As we get ready to leave a month of Love, Chocolates, and Winter Storms we got a heat wave of new music and content this week (2/21-2/26) from from some Boss Young Legends in the Rap/Hip-Hop scene. From new singles, to music videos, and a live session with our friends over at Maple House… and Ya Boi Rice is here for it all!
Boss Young Legends
When we select Alumni one of the criteria is the talent and potential we see. As of recent the rise of the Rap/Hip-Hop/R&B scene in Nashville has given way not only to a greater spotlight on the talent we have here, but also the willingness of those pursuing it to see a path to success grow exponentially right here in Music City as the opportunities continue to expand for our genre.
Our Alumni have been quite successful in this lane in the past and we’re not clairvoyants or anything (wink wink) but it looks to continue that trend into the future. This week was no exception with a lot going down. Lets peep what these Boss Young Legends brought to the table this week.
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That New NU
From EPs to singles to high profile features we got plenty of new music to discuss. Where to start?
B.Y.L
Bingx & Vin Jay ft. Futuristic
Let’s start with the record and video that landed the cover of this weeks NU Music Friday. “B.Y.L” (Boss Young Legends) is brought to us via our Class 11 Alum Bingx who has partnered with Vin Jay & the well renowned independent rapper Futuristic to bring us this banger of an anthem for all us Boss Young Legends making our way.
I’ve rocked this record probably 9 times since it dropped for personal listening alone. Not even counting for work. You could say ” On Repeat” would be an understatement. All three hit the verses not only with a cadence and flow that separate each individual performance but attack the concept of the song differently. Even with their own lyrical approach they each find a way to bring their story to the song to make a cohesive record culminated by a straight FIRE hook. Really tho, do we expect anything less than a fire hook from Bingx tho. That’s a given at this point.
Clairvoyant
Jung Youth
Now we look into the crystal ball and look into the Future… ok well not really. What we are looking at though is Jung Youth‘s new EP “Clairvoyant”. The title trackdropped back in November and now we get the full EP! When Clairvoyant first dropped it landed J.Y on the cover of our NU Music Friday Playlist. Yup. It’s that good. Speaking on the downfalls of a partner in a relationship who is trying to bring you down as you pursue your dream
“I try to love you but you only think I wont be famous, that ain’t the truth but you always say it”.
He continues to outline the struggles in the following bars;
“It’s such a feeling when your woman’s trying to say you’re weak;
Why you wanna compete, Is it fun to be mean?,
I’m tired of all the smoke and mirrors in the social scene,
wrote you a letter said you made me complete, I gotta tight chest it’s hard to breathe,
Hard to believe that I’m still tryin…”
This track reveals some real hard truths when you’re in music from a lot of angles for a lot of people. The track is accompanied by a music video that dropped Friday as well (watch below). Now after the title track we are gifted with 4 other singles: Icarus, Sacrifices, Always, & Why Pretend. Not one of these you would consider a fall off. It’s one of the things you can say about Jung is that track after track the consistency is there.
On My Own
Lackhoney
What is there to say about the all encompassing Lackhoney. Well first off every week we’ll be talking about him because he has laid out 52 tracks that will drop every week throughout the year.
We’ve featured 9 songs so far this year. Starting off with Ride and followed by other singles like Alika, Good Business, Real One, and now this weeks On My Own. Throughout these releases you’d think “This’ll get redundant right?”. If you think back Russ is probably the most recent Independent success utilizing this method, at least within rap anyway. So it stands to reason that Lackhoney’s claim of “Releasing a song each Friday until one blows” isn’t all that far-fetched. What can kill that momentum, and for me anyway, what killed Russ’ (for me anyway) during his stint was at some point after the first 5ish I got bored and stopped searching them out.
Lackhoney though has kept me, and the other fans, on our toes. Showcasing his variety of talents as a vocalist. Not including the fact he’s a one-man hit-making producer-engineer-vocalist machine who also makes pretty great Tik Tok’s. Anyway, this weeks track is no different. Giving us a glimpse not only into his lyricism over a lo-fi style beat, but then switches it as he gives us his sing-rap melody bag on the hook, with even a little falsetto tossed in just to let y’all know he can. He’s sick with it.
My Mother Told Me
Dylan Andre
Dylan Andre is another all-in-one mad man on the mic. This dude is nuts with his productions and bars. Don’t even get me started on his visuals. Off track. Back on track… literally. This week’s drops only weeks after his EP “Wendigo” hit like a ball of fire heating up our early 2021. He leaked the cinematic instrumental earlier this week for My Mother Told Me and already I was hooked.
I mean you give me emotional violins, dark drums and bass, the classic hip hop closed high-hats, and a sick ass vocal sample on the hook. I’m at the podium yelling “SOLD to the guy who’s yelling SOLD. Oh That’s me. Right”.
What can I say, he gets right into his bag of bars and eats this beat like he got the bars he laced it with straight from the Mars Factory. Hell the consistent mastery of flow, lyricism, wordplay, and delivery like this are we even sure he’s from this planet? Ask NASA to see if Perseverance can find evidence of his DNA on the red planet! Eh eh… se what I did there with the DNA. It’s almost like I also write and work in rap and have a knack wordplay too.
Fire To My Brain
Renn ft. Deraj
When we talk about Class 5’s Renn you wouldn’t immediately associate him with “Rap”. I mean if you listen to his big hit single King of California its pretty far away from a production that’d call for rap. But hey, I’ve heard rapping happen on almost every form of music (just not called “Rapping”). That’s a topic for a different day. Today we’re talking about this weeks drop of Fire To My Brain ft. Orlando based hip-hop artist Deraj.
Now FTMB came out and was featured on NU Music Friday last year on Dec. 4th 2020. Hip hop or not this was fire to my brain and my ears the second I heard it. Added it to my personal playlists and kept it on repeat. Even then I thought this has some dope potential for a remix. Lo and behold we have one. No need to thank me for thinking this version into existence. Kidding.
For real though Deraj jumps on the track and does an amazing job laying down a verse perfectly made for this track. His tone and execution feed off not only the production but what Renn is doing too. Honestly I love the sound Renn has delivered to us over the years but DAMN. I gotta say man I think you found a lane to some really sick music going forward.
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Visually Appealing
We got some visuals this week too.
With the release of Jung Youth’s Clairvoyant EP we also got a simple yet extremely visual representation of the story being told throughout the title track. I wont botch it by talking about it… So in the words of Bruno Mars “Don’t believe me just watch”
As well our friends over at Maple House have been working with a nice handful of our Alumni including Class 11’s A.J. On Friday they dropped the Maple House Session with A.J’s politically driven single No Apologiez that touches on his stance on many controversial topics that were and still are happening in America today. It dropped Oct. 30th of last year prior to the election and the subsequent fallout that I’d imagine could fill another entire verse… Anyway his live take is absolutely flawless over the acoustic guitar. Side note but not to be set off to the side this was done safely and socially distanced by all involved. Don’t take my world for it. Watch for yourself.
Well guys. That’s all we got this week. Make sure to check out and follow all these boss young legends in this article, and follow Myself (Rice) & Nashville Unsigned for continued coverage of these and other independent artists in-and-out of the Rap game.
COME STALK US… WE’LL ALLOW IT
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