New York City…
The heart and soul of rap…
History was made here.
Rap was born around the early 70s in New York City…and the rest is literally history.
Rap artists have been taking over the world by storm for years and years.
…and it is evolving.
For me…old school rap will always be an icon in the world of music.
…now, once again, NYC is giving birth to an uprising star in the world of rap…
Sly Spitta.
Sly’s own style is a unique hybrid, an instantly recognizable and iconic mix of old and new school rap. Catchy melodies, pumping beats, cool hooks and of course…he’s got flow.
Sly has recorded his debut album “Rose Up” and today we’re giving it a listen and taking the experience in…
So, let’s get into it.
The album is made up of a staggering amount of 20 songs.
You will definitely get to know the artist, his style, flow, personality and character.
The album is almost broken down to four quarters, each quarter is a different beast with its own character. “Rose Up” is filled with energetic and witty storytelling, it’s raw and it’s hard hitting.
Sly also made his TV debut this year…and he ain’t stopping.
…I completely forgot…the album has a very distinctive approach…it’s told in a sport format, the track names tell a story…so there’s a concept even behind the whole thing.
Starting from the first track…”Tip Off”.
It is literally the tip off of the album, it’s a song, it’s more of an intro…it gives a cinematic depth to the whole experience, like you’re in for a ‘Coach Carter’ kind of movie or something.
The approach is basically two commentators talking about a basketball match…and they’re noticing Sly in that basketball match…
…unto the second track, which is the first actual song, and the titular song “Rose Up”.
The song has a very melodic approach with the chords, playing on guitars.
The song takes its time to kick in the beat…but that actually serves the purpose.
“Rose Up” sets up a high melodic bar for all songs to come…let’s continue and see what happens…
The third track is “Much More”…once again, Sly is interested in having a quality melodic musical track to mix his flow with. The music is completely different this time, with a saxophone and some chants in the background and a more ethnic vibe to it…even Sly’s performance is different, there’s something that feels like he’s channeling a character to talk in his place.
This feels very refreshing.
“AM – PM” is the fourth track…and once again, the vibe is completely different…feels like a lo-fi kinda vibe this time around.
The concept of having different musical approaches is absolutely engaging and keeps you hooked.
Sly’s flow is very flexible, with each song, a different musical approach presents itself…and Sly is always on top of the beat and music and just flows.
Our fifth track is titled “Habits & Contradictions” and its intro feels like you’re getting sucked into an old western film…which is something that I don’t believe has ever happened…a spaghetti western inspired rap song? It’s not in-your-face kind of music…but there’s something very fresh about that song mixture.
Once again, we get back into the cinematic angle of the album…the sixth track is called “Timeout 01”…you get it? And once again, it’s two commentators talking about what’s happening in the story…
…back into the movie…or the album with a movie-like experience…
The seventh track is “Patience”…the bass line on that one…the oomph is strong with this one.
It’s apparent for sure by now that Sly will place the music pretty high on his list of priorities, he’s giving us a solid musical experience.
The eighth track is called “Aspire” and it’s reminiscent of the 70s fiery soul music scene…
Sly is definitely paying tribute to that kind of music…there’s that shimmery keys sound that just glimmering like an old TV show camera that glimmers when it hits a strong light…even the strings…so smooth. Absolutely loving this.
…and of course, the 70s needs a groovy bass line…and yes, it is very present.
This time we found ourselves in the ninth track…which is the kind of timeout cinematic track in the middle…but it’s still using the music from the previous track playing in the background, while the commentators are talking about Sly…
The tenth track is just called “Halftime”…and it’s a darker musical approach this time, the music is more aggressive, the beat has an attitude and aggressiveness to it…strong stuff.
From that mood to a more mellow mood…but still on the dark side of things…
The whole energy is shifted in the eleventh track “$hot Clock”…the beat is completely fresh, the flow is on another level with the backing vocals doing some awesome stuff here.
The vocal performance, apart from the flow, is on another level with this one.
…moving to a more musical approach…the twelfth track “Love Games” I’d say is the most musical song so far…The chord changes are absolutely brilliant…with these 7th chords…so smooth, it feels like you’re taking a rest after a very tense moment.
Some ear candy right there.
…once again, Sly is giving us some old school focused rap performance with track number thirteen called “Ride 4 Me”. It will suck in all old school rap fans out there.
Back to the movie…with track fourteen “Timeout 02”…the commentators are mentioning that Sly will need to continue on…and keep on doing the awesome work…I’ll join my voice to theirs.
“Game Time” is the fifteenth song in the album…and it looks like this quarter of the album is more inspired by old school rap with a unique twist when it comes to Sly’s vocal performance and flow.
“Champaign for Pain” is the sixteenth track in the album and it’s once again is on the old school side of rap.
I believe this move will suck in more fans for Sly than ever…I mean, if you’re into the old school stuff, he got it, if you’re into the new rap, Sly got you covered…if you’re into the beats, yup, they’re here…if you like the melodic hooks that can only be found in the absolute echelon of the rap world…it’s here…this album covers the whole color spectrum.
We’re now into the “4th Quarter”…and that is the title of the seventeenth track…we’re almost at the end of this epic match…album…movie, story…call it what you want, it’s an experience.
“4th Quarter” has some melodic piano melodies that sets it apart from all other songs…it’s dark, with a hint of light…the piano is taking it to another level…Sly never runs out of ideas when it comes to lyrics or flow.
The next track, which is the eighteenth track is called “License to Kill” once again introduces the saxophone with a more dancy beat this time around, the flow is fast and hits like Mohamed Ali got you in a corner.
“End of Regulation” is the second to last track…and it once again takes us back into the movie approach of the album with the commentators mentioning that this is it…the make it or break it moment….
The last song in this epic journey is “OT”…which is short for overtime…so now it’s really the make it or break it moment that was foreshadowed in the previous track…
…and Sly definitely makes it count…
The album is a gem for all rap fans, old and new…this album will unite a lot of fans for sure.
Quality of sounds, mixing and the whole experience is something that was done with love and creativity. Highly recommended to anyone who listens to rap, or anyone who just likes good musical hooks.
We wish all the best in the world to Sly, you deserve it man.
You’re going places.
Cheers!