Afew years ago, all of us here at surreal soundz crossed paths with an up and coming rapper from out of the Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada area, a rapper who calls himself Redikuluz, and we've been lucky enough to watch his progression from a young man who had flow, to a young man who works day and night to make his craft something that though unorthodox compared to what we here in the states find in our underground, and isn't exactly like anything you'd find in the UK underground either, he is, in alot of ways, a musically created singularity in a the mostly untapped hip hop world of the great north.
The first thing you must understand when listening to a track by Redikuluz, or Redz for short, is that he has a delivery unlike anyone you have ever heard, its useless to try and figure out who influenced him or who he's based his flow off, there is no one. Second thing you need to understand is, his content is very similar to a Mos Def of Common Sense, everything from depressed children, to single parents, to suicidal thoughts to faith in god and enough freestyle to make things interesting when listening. I should also mention that afew of the 15 tracks in this are with his former crew SCA (Soul City Allstars), and alot have other local rappers and singers from around the greater Vancouver area.
Some stand out tracks for me personally, "A Story of Billy", one of his more recent tracks, but its a good starting point so you can see just how far Redz has come in a scant few years of recording, its the story of Billy (duh!), a lonely kid who's spent alot of time in his room writing lyrics and working on his flow and how it eventually paid off for him and how at the end, you can gain everything but still be empty inside, a sad but true fact. Another is "Sandy Lou" a track about a single mother where he's joined by the very vocally gifted Gina Yorston, Sandy Lou is the story of a woman who grows up the daughter of drug addicts and how she lives through her live that becomes sex and drugs, and then eventually becomes pregnant, as often in those cases, and how she takes a second chance to become so much better then the life she was raised into. Make no mistake Redz is in perfect form but so is Gina on this, I remember how I was blown away when i first heard how good it was, this is one of those early career defining tracks right here. "Still Ain't Happy" is a song which Redz does with fellow rapper H.Notik, who is also rather gifted, sounds abit like a southern style rapper, maybe one of the ones from Nappy Roots, can't place who exactly, the song is about how you have to stand tall through the struggles that we all go through everyday and the things one has to go through to get to where they want to be, I always loved the beats on the track, it fits so perfectly with their lyrics and delivery. "I'm A Warrior" is another favorite of mine, its a complete detour from Redz normal flow, its alot faster over a very fast blockparty breakdancing circle beat. Its your standard "Don't fuck with me" track, but like everything Redz does, there is more thought put into the lyrics and is far from your normal "fuck you nigga cause I can" fair you find normally in tracks of this nature in the modern hip hop world. I also included my favorite track of his, "Still Standing", this track for me, was the harbinger of what Redikuluz would grow to become, knowing his story behind it and knowing this song is, of sorts a rebirth for him and his craft, it speaks more about Redz and what he's gone through then anything else, though simplistic in compare to alot of his newer tracks, I still find it my favorite.
I included a very good mix of his work spanning from few year back to as recent as last week and afew freestyles he did just for fun, to give you a full idea of what kind of artist Redikuluz is, and the length that he's come even though he's not fully at his peak yet, i am infact putting this out because I believe that though there is still a long road for him before getting to where he will be by the time he matures as an MC, there is really no harm in giving a guy that lives for his music and works harder then most rappers selling millions, his first props.
So give Redz a try if you want something thats completely unlike any rapper you've heard, or if you want to remember what REAL hip hop is.
Redikuluz: A First Look
Artist: Redikuluz
Genre: Hip Hop,Breakbeat,Christian
Album: 15 Track Compilation
By: BC
