D3von - I'm Trying

Hear The Track Here

Like most people interested in music, I have a problem with hip hop. Not, I might add, because of what it is, but more because of what it has become. I had the good luck to be working as an engineer/producer in New York right throughout the 1980's and it was with some satisfaction that I saw this music rise and become a living, breathing (nay, fire-breathing) genre and the template for almost all we hear oozing out of wherever we get our music from these days. Like every other fad, the RW music business sucked whatever life it had in it and we are left with the ghoul on display to us today.

Thank God, I say, for the internet (and sites like Soundclick) because IMHO it's here where the true spirit of hip hop (along with most other genres) has had a new lease of life; a life where it can be what it was when it first started, a way for you - or I - to make music cheaply. I have been reviewing Soundclick hip hop for many years and have often been surprised by the depth and breadth of the music and styles on display. Sure it' rough and ready and sound isn't the first priority but it has LIFE! Even, some would say, it is innovative and that I most definitely agree with as seen in the latest crop of Soundclick hip hop artists.

D3von, obviously, is one of them although he's from The Netherlands rather than the Bronx and he is white. Yeah, but so is Eminem and he's come out with some outstanding hip hop. One of the main problems IMHO with commercial hip hop can be summed up in one word: Autotune. Sorry, don't get it. To me it just sounds crap. Singing in tune sounds much, much better. The fault lies in the music backing track that D3von and sidekick Beezy use as the base for their rap and it sounds 'store bought' to me. The raps however sound pretty good and it would be interesting to hear them on something that wasn't so blatantly commercial. Maybe next time.

Recommended 'ip 'op from 'olland.