Speaking of I.E. vets, Calligraphy has always been a distinctive quirky and intellectual voice in the community and I am happy to hear this OhGoshLeotus produced gem of a single recently dropped to add some flavor and rhythm to your winter nights.
I love the double meaning Notiz employs here as he figuratively journeys his way to fatherhood on the track- peep the blood vessels on this self-produced piece. Tristan "Tanjint Wiggy" Acker is staff writer for JooseBoxx, a youth hip-hop and poetry tutor, and member of the Inland Empire nerdcore hip-hop group the West Coast Avengers. Catch more of their work at westcoastavengers.com, follow Tristan on Twitter @Tanjint or e-mail him at tristanacker@gmail.com
As if Nameless didn’t have enough going on with his Linkedin
billboard and upcoming Beyond project
release, he also had to take out some trash today…..
Tristan "Tanjint Wiggy" Acker is a staff writer for JooseBoxx, youth hip-hop writing instructor with CHORDS Enrichment Youth program (chordseyp.org) and member of the Inland Empire nerdcore hip-hop group the West Coast Avengers. Catch more of their work at westcoastavengers.com, follow Tristan on Twitter @Tanjint or e-mail him at tristanacker@gmail.com
An astute listener would tell you I.E. hip-hop veteran Notiz
Yong has always used music to vent his negative feelings. In BRB, he extrapolates the practice into a
major theme for an album. In Dear Rappers…
he owned his negativity, on BRB he
attempts a spiritual cleansing, turning the aggressive feelings into blessings
like squeezing water from stones.
Sonically, this is his most brain-massaging album since Rappers in my opinion. He smartly deploys
his own production skills in conjunction with young but experienced I.E.
beatmakers like Asend and Kordisepz to create an11 track record with a unified
feel. His maturity and his anger on display side by side, the candor of Notiz’ concerns and dreams and frustrations are human and soothing to hear whether
it’s over keyboardy boom-bap or nu-rap electro-bangers.
Notiz continues to wield his singing voice with confidence
such as on the opening song and “RIL”. “NTW” is the second video for the album,
after the hip-hop homie cameo-laden “FYH”, and it’s a great demonstration of
Notiz’ updating his sound for new years while staying true to his aesthetic. It’s
one of the most impressive things about his catalog, the consistent style
within works by numerous producers.
On “FYR”, Yong tackles religion in America and explains how he
sees tribalism. The concept of blessing has become mantra to him, a reflexive
defense against not only external but internal negativity. The single “FYH” is the one
moment where he lets himself go off on the haters with no Zen guardrails on his
trains of thought. The ideas of people taking up your personal space, of
haters, of being taken for granted are pervasive in an almost paranoid way.
Yong’s MC persona’s wit and melody are his weapons against these encroaching
forces.
“DTD”, like “FYR”, shows Yong’ consciousness expanding
beyond the I.E. and on America at large. I can’t help but wonder if he would
have made such songs if we were not in the era of Trump. Like “FYR”, “DTD”
meditates on tribalism and Yong’s willingness to make the listener part of his,
the distance people will travel to follow their dreams. Yong’s dreamers that he
refers to throughout the whole album, usually including himself in that
grouping, are particularly present on “DTD” and I couldn’t help but hear them
as DREAMers as Notiz croons “You ain’t got to fear/the time is near”. Perhaps an
artistic sign of hope for the day when people can come out of the shadows and
live their best lives.
“Through the Pain” has one of my favorite sung choruses from
Yong so far and makes explicit the idea of him squeezing blessings out of his
pain. He reiterates all the album’s biggest themes on this closer, with this
entreaty to the audience: “live a lot and just shine”. Yong’s funny
vocalizations and laughs throughout the album, singing “bonus” over and over on
the intro, the recorded phone call “be right back..” at the very end and more,
give this, his most thoughtful work yet, relatable flourishes of personality.
In 2017, balancing boom-bap sound with modern styled double
time songs is a factor I look at with underground hip-hop albums since we’re at
a point when versatile MCs can’t ignore the existence of these poles on the spectrum
of rap. Notiz has delivered what I think represents the best balance of these
styles in an album I’ve heard all year- weaving seamlessly from tempo to tempo,
choosing beats that still feel of one piece, and taking his craft seriously
throughout; there’s something on this record for a lot of different kinds of
hip-hop listeners. In Be Right Back /
Bless Right Back Notiz Yong has reached the religious phase of his artistic
career and the time has come for us all to reap the spiritual harvest.
Tristan "Tanjint Wiggy" Acker is a staff writer for JooseBoxx, youth hip-hop writing instructor with CHORDS Enrichment Youth program (chordseyp.org) and member of the Inland Empire nerdcore hip-hop group the West Coast Avengers. Catch more of their work at westcoastavengers.com, follow Tristan on Twitter @Tanjint or e-mail him at tristanacker@gmail.com
