Song of the Day 9/27/16

Cold Shouler-Second Hand King

I can't lie I'm not a good judge of rap music because for lack of a better reason it's a genre that hasn't ever really clicked with me because of it's overly repetative nature, 5 minute plus song lenghts, and spoken word lryical delivery it's hard for me to completely sit through entire rap albums and have a lot of the songs get old pretty quick, but admittedly there's acts here and there that manage to strike a chord with me especially whenever they are increadibly angry in lryics or tone, using the genre to kind of deliver a message to people, or just kind of amuse me in a very relatable way and that's where this local act comes to mind.

Second Hand King is a local rapper that I've caught a few times here and there and pretty recently saw him perform at a gig in a rundown basement. Second Hand King refers to himself as a “Doo-Wop Rapper” because he likes to use old rhythm and blues and rock and roll songs from the 50's and 60's as samples for his tracks which give them a very laid back vibe along with pretty catchy sing along hooks that seem to not only be original but also sang by him and from what I can tell there aren't any vocal samples in his tracks and his lyrics range in content from things as serious as death to the more lighthearted side of being rejected and everything and anything inbetween and the track I've decided to highlight today is in the more lighthearted category.

“I wrote this for all the women in my life that hate me, i'm such an asshole,” I'm not going to lie that line kind of resonates with me to a degree along with seeing him go on a bit of a speil before he starts performing this song with one time in particular standing out because the theme of that night from what I can remember him saying is about how much a bastard he is and had been and I've been and am pretty much there more times than I care to admit myself dude and it's my own personal failures that make this track stick out to me with some amusing writing and delivery that's kind of reminiscent of an asher roth in it's kind of self deprivated style and semi-humerous lyrics like the line about how awesome it was to be in 4th grade which is a personal favorite of mine.

This track is fucking dope as hell people and seeing this guy perform in the most minimal of settings really gave this track a vibe that's hard to really match and I'm pretty sure I'll be on the lookout to see if this guy can continue to kill it night in and night out and if you can you should do the same.