From the
start, it's clear that
Articulate is on a
Nas-like quest to be
provocative. He appears on
the cover in black face,
and he makes numerous
references to workers
being slaves. The EP
starts off with the
melodramatic "Chains,"
featuring violins, a
women's choir, and
swelling synths. A screwed
and chopped voice acts as
the hook, declaring "I
ain't tryna get paid if it
means I'm a slave/or if I
lay in my grave/of if it's
chains on my legs/chains
on my wrists on my arms on
my waist." "Life is too
short to be somebody's
worker," Articulate
declares. "By working for
someone else's cause, you
a soldier." His message is
clear: do what you love,
and don't be anybody
else's stooge.
On
"Dreams" he lays out the
struggles of being an
underpaid musician, and he
continues that thought on
"Don't Go," in which he
pleads with his girlfriend
not to leave him because
he devotes so much of his
time to music. "Buses and
Trains" deals with how
public transportation
impacts the working class,
while "Escape" lays out
his dream of a better
life. The narrative that
unfolds is that Articulate
wants to be paid to be a
rapper, and wants to work
for himself on his own
terms. It's a noble
sentiment, and one that
thousands of undergads
across the country are
feeling as they face
graduation and the
prospect of having to get
a real
job.
Articulate has
a slightly raspy slow, and
his flow and delivery is
more like a hardcore East
Coast rapper than a
"conscious" rapper. It
wouldn't have surprised me
to hear him spit some
gritty street crime raps,
and his combination of raw
delivery and positive
message is one of his
biggest strengths. D-Tox
handles most of the
production, and delivers
some solid East Coast
beats with a nice, crisp
drum sound. He hits his
stride on the soulful "The
Cycle" and "Buses and
Trains." "The Way It Is"
has a nice flute loop,
adding an introspective
mood to Articulate's
introspective rhymes.
Articulate produces the
Baltimore club track
"Hungry," which is the one
exception to an otherwise
somber and downtempo
album. The other producers
are Sakwe, whose "Escape"
features a chopped up soul
sample, and is one of the
best beats on the album,
and Rickie Jacobs, who
lays down a somber track
that gives Articulate room
to lay down some of his
best rhymes:
"It's
power, knowledge, or the
dollar bill My man said
he's never seen a book
make somebody rob and
kill But a dollar
will [...] I told
him that's true, but who
has the cheese? Is it
high school dropouts
working in factories Or
is it the ones who have
degrees Chilling on
boats Sipping
martinis Living
lavishly Running
companies Sending
e-mails from
Blackberries Making
decisions that effect your
life That's
scary"
This is an
ambitious project, and for
the most part it works.
Articulate raises some
important and provocative
questions, and he gets his
point across. In fact, his
point gets a little
belabored over the course
of nine tracks all dealing
with the same subject
matter. He even overuses
the expression "slave for
this dollar" to the point
that by the end of the EP,
it felt worn into the
ground. Still, Articulate
going on and on about not
being a slave to money is
much more compelling than
hearing a rapper going on
and on about how much
jewelry they own/crack
they sell/women they sleep
with. Articulate may be
repeating himself, but at
least his message is
important. He is offering
the CD as a
pay-what-you-want download
on his website, so you can
decide for yourself how
important his message is,
and how much you want to
support him.
Music
Vibes: 7.5 of 10 Lyric
Vibes: 7 of 10 TOTAL
Vibes: 7 of
10
This
is the evolution of rap,
the revolution of blacks/
Who have a purpose and
ain't just tryna ball/
This is the type of shit
that can make your mind
evolve/ So if you ain't
with this you end up like
the dinosaurs..."Articulate on "32
Bar Spazz"
Here's a couple quick
joints I was messing
with...just to let you
know I still kick that
lyrical ish (now I just
need a mayo colored
miracle whip and I'll be
good!). My whole writing
process is messed up since
I lost my sidekick, but I
still made it work with
the good ol' fashioned pen
and pad.
NEW
ARTICULATE MUSIC 1Articulate -
Mr. Carter Download
(flipped the Lil Wayne and
Jay beat with an ill
concept)
Articulate -
32 Bar Spazz DownloadArticulate -
Stop It DownloadArticulate -
Feel The Steam
(the above 3 just some
straight piffery
spittery)
...and some other recent
joints you might have
missed...
Articulate
and Phella - Oh Really
DownloadArticulate -
Rising to the Top
Download
aaand if you wanna hop on
the Oh Really joint...
...here's the
beat.
More new music, videos,
shows, features, and
alladat coming reeeeeaaal
soon.
Until then tell a friend
to check SlaveForThisD
ollar.com, and shouts
out to the whole Baltimore
for only having
102 murders this year at
the time of this writing
(45 less than this time
last year). Maybe we
can keep it less than 200
this year. We need a stop
killing campaign. Like
"Stop Snitchin'" with
DVD's, T-Shirts, music,
concerts...all that good
stuff. I think if we stop
killing each other it
might inadvertently stop
snitching as well. Just
some thoughts.
Anywaaaaaayyyyysssss I'm
out. Peace!
Alright
I'm sure by now you've all
heard the million "A
Milli" remixes and a lot
of them have been pretty
dope. I'm the type of
artist that misses the
competition amongst peers
that used to exist in
music so that's why I love
this. My homie Artic
created a track called "Oh
Really" which is basically
the answer to "A Milli".
This isn't a battle of "us
against them" or anything
of the sort. I even
consider myself to be more
mainstream than
underground. This is just
good fun and
competition.
The
Rules:
You download
the beat. You create the
hottest song or verse you
can out of it. You send it
to
phella@thefamousfirm.com
or itsartic@gmail.com and
you wait patiently to see
if you're in the top 10.
We'll take submissions
from now till next Friday,
that's like the 27th. You
can sing, rap, or whatever
you do. But BUFFOONERY
WILL AUTOMATICALLY EXCLUDE
YOU FROM THIS AND ALL
FUTURE MUSIC INDUSTRY
EVENTS, including the mtv
awards, ozone awards,
source magazine, xxl,
youtube, myspace (nah
myspace accepts
everyone)...basically
you'll get exiled from the
industry. Any questions or
thoughts, you can email
the addresses
above.
This whole
thing is sponsored by
Slaveforthisdollar.com
