Yo, so because I’m on the show, I get a lot of artists sending in their music all the time. Like, ALL the time.
I’m good with it because I LOVE to hear new artists when they’re still on their come up. I feel at that point, if they’re nice, they’re trying to prove it to everybody (I mentioned this when I interviewed with Corey on the Hip Hop Digital Exposure show).
The music submissions are primarily the way I find out about new artists (Twitter is a VERY close second), but it’s NOT the way I found out about Kwame Katana. My mans and ‘nem actually hit me with the text that started it all:
I trust his word, so I immediately looked up dude on Soundcloud. He actually said specifically to look up Best Unsigned Rapper Alive. I listened to this shit mad times. Then he said peep the freestyle with Envy (from the Breakfast Club):
I was lovin’ the Best Unsigned Rapper Alive joint, but the freestyle had me like “oh shit, I need to know what this dude is about”. Then I found out he had I Just Wanna Be Heard Vol 2 on DatPiff:
Wow…dude is nice.
When I listen to Kwame, this is what I hear: Very entertaining honesty.
What I mean by that is just because somebody is lyrical, a gangsta, “conscious” or whatever…it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re entertaining. At the end of the day, it’s music we’re talking about. I don’t care how nice somebody is, I need that shit to be entertaining. I need it to fuck with my mood. Kwame is VERY honest and VERY entertaining. After listening to IJWBHV2 multiple times, here’s what I gather from his honesty:
– His mans got locked up and Kwame’s mad at himself for not hitting him up enough
– Even though he’s living out his dreams and progressing professionally, a lot of times he’s not happy on the inside
– He went to college, finished and is type upset with the fact that the degree isn’t doing much for him
– Speaking of college, Kwame used to get his refund check and baby ball with it (like many of you can relate to)
– It’s sometimes hard for him to relax and have fun because his mind is always on the grind (I can feel him on this)
– He crashed up his brother’s whip in a snowstorm when he was goin’ to check his ex-girl
If for some reason you think this dude is garbage, then I have NO idea what you consider NOT garbage.
I’m hesitant to be like he’s “next up”, because the honest truth is, mad dudes who are stupid nice never make it. So I’ll say this, if he gets discovered by the right person, Kwame is on his way.
Enough of the slurp session (no homo), let’s get into the album review.
ALBUM REVIEW
So obviously, this is where I’m supposed to write an album review. However, there’s 19 songs on this joint. So what I’ll do is just highlight some bangers for you.
1 – Nobody Used to Care – This is the first joint on the tape. It’s also the shit he spit when he was with Envy (see video above). The reason I chose this song is because it’s a really good introduction of who he is. I haven’t listened to the first IJWBH so I don’t know what kind of “introduction” is on that tape.
10 – Left It All Behind – I LOVE the L Boogie sample on here from Ex-Factor. Kwame dives into his relationship with ex on this one. It’s just another testament to how he can be honest, but entertaining at the same time. Shit is hot.
15 – Best Unsigned Rapper Alive – VERY introspective and honest bars from Kwame on this shit. Match that with the CRACK beat and you got some classic shit right here. A long time from now, people will still be talking about this shit as the joint that got them to fux wit Kwame.
Aiight, those are some of the standout joints to me. Let me know if you’re fucking with Kwame too in the comments below. What are your favorite joints off the album?