Feb 20, 2018 The guy who wrote the Keef profile does a series for Complex where he runs down burgeoning hits. His analysis is really substantive and concise. I rarely see rap written about in this manner. Here's a taste: Don Ace's street rap milieu may seem overfamiliar, but comes with a contextual tweak here—soft, bright, calming pianos which operate as a kind of musical halo—a song that would have been pro forma in other hands becomes a subversive twist on an old standard. The use of this "positive" musical signifier puts every other aspect in a new light, the unexpected tone suggesting deeper, truer emotions beneath. There's nothing happy about everyone on his block toting a pistol, true. But does this circumstance make happiness an impossibility? In thinking about happiness in the context of a tragic American story, and happiness in the context of violence, it creates a deeper layer of melancholy, a truer one, a reminder that happiness and all other feelings exist only in conjuction with their opposites. Here is the latest Bout to Blow article.
