There’s
been a lot of debate over what’s going on with hip-hop right now. Everyone in
the music media seems to be convinced that hip-hop is under siege from external
influences who don’t have its best interests at heart. If you ask me, in
addition to all of this pointless arguing, it’s the big egos tug-of-warring
over stylistic and financial control over hip-hop as a commercial entity that
is what’s really killing the scene right now. Indie rappers like New York
twosome Conceptz often seem like the only ones swimming against the current
when it comes to megalomania in hip-hop, and in my opinion their new song
“Splash” is their greatest contribution to battle yet, embodying the true
essence of what it means to be focused on making art for the sake of art.
“Splash” is
an grand, anthemic call to push shyness to the side and get a little crazy, but
it’s less of a party jam than it is a straight up missile fired point blank in
the direction of the remaining northeast hip-hop elite who stand between
Conceptz remaining underground heroes and becoming a world-wide smash. The
damage is extensive; I haven’t heard anyone banging out this kind of red
blooded thunder with nothing but a beat and a microphone in years, which is odd
considering that this aggressive approach to rapping is probably what made the
genre so appealing and addictive listening back in the 90’s.
Conceptz
has mad attitude, but “Splash” isn’t as threatening or severe as what some
college radio rappers often produce, making this song far more accessible to
the casual hip-hop fan than the average track of its class. It’s possible that
Conceptz decided that they needed to take things in a slightly more polished
direction as this decade ends and the next one dawns, but I don’t think the
decision was one that was solely based on a market strategy. In fact, I think
that this refined addition to their discography is more characteristic of a
band maturing and growing into their sound a little more, which is something
that doesn’t always happen, even when a group has been together for as long as
Conceptz has been.
I’d
recommend “Splash” as an excellent starter track for anyone just getting into
Conceptz huge collection of recorded works. It’s a great way to get a glimpse
at the full scope of the pair’s almost limitless abilities both as producers
and as songwriters, but most of all, it’s could get a lot more people
previously disinterested in hip-hop to give the genre another chance to have
the impact on their lives that it’s had on all of ours. It’s a commendable and
quite honorable notion, and in my gut I can feel the pride that Conceptz takes
in knowing that their music is having the effect on pop culture that it is at
this present moment in time. Who knows what will come next for these two as
their story continues to be told before our very eyes.
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/darealconceptz/
Casey Logan
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