The Grey Space - Horrorshow

As I've stated before, I'm really picky about my hip hop, to the extent I present to you the group "Horrorshow" out of Sydney Australia, with their debut album "The Grey Space", which i guess you could list as "new age rap" which is what they themselves call it, and i guess that fits for lack of a more to the point description or someone to list them as similar too. Though if I had to pin them down, I'd say its kind of like if the Boats did hip hop. And well, those of you who have been following us for awhile know just how much I love the boats and reserve comparison for those who truly deserve it. I'm not trying to sell you on it when I tell you right now, if you give this album a listen you WILL be blown away, there is no way around it.



This is one of those albums that just feels so awesome that you don't realize you've listened to the whole thing till you've come to the end, there are gems like "All Summer Long" that are just beautiful, a lovely uptempo blues hop track that lets the beat showcase just as much as the vocals, which I love, its like most of their songs honestly, a nice long mellow laid back bit of brilliance. Other major stand outs on this album are "Celapram" which has an incredible Jeff Buckley reference in it which made me roll back the player and listen to it afew times over just because of how it seemed together perfectly over the "ready or not" style eerie bassbeat, "Choose None" with rapper Just Enuf, a nice fast pace track that will have you nodding your head and turning it up because you'll just feel it. Other songs include the track "Days Past" which is just a beautiful jazz hop track thats got a great laid back beat that gets deep meaningful hip hop love story lyrics laid down over it, just amazing, its one of my favorites on the entire album, and believe me, finding a favorite was really hard to settle on. This whole disc is seriously full of gems, I'm not kidding, songs like "Dire Straits Pt. 1" which I could make a good argument for being the best rap song made this year, even though its only like 2 minutes and 30 seconds or so long. Both versions of "No Rides Left" are awesome beyond words, I love the flow, the piano beat, you couldn't believe this is their debut album with tracks like this, it shows awareness of having to have "radio style singles" that will get the masses hooked but not distort the album and its flow, not many artists do that, they'll just toss singles in and not care they don't fit the album's theme. It really is hard to not give you way to much of the album, but the rest I'll leave a mystery, after all, a fun album isn't as fun if you have a roadmap of what its gonna all be as you're doing it.



Now for the big question, do I think everyone will like this album? Yes, I think that this album, and more like it, should be more prominent in hip hop the world over, and should be given airplay, as to show the world that hip hop isn't all the horribly clitche violent "gangsta" stuff that gets forced down our throats. It shows that there is always room to grow and that hip hop is not dead as an artform, so yes, I believe that anyone, should they give it a listen will enjoy this. I know i did.

Sorry I couldn't find a video of them, but if you want a sample, their myspace has a fair amount of them to give you an idea.

Artist: Horrorshow
Homepage: http://www.elefanttraks.com
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/horrorshowcrew
Album: The Grey Space
Genre: Hip Hop/Australian hip hop/D.I.Y Music/Blues Hop/New Age Rap/Jazz/Blues
Download: Here


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BC

Redikuluz: A First Look

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