Latest Posts

1996 Drops “Activist” for Weekly Series

December 18, 2015

1996 of Buffalo’s Valor Club released “Activist,” the second installment in a weekly series called “Immaculate Monday.” Last week saw the rapper drop the soulful, electric “Regal Adonis”, and this week the beat mellows out but 1996 stays charismatic. Built around a muted horn instrumental courtesy of producer Sigma, the beat is a great base for 1996 to mix his flow up. 6’s delivery is intentionally erratic, filled with fluctuations that play off the beat. When the bass pounds, his voice goes up and the hype builds and builds. 1996 does a great job on this song sticking with flow themes, like in the first verse when he rolls through “a” and “b” sounds with some nice controlled assonance. Lyrically, 6 talks of drugs and his reasons for them on lines like “Everything I do, just reflections of the ‘endo, where I’m hoping for the end-o cause the darkness is surrounding[...]

Valor Shines on “The Grove”

August 5, 2015

Buffalo rapper Valor is a fun listen. He flirts between serious and nonsensical, and his sound seems purposefully lo-fi and one-takish. On “The Grove,” Valor rides the beat with a pacing and bounce emulative of something form the New Atlanta scene. It seems unorthodox at times, but always remains where it wants to be. Valor also has somewhat of a tongue-in-cheek subject matter, evident by the opening words of the chorus, “Wake up in the morning and I piss sunshine.” Buffalo producer melisahasagun came through with a great, versatile beat that could be flowed over in numerous ways, and the way Valor chose to attack it has me excited for his beat choices down the road. Give it a listen below.