Rustik - Smoke Rings

Hear The Track Here

As much as I have been sickened lately with the state of the real world's vision of hip hop, I have been equally heartened by the indie, online musicians and rappers I have found in my travels. Soundclick, in particular, has been a great source this year for class hip hop tracks, especially by musicians who stretch the genre the way it should be. Sure, a lot of it is home produced, but in some ways, that's a bonus too. Like you guys, I've had my awful moments with the genre but I am very keen on the new, edgier hip hop exemplified of late by Gangbangsters, Twisted Angel, Whitman Speck (the scariest dude on the planet) and - of course, Rustik and his various buddies.

I think we are six tracks into his catalog at this point so it's safe to say Rustik is doing well indeed. Nothing, as yet, as topped Monster (September 2010) but there's always the next one. Speaking of which... One of the main problems with indie hip hop is its sound quality, usually because everybody is too piss poor to get any kit but - if you like the genre - you often put up with that roughness as a by-product of some good ideas. Rustik has managed to always shine out with his tracks from a technical point of view, and the raps are often just as good.

Smoke Rings, however, goes the whole hog. Great production, great ideas AND the technical know-how to make it all work, all wrapped up in a meaty, beaty chunk of hip hop that will remind you of what should sound like. Kloqwyse is the producer on this bad boy, and I don't know anything about him/her or it, but I do know he knows how to manage frequencies, and that - for me - is one of this tracks main selling points. Yeah, I know. Sad and nerdy but **** listen to the track yourself and tell me this isn't a great piece of music - regardless of genre classification. Damn it, they even recorded the bong at work. How dedicated is that??

MUST HAVE indie hip hop