Wreckless Music (Ejay) - So Focused (Stand Up)

Hear The Track Here

Hip hop has come a long, long way since its early beginnings in the streets of New York in the early 1970's. Like many people, my first exposure to it was courtesy of Malcom Maclaren in the late 1970's but then I had the good fortune to spend most of the 1980's working in NYC recording studios and witnessing first hand many of the names that were to make it big in the genre. All of which fired up a definite love in me for the arts (of all kinds) that this movement threw up not the least of them being the music, the dancing and - my own favourite - the graffitti art. It was the music that caught and held me though and with the advent of the internet age, it has returned to it's original roots.

With all its original faults.

Hence many of us on Soundclick feel beseiged by peep-my-s*** wannabes who have no clue to how clueless they are and that isn't a healthy position for the genre to be in. As hard as I am on other genres, I have a special hard on for wannabe rappers, as many have felt to their cost. Wreckless Music have skated on the thin edge a time or two and I haven't yet heard a track that would make me go YEAH, although I've recognised that the basics are there. Although never more so than on the first WM track I reviewed Gemini (September 2007), a very fresh sounding double rap that actually worked a treat. Still, to his credit, I haven't had to really throw my toys out of the pram and thats saying something.

Although So Focused suffers somewhat from the same lo-fi problems his other tracks have, it's a much more pointed, clipped appproach than I've heard before. It's all about flow at the end of the day and on that score Wreckless Music just delivered the goods, no matter what you might think about the production and the music. The best musical accompaniment to a tight rap is a sparse one and Wreckless scores again with a very basic, but highly effective, arrangement that serves to punctuate the rap perfectly. Oh and it has a killer chorus, especially if you like the genre. Now, this is what I've been talking about. When it works, it works and no argument and this one works a treat soooooooo.......

Excellent indie hip hop. Highly Recommended. (I'm keeping my copy).