Chayse Maclair - I Thought This Was Supposed To Be Music

Hear The Track Here

Fourth time around for American hip hop musician and rapper Chayse Maclair, whose Soundclick page is surprisingly full of tunes. Ahhh, but what of those previous reviews? Did I like what I heard? Well, the main problem with indie hip hop (ie musicians who release independently through the internet) is that most of the scene is made up of rappers looking for music. It is very rare in indie music to come across a team that has both rappers and musicians - especially on Soundclick which seems to have a massive overlap of rappers to musicians, but it was always so on that site. However, the same thing can be found on every site. What it leads to, usually, is a distinct disjoint between music and rapper.

Chayse Maclair hasn't fallen into that trap at least, although the jury is still out on that after his last track Two Fingers To The Sky (August 2011), which definitely did not get a smily big thumbs up from me. Mind you, the previous two tracks had featured music from both Anno Domini and Flawless Beats so that's a high bar to reach, so that allowed him to slip one bad one by. Coming back then with a track titled like this is either total confidence or misplaced bravado, so which is it? Judging by the 'take it to the moon, take it to the stars' attitude shining out of this track, I'd have to say total confidence - and rightly so.

To say this is the best thing I have heard from Chayse yet is an understatement. In fact, this is the best (and freshest) piece of hip hop I have heard in a good long while and - I assume here - that this is all home produced, in which case double good as Mr Orwell would have it. I jump at that somewhat shaky conclusion because Chayse lays out a rap castigating the state of the hip hop scene and was helped by Maria acoustically. Now seeing as one Maria Zouroudis is listed as co-writer, and the highlight of the track is the sweet disjoint between her vocal lines and Chayse's precise putdowns. What really surprises me is how fresh and alive this is, in contrast to the majority of the genre. Chayse, top of the class dude!

MUST HAVE indie hip hop.