From time to time, I will set a theme for a series of SotDs that can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending on how much material I wish to cover. This week's theme will be rap songs!
RAP WEEK SONG #5!
Theophilus London is a Trinidadian rapper by way of Brooklyn who has been deservedly getting a lot of attention in recent years. He released a number of mixtapes that were largely overwrought and unnecessarily expansive, although each contained a few true gems that kept me paying attention to his next move. By the time his debut album, Timez Are Weird These Days dropped in 2011, he was poised to absolutely explode. That didn't exactly happen, although the album turned a few heads and fared reasonably well on the Rap and R&B/Hip-Hop charts.
I would attribute this chart performance not to a lack of talent, but largely to the manner in which he presents his music. Most of his songs are undoubtedly pretty weird by mainstream standards. Timez had only one true pop song on it ("One Last Time"), and "I Stand Alone" only got any attention simply because of how awesome the song is, not to mention how original it sounds. But most of the album's beats were heavy, funky, and strange, the sounds multicultural and multi-epochal. The songs were atypically structured, loud and noisy at one moment, slow and brooding the next, but not very radio-friendly. His brand of hip-hop is nearly impossible to categorize, as each individual song has its own identity and style.
Speaking of style, Theophilus London has his own signature style that he probably couldn't pull off unless his music and occupation were such as they are. As he opines in "I Stand Alone," "The clothes don't make the man / It's the man that makes the clothes." Theo can get away with wearing anything he wants because his music gets away with anything it wants. As far as his public persona suggests, London is whatever and whomever he feels like being, and his music supports this idea.
"I Stand Alone" is the closing track from Timez, and is one of the biggest indicators of the level of talent that Theo has. The song starts out simply, with low energy, just a vocal and some sort of drum that you would never hear in most rap songs. Then other sounds start rising up, a trumpet blasts shortly, almost imperceptibly, and a synthesizer starts winding its way around his words. When London lets loose, half-singing, half-yelling, the drums come racing in, driving the song forward as the other instruments do their own thing. The song stays high energy for another verse, then eventually dips back down to almost nothing, before one last burst of chorus. The song is original, fun, exciting, and catchy, and yet not many have heard it. Let's change that, starting now!
No comments:
Post a Comment