MC NASDAQ – My Horse (Bandcamp)
I’m not gonna lie–when MC NASDAQ’s My Horse first showed up in my mailbox for review, I was like “30 tracks? What? Pass.” But then my curiosity spoke to me.
MC NASDAQ – My Horse (Bandcamp)
I’m not gonna lie–when MC NASDAQ’s My Horse first showed up in my mailbox for review, I was like “30 tracks? What? Pass.” But then my curiosity spoke to me. I work out, sometimes for a long time, so why not? It’s not like I haven’t taken the Pepsi challenge before. I pressed play and I said to myself out loud (yes, I talk to myself… a lot), “What the hell is this?” Track one, entitled “I Am That Big Nasty Bitch,” is hard to describe. It’s like a mix of a guitar sample, old school Three 6 mafia 808 (that early, early Triple 6), and this NASDAQ guy sounds like a mix of Beck’s layered vocals and rhymes like Gucci Mane, with a strong adlib game. I was like “is this like… on purpose?” Then he said, “I stay bumpin Triple 6/ tell em I’m reppin Orange Mound” and I froze mid-push up and said to myself, “Well, well, well! A Man who has the same education as me.”
This project is far from traditional, and you may feel the urge to compare whats happening here to Lil Ugly Mane, but what sticks out throughout is not only the often odd tempo of the production and heavy 808’s, but the sardonic wit in what this guy is saying. No matter how dumb or hilarious, I could sense his intelligence and respect for the huge litany of trap music out there. This guy is a student. Also, being that there are 30 tracks, you can skip something and come back to it later and not feel but so bad. There is plenty of MC NASDAQ here to go around. I for one get tired of the same ol’ stuff that seems to be everywhere, and it felt refreshing to listen to someone just have fun and not be so negative or serious; but at the same time take what they are doing seriously, as this is clearly a labor of love. So I say to you this dear reader, take a break from that everyday “blah blah blah” you’ve been listening to and give MC NASDAQ a chance, with an open mind. After all, he did just have for a lunch “a hater and some fries.”
HaBitS – &thentherewasthi$ (Bandcamp)
Ah yes, the hip hop duo. It’s more than just 2 dudes on a track; it’s an atmosphere, and presence, cohesion. HaBitS–Hawk and Bez (is the Smoothest)–are two guys who love hip hop. The art, the culture, the music. Listening to this, I really felt like they were in their own world when they made this project, and we just happen to be here. That being said, I expected a much more complete project. Most of the records run at about two minutes, and a lot of them just feel like Hawk said “Yo Bez, I’m gonna write a verse for this joint… then you do one… or we’ll just leave it at that.” It’s hard not to feel, with so much talent and love present in this project, that there should be more. Maybe I shouldn’t have been, but I was expecting full songs, lyrical exchanges, tag team hooks–records! Instead there’s a lot of work that seems incomplete, like the weed got in the way, and the penchant to say “it’s easy” way too often, when it seems at times you could have tried a lot harder. I’d rather have 6 tracks that are solid and complete than 16 tracks in 28 minutes that end just when I get interested. But I guess it’s as they say, “Habits always leave you wanting more.”
