RAVEN MACK is a mystic poet-philosopher-artist of the Greater Appalachian unorthodox tradition. He does have an amazing PATREON, but also *normal* ARTIST WEBSITE too.

Friday, December 31

J.J. Krupert Top 13 Countdown – November ’10 #11: “I Never Made 20” by Royal Flush


This song came to me from somewhere inside the interwebs as Royal Flush being name-dropped by Bun B as the rillest MC he ever heard back in the day. And I had never heard of it, though it was Rap-a-Lot related, so I knew it was going to be lo-fi quality. And it was. This song is just some straight simple gangsta coming of age shit, but it’s a vivid story, and really shines when compared to the crap that is considered good rap music in 2010. (I see young black kids walking around in tight jeans and weird sweater-shirts, and it’s funny… this last wave of hip hop has culturally created a generation gap between boom bappers and kids, to where five years from now when these teenagers grow up, it’s going to be very pronounced. Party like a rock star, bro, to a techno beat.) The thing I love about it though, and that’s often lost with storytelling rap lyricists, is that the shit didn’t really happen. Much like a short story, whoever the fuck is the MC in Royal Flush is imagining this entire kid’s life, probably drawing from some personal experience, but not entirely, and creating a complete tale. It’s really a vulgar song and yet completely beautiful all at once, which for me, is what made hip hop so amazing when it was younger and less compromised by attachment to the fruits of one’s musical actions. It was such a brutal yet beautiful art form. Now I don’t understand what the fuck it is doing, and I know the automatic response would be to say I am old. But it’s old too. So if I have lost touch by being older, it seems to me hip hop has lost touch as well. So fuck you hip hop, you old piece of shit judgmental bastard. You are useless to me.
STEAL “I Never Made 20”
NEXT UP:
Whiteboy done got paid!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should probably take this picture down, Its not yours to use.

Raven Mack said...

not sure what you're talking about but email me if necessary