting: The Ultimate Call to Arms

Posted on 10 September 2020

I unashamedly admit that the first verse in Pop Singer-Songwriter Maya La Maya’s debut single Keep on Fighting allowed the floodgates to open. From there on out, you’re in for an evocative ride as you hear the pure unfaltering conviction in Maya La Maya’s vocal delivery as she compels the listener to keep on fighting in the war against injustice. She finds clever ways of reminding you how ignorance is complicity and holds no bars when it comes to alluding to the extent of the sufferance.

The Rap verse was extremely efficacious at hammering home the extent of injustice which is currently plaguing the planet. Without any hint of hyperbole Keep on Fighting is the most powerful song I’ve heard this year. It is a heartbreakingly beautiful track which will no doubt stay with me for the rest of my life. Not just the polished, matured and extremely authentic sound which Maya La Maya offered with Keep on Fighting. But the feeling of responsibility it leaves you with. If you can listen to the names of the black lives lost due to systemic racial hatred being listed and not feel compelled to do something, you probably have no soul.

You can listen to Keep on Fighting via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Gallileo Damascus – “Long Time Come”: A protest song for 2020.

Posted on 28 August 2020

In the wake of the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor killings comes Gallileo Damascus’ “Long Time Come”. A Black Lives Matter challenge song that opens, in its accompanying YouTube video, with a ‘naming of the dead’ amid scenes of flames, helmeted riot police, and protestors’ placards. A quietly burning protest song, softly spoken but no less powerful for it, the repeated refrain of “It’s been a long long long time/since we stood up and we fight” quietly but firmly voicing the outrage and frustration of the #BLM movement.

Produced by Grime and Afrobeat hotshot Ransom Beatz, ‘Long Time Come’ is a low tempo jazzy hip-hop affair, Gallileo’s autotune-heavy poetic vocals sitting atop a bed of hi-hat and rimshot beats and mellow saxophone, the drums and bassline driving behind a soft-spoken but insistent call for justice for those on the wrong end of oppression and brutality.

You can check out Gallileo Damascus’ track Long Time Come via Spotify.

Review by Alex Holmes