Time is an illusion; timing is everything.
Many times we find ourselves as people comparing our Chapter 5 to someone else’s Book 3. With social media, the power of image and constant relations with people our same age who seem to reach the positive epitome of their fate’s threshold easily while we are left in the same seemingly stagnant place is a special kind of pain; it seems as if we as individuals, as a majority, are in a void of progress.
Creatives, in the social media age, feel this rather unexplainable languish of self-doubt and anxiety quite unlike any other group in society. In Hip Hop, specifically the branch of Rap Culture, the pain is felt for those for hone their crafts (lyrically and productive wise), for what seems like eons, only to have someone reach global fame and fortune through the most mundane tactics. It may sound like envy, but nah dudes, it just simply sucks.
In one of my first articles for The Demo Tape, I wrote about the struggle for underground lyricists to make a break in the music industry, and the balance they must achieve in the total songwriting process, focusing on arguably the greatest rap lyricist of the New Skool Era: King Los of Baltimore (with enough quantitative and qualitative research to back it up his bestowed title of course). I prophesized King Los finally finding the synthesis with penning compositions, with a balance of all aspects, in 2017 and all of Hip Hop/the world finally seeing his prestige. Finally, after 2 and a half years of anticipation, King Los finally released the “G.O.A.T Tape” via DatPiff, SoundCloud and more free platforms and “Moor Bars” a week after, just in time for Christmas Day. In a contemporary age of commercial mixtapes and projects to maximize profit, the free mixtape is dead. Tory Lanez was one of the few mainstream rap artists to do that this year, and King Los maintained the tradition of the free mixtapes that grew him to prestige. God Bless Hip Hop.
This is PART 2 of the special double-review for King Los’ projects in the last month of 2017. Better late than never, but never late is better. Proving this idiom formalized by Drake is King Los’ “Moor Bars” a double entendre of a theme meaning the flexing of where the origins of his newest philosophical bars stem from and simply, after the “G.O.A.T” Tape, more bars for the rap game.
“Moor Bars” was different from the “G.O.A.T Tape” in that we were blessed with all original songs. Both aspects of King Los’ rap artistry are appreciated but this aspect allows for him to grow his own authentic discography. “Puff Daddy Intro” was extremely inspirational and further proof that King Los could have been Diddy’s second Notorious B.I.G if the marketing and effort was put in for Los as it was for Christopher Wallace. Sadly enough, Diddy is now in Hip Hop Culture as more of a mentor and inspirational figure than a musical manager and music marketing mogul.
“Stay Focused” was a chill intro song track that was slight work of King Los’ style but dynamic nonetheless. This song displayed earlier on how King Los’ mind is of a higher plateau and how he recognizes the weak heart of men, especially those in Hip Hop. The jazz sections of the instrumental were appreciated more as King Los’ own singing and harmonizing with the beat intensified with his extra deep bars and quotes that some rappers cannot even deliver in their entire careers.
“Pac Man” gave an original twist on the game character is an innovative hook which displayed how one properly interpolates a classic Biggie rhyme scheme from “Notorious Thugs”. Los continues to deliver lines that hit you with a metaphorical excellence and comedy that continues to make him notable in every way, as shown on this song:
“I’m gonna make it seem your father picked the phone up and heard you niggas talkin’ grown stuff.”
“Juiceman” was a hood anthem showing that King Los can definitely make a damn record whenever he desires. “Go Green” displayed that King Los no longer needs all the Boom Bap and 90s instrumentals to show what he is worth in the conversation of the evolution of rap lyricism. This song also displayed the proper way to string metaphors and obvious punchlines in the way that Big Sean faltered with his Metro Boomin assisted project. There was a line that incorporated King Los’ veganism, wordplay about a BLT and the methods of his monetary flossing habits that were just unreal levels of freestyled ability.
It’s extremely sad that now I have to find out at the end of 2017 that “Everybody’s a Bitch” contains the absolutely undeniable rap lyricism verses of the year. Hopsin disappointed me with his recent album, “No Shame,” but made up for it somewhat by starting off the track with a marksman flow reminiscent of his 2013 self. Although his sex lines are awkwardly cringe worthy still, his bars and flow/metaphors beyond that affirm him as a top lyricist of the New Skool that should be taken notice of. The hook is not only hilarious, but an entire mantra of how to go about life. King Los went on to deliver alien level bars in which he fully lifted off with no mercy to deliver one Top 5 most hardcore verses of his entire career (and that’s not even an understatement considering this song, believe me). King Los seemed to go on forever with his relentless Ultra Instinct bars, only for Royce Da 5’9” to enter in with a Jiren like finisher for the 6-minute rap royale. I cannot quote Royce’s verse because it even hurts to flashback to how much it melted my brain molecule by molecule.
“Black Lights” was galaxy music, showing that none of this album’s verses were written, with lines relating to the theme of the album with:
“To catch me, you need Godspeed.”
“I Like It” feat. Kennedy Knight utilized an amazing hook and proved my original point about King Los in the first article I wrote about him: All he needs is good hook and melodies combined with his amazing raps and he can easily reach the fame he desires for his career. “I Like It” is a great rap song that doesn’t compromise his lyricism.
As avid as a King Los fan that I am, “Moor Bars” at points contained more bars than I could possibly process. While the next tracks of “Pull Through” feat. Jazze Pha and “Calm Dat” where fine in terms of lyricism, there was nothing special for them as compared to the entire album and an example of the dangers a project can have being oversaturated with too much dexterous lyricism. As described on my article beforehand, rap lyricism is not just the most paramount quality in a rap song; melody, cadence, and songwriting ability is what makes the Kendrick Lamar’s different from the Lupe Fiasco’s.
With a lovely guitar melody and a flow that complimented the beat instead of going against the grain for the sake of high lyricism, “Running Up a Bag” stood out more from the previous two tracks where King Los is rapping fire bars just to simply rap fire bars. “No Names” flexed King Los’ religious thought based on his Moor training, which is where the title of the album comes from. Albeit magnificent in structure, instrumental composition and the topics discussed, this was a rather short track that seemed like more a snippet than the longer time that it deserved to get. Although the last track, “January 24th” was true to the theme of the tape and incorporated King Los’ rare Battle Rap form in which he sounds like he is directly going at specific rappers’ heads, it too was short and not the outro we deserved as juxtaposed to more structured outros from our favorite Swagga Boy in the past that tied everything together. Although original and regrettably with its structural pitfalls in terms of what creates dynamic musical project structure, “Moor Bars” by King Los was more than just bars but rather an evolution of artistry that his fans, the rap game, and even himself have all been waiting for.
The King has returned and is now asserting his place on the throne as 2018 looms over the horizon.
Check out “Moor Bars” by King Los today, available for free on SoundCloud and YouTube.
