Let me be the first to say, I love it when local rappers/singers/bands/musicians start to shine. I love it when their respective cities collect their due, and I love it even more when the synergy created is created in my own home state.
I was raised in Lansing. Southside, to be exact. The music scene was drab, dismal and overall just depressing. For a time, it was considered a joke to be active in music and be from the capital city.
You can’t put on for your city if your city isn’t on to begin with.
Upon listening to a collection of songs from local Detroit rapper, Rizzy, needless to say I was apprehensive. As a progenitor of hip-hop culture for almost two decades now, it’s hard to listen to other people’s music when they’re starting out. The last thing I want to do is crush anyone’s dreams, but if your music is wack, I will be the first one to tell you.
Rizzy is an upstart, an enterprising rapper who hails from Detroit. He writes, sings, raps and produces. I won’t lie – he has skills, but if he’s looking to get a deal based off of the strength of these particular songs, it might be time to find another line of work.
I’ll give you the good news first. Out of six tracks on the mixtape, there are a couple diamonds in the rough. The second track, titled “Diploma,” actually isn’t that bad. Over a well-laced beat, he rhymes with a vigor and composure that makes it easy to see why fans flock to his shows, and why he received a co-sign from WJLB FM 98 on-air personality Big Dog Blast.
The other standout track is the fourth track, titled, “Highlife.” The rhymes are strong and it might be his best attempt at lyricism of the whole project. But the beat is recycled and a duplication of something Soulja Boy would have left off of the album, which brings me to my next point.
One of Rizzy’s problems is that he tries to wear too many hats, and it’s hard to tell who exactly
Rizzy the artist is. I don’t have a problem with artists who sing their hooks, but if you’re going to do that then you need to have strong hooks. Stronger hooks than, “Go on Kurt,” from the ridiculously titled “Kurt Cobain.” The laughable hook and song title are only a few of the problems.
Lazy lines like “…give her the longstroke…limousine” and “How you royalty when you don’t have the crown,” from the opening track “They L.O.V.E. Me” are just deplorable and have no place in hip-hop. The low quality tracks coupled with a sound that sounds like everything cliché about the rap game make for an overall uninteresting listen. It’s unfortunate that hip-hop has been reduced to the same rolling hi-hat-over-synthed-faux trap aesthetic that has made the forefathers distance themselves or turn in their graves.
There isn’t much about this project that will attract A&R reps to Detroit looking for the next unsigned hype. I’m sure Rizzy is an intelligent renaissance man. With that said, it might be time for him to use that degree from Wayne State University and get a square 9 to 5 gig.
