Hip hop label Gritty City Records) are constantly putting out new and unique music for RVA that’s always a little wild and silly.
One of their fellow artists Fan Ran, who is also consistently churning out new music for our ears, recently released a solid new album, Loose Bowels earlier this month.
Loose Bowels is a compilation of records from the last five years of personal life reflections and musical influences.
“Each song represents a time in my life, and I can look at each song and know where I was at when I wrote it,” he said.
The album was produced by Fan Ran, John Canada and Johnny Ciggs of the Gritty City Records label and mixed by Canada and Ciggs. Loose Bowels will be the fist solo project for Fan Ran, who previously released Food Court Gods 2 with Profound79 in April and God is A Woman with Ben FM and Imagination Society in March.
Ran provides deep cutting and personal lyrics throughout the album.
“My influences on my style are AZ, Pimp C, & Prodigy,” said Ran. His influences are the reason he has such thoughtful lyrics. Some powerful tracks off of the album are “Train Wreck,” “Hunnid Dolla Bill$,” “All My Friends Are Dead,” and “God is Good.”
The opening track, “Train Wreck” was one of the oldest records on the album, but one of the most powerful songs.
“The song was written after a whiskey binger weekend,” said Ran.
The track is a standout record because it is filled with heavy lyricism. “Hunnid Dolla Bill$ is a “fan favorite” according to the artist. ANd after one listen, I understood why.
The track stands out with this heavy bass hitting instrumental with a deep vocal hook.
“Hunnid Dolla Bill$” was the track that was the most fun to record,” said Ran. “Just being in the studio with the homies drinking a few brews, and we went into the booth and knocked out the song.”
The most personal track on the album is “All My Friends Are Dead “ which reflects Ran’s past over the last few years.
“For that song it wasn’t about the lyrics,” said Ran. “I just went into the studio and started writing down a list of my friends that are dead and started rhyming their names. “I’ve lost seven friends within the past three years,” who mentioned losing friends to cancer and drugs.
Ran plans to follow-up Loose Bowels by doing a production tape with local artists, and another solo tape sometime in the near future.
Catch Fan Ran performing on Brooklyn rapper AZ’s “DOE OR DIE” 20th anniversary tour June 10 at The Broadberry..
