Here’s a video from a Richmond rapper who appears to be pretty new on the scene. Goldin‘s wasting no time in making his name, though, dropping two mixtapes in 2012 and now following them up with this dope track featuring a verse from his homie Duce.
Here’s a video from a Richmond rapper who appears to be pretty new on the scene. Goldin‘s wasting no time in making his name, though, dropping two mixtapes in 2012 and now following them up with this dope track featuring a verse from his homie Duce. The video is directed by The Brownstonerz. We’ve covered their work before–they previously created a video for another local cat named Tune, which RT wrote up last year. The video they’ve created for “Numbers On The Board” is pretty simple–just some shots of Goldin and Duce hanging out by some railroad tracks in a shady spot with a lot of trees in the background. Nonetheless, the video provides a good impression of what these MCs have going on, and keeps the viewer interested without taking the focus away from the song itself. Which makes sense, as this is a pretty incredible track.
The ominous low-frequency hum running throughout is nicely contrasted with a knocking beat that mixes a sampled drum loop and some repeating percussion that just might be sampled from a vibraphone (though really, its origins are a complete mystery to me). All of the elements that come together to form the music are sidelined, though, by the incredible verses that these two rappers drop overtop of it. Duce goes first, and gets downright mathematical with it, starting out incorporating internal rhymes and soon beginning to stagger his rhymes and vary his cadence so much that it’s hard to even tell what bar he’s on after a while. The spot where the music drops out for two bars is only the most complex section of an incredibly intricate overall verse–one that is difficult to break down and fully understand but easy to be impressed with. Goldin’s follow-up verse is almost a relief–complex enough to be a great demonstration of the skills he has to offer, it is also straightforward enough to follow throughout. Put them both together and this is a great song all around, one that rewards repeated listens and will keep your head nodding all day.
For some reason, the video indicates that this track is available for download as a bonus track on producer Oktane’s compilation mixtape No Ink Vol. 1. However, the track isn’t actually on there, as far as I can tell [Note: Goldin emailed and said that it will be on No Ink Vol. 2 when it comes out]. Fortunately, it is available for download from Goldin’s soundcloud, so click here to grab yourself a copy: https://soundcloud.com/god-goldin/numbers-on-the-board-goldin-ft
Make sure to check out Goldin’s previous mixtapes, The Adventures Of Polo Rogers and Pay Homage, and grab his 2012 single, “Mona Lisa Bonet,” on Amazon and iTunes.
By Andrew Necci