Waveriders, I'm not going to lie to you. 2013 was an ugly year for my mental state. The truth is that I was unhappy. Why is this relevant? Because my mental health directly affects what kind of music I listen to everyday. If you're familiar with my work here on The Ripple Effect you know that hip-hop is normally a big part of my musical diet. When I'm unhappy however I become solely interested in ugly, dissonant, noisy metal. Well I made some necessary changes and I am once again a pretty happy guy. Yeah! Enter deM atlaS and his Charle Brwn EP.
I discovered deM atlaS after receiving an email telling me he had been signed to Rhymesayers Entertainment. To properly introduce their new signee they offered a link to download this Charlie Brown inspired EP for free. Me? Turn down free tunes from a label I trust? Not likely! I clicked on the download link, unzipped the file, loaded up the music and hit play. Lo and behold, this guy is fantastic! I was hooked after hearing his first verse. Here is a good chunk of it (as accurately as I can transcribe it anyway)...
"No one understands me, not even my f!@#ing family / Like stand by me / My problem is the one I can't se.../ Can't be the only person living this in misery / If I am / I'm gonna be the spark in the sea of trees / I can't be / Voice for the generation get it now / Get it how / Like I only hear the sounds of my head / They too loud / No, no they too quiet / Guess my only option is to silence the impending riot / Impending violence covered in the color turbulence / And hope my current state of mind is where do I find 'em at / To say where I be at / Because it really doesn't matter if it's this or that"
Excellent wordplay! Excellent lyrical flow! I hear the influence of Black Thought, Kool Keith, Andre 3000, and Fatlip upon Mr. atlaS' style. Over the course of the EP he drops direct and indirect references to artists I enjoy such as The Roots, The Pharcyde, Gorillaz, Common, and Slick Rick. These are all good things! Plus, have you ever heard an entire EP based off of Peanuts characters? I know I had not. Now I want to hear more!
So, are you a fan of quality hip-hop? Check out this free, top-notch EP. Do you love Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts? You'll really love this free EP! Maybe you need to listen to something laid back and groovy? I mentioned that this EP is free right? No? Shame on me. The Charle Brwn EP is free. Go get it!
-- Penfold
http://dematlas.bandcamp.com/
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