As strange as it is to be going from yesterday’s blog about a documentary that denounces gangbanging to today’s blog about an up and coming rapper who glorifies it, that’s the way things go. Hip hop is a fickle- not to mention hypocritical -culture, and as much as I would love to write a daily blog about positive things happening in hip hop, I’d probably run out of subject matter in 3 days and not come across anything else for a month. And truth be told, I doubt it would garner much interest.
That said, we gotta keep it movin’ (to the K.I.M.)...
A little more than a week ago when Dr. Dre called in to Power 106 to discuss a few of the details about Detox’s release in 2007, he mentioned the names of two “new guys†he’d be working with in the near future The first name was one that we’re pretty much all familiar with at this point- Bishop Lamont. But the second name was one that I hadn’t really heard before; or if it was, it wasn’t a name that really caught my attention. That second name was Slim The Mobster.
I checked out dude’s myspace page, and besides a quick mention of a mixtape with DJ Clue, he had some pretty dope tracks on there, two of which were “Ten Gat Commandments†and “Right Thereâ€. The latter track has a simple, low-budget-sounding beat, but it’s a fresh little melody so it pops off pretty well. And as for “Ten Gat Commandmentsâ€... Well, check it out for yourself.
I’m definitely feeling that slowed down beat with the sitar sample; it kinda reminds me of a cross between “Give It To Me†from Mobb Deep and “Tried By Twelve†(one of my favorite songs of all time) by East Flatbush Project. Dude proves on this one that he can adapt and ride a slow beat better than a lot of vets out there, while he proves on some of his other tracks that he can flip some different shit. While so many new rappers are popping up these days, barely any of ‘em can switch their style up. Just based on the couple of songs from his myspace page, I’m pretty convinced that he can actually do that without coming off as schizophernic, and that’s one of the reasons this dude is living up to the hype for me.
It’s speculation to say that Slim will be dropping an album on Aftermath, although at this point, all signs are saying that’s the case. But even if he is indeed the newest Aftermath signee, one need only to look at Dre’s track record of putting out albums from some other Aftermath artists, namely The Last Emperor, Hittman and of course the biggest letdown, Rakim.
If you’re interested in finding out a little more about Slim, here’s a little documentary that shows a little more of who he is and where he comes from. While a good portion of it is your typical gangster posturing and arms-brandishing fare, he definitely has a couple interesting things to say about being locked up towards the end. If you do choose to watch it though, be forewarned that it runs a little long (around 11 minutes).
You can also check Slim’s myspace page at www.myspace.com/slimdamobsta.
