RVA hip hop mixtape review: Chud – ‘Class Of 2014 – The High School Tape’

by | May 1, 2015 | COMMUNITY

I remember when I was about to FINALLY escape High School.

It felt like I had been there forever.


I remember when I was about to FINALLY escape High School.

It felt like I had been there forever.

The excitement of not really knowing what’s next, the hunger to own my identity and making the necessary mistakes to get there; the unsettling truth that nothing that had mattered will really matter anymore looming in the back of mind.

So when I went into Chud’s ‘Class Of 2014 The High School Tape’, that’s where I put myself.

Now upfront, as we often said about school at the time, this thing is way too long. At 22 tracks I often found myself looking at the clock. I couldn’t help but feel like Chud, as a person, really just wanted to get it all out, where as an artist, he would have been a lot more successful in being selective in what made the final cut.

Another problem for me is that this project is comprised of nothing but industry beats, which is cool – I mean I get that you gotta work with what you got – but these are mostly very recognizable beats.

If you’re going to dig in the crates, dig.

Girls, school, classes, when it comes to the rhymes Chud does alright and conceptually he does stick to the program all the way though, but at the end of the day like a high school senior in the real world, I walked away feeling like Chud has much to learn.

While I can’t really pick a stand out record on here, I do look forward to seeing what grown man Chud comes up with next, as I’m sure now that he’s out here in the real world with the rest of us he knows all to well that a piece of paper with words written on it is never enough.

Brad Kutner

Brad Kutner

Brad Kutner is the former editor of GayRVA and RVAMag from 2013 - 2017. He’s now the Richmond Bureau Chief for Radio IQ, a state-wide NPR outlet based in Roanoke. You can reach him at BradKutnerNPR@gmail.com




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