Only one month into 2021 and we’re still riding the highs of the releases selected for this month’s Listen Local: Hip Hop Edition. Approaching adversities with confidence and resilience, each track dives into themes of rebirth and restitution that echo in the bold production. Each artist pushes boundaries with these singles—ready to test the waters in 2021, ready to deliver songs that speak to the hearts and minds of local Boston hip hop fanatics.
“Word on Me” by Connis
“Word on Me” effortlessly blends what it means to both groove and chill in Connis’s new EP, Waited All Summer for the Weekend. The song pushes forward with a hypnotic melody, blending tempos and taking advantage of space and silence. Added static creates a lulling feeling as the song skips from one statement to another: “[y]ou best protect your heart but I know you’re better than me;” “I just wanna make you proud, when you gonna let me take you out.” A perfect blend of sing-songy, subdued melodies and quick lyrics that mimic a faster, anxious mindset, “Word on Me” is a great opening to Waited All Summer for the Weekend.
– Hannah Lemke
“Trust No Mo” by Billy Dean Thomas
Starting off “Trust No Mo,” Billy Dean Thomas shakes their listeners, leaving them shocked and stimulated upon hearing the hastened melody matched by fast-paced drum patterns in the track’s first seconds. The best way to describe it is pure adrenaline. Billy Dean bounces from one line to another: “these rappers robbing my comedy” but “I ain’t never backing down,” ultimately supporting the song’s statement that the narrator can only trust themselves as they propel forward, but is ready to do so in the most unapologetic way. At thirty seconds in, the vibe changes and slows down as Billy Dean crashes into the chorus: “Whoa whoa whoa / n**** slow your roll / we ain’t asking no handouts / we ain’t got no more / so high so high / so low so low / watch friends and foes I don’t trust no mo.” Driving and effortless, Billy Dean leaves nothing out in how they tell their story.
– Hannah Lemke
“We Gon Make It” by Jazzmyn RED
Earnest and uplifting, Jazzmyn RED’s appropriately-titled song superbly sets the tone for the times as we deal with the remnants of 2020; but, we face them with a new attitude in 2021 because that’s all we can do. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel because truly, “We Gon Make It.” This theme is entirely encapsulated in Jazzmyn RED’s single, immediately found in the first few seconds as it starts with a funky, elevating beat backed by chimes and woodwinds. The chorus breaks down the injustices found in inequality, echoing the screams from the #BlackLivesMatter movement with a mantra full of momentum. With each verse, the song transitions from hope to action: “With my fist raised high / we’re on a mission to survive” and “I’m tired of knocking on your door now / now I’m bustin down the locks / put my feet to the street / and my ballot in the box / you gon stop us? Hell! / you can’t stop us now.” Jazzmyn’s “We Gon Make It” can be an encouraging mantra for everyone in the fight for equality, for hope, and for justice.
– Hannah Lemke
“Closer” by Oompa
With more emphasis on synth and atmospheric production than her previous work, “Closer” explores new sonic areas for back-to-back Boston Music Award winner, Oompa. The Roxbury-born rap scion continues to deliver the precise bars her fans have come to depend on in this highly anticipated new single, the first to drop following her 2019 award-winning hip-hop concept album, Cleo. The track contains multiple sections that differ widely as effervescent, upbeat bars start the track and cut hard to an intense breakdown a third of the way through. Oompa deftly bounces back and forth between the meaningful joys of life and the hardest of sad truths, singing, “the world is almost over now / if we all go to hell soon, imma make sure the outro song is heat.” With recent feature spots on notable albums like Red Shaydez’s Feel The Aura, to full-band live shows streamed at The Oberon and the MFA, along with a weekly IG Live summer series called “The New Sh*tshow,” Oompa has been giving all of her light and love to her fans to keep them going during these difficult times.
– Jared Steinberg
The Re-Up (Intro) by Medino Green
“The Re-Up (Intro)” is only one minute and twenty-three seconds, but it’s jam-packed with acutely focused rhymes and booming bass that’ll make you do a double-take. With an emphasis on clever rhyming schemes and cutting metaphors, JP-based rapper Medino Green offers this song as the first track on his latest album, GRN 2: THE RE-UP. The prophetic line, “they gon’ feel it when I drop,” came true as the album dropped on November 27th and immediately shot up to #31 on the iTunes Hip Hop charts, sitting between Rich The Kid’s Nobody’s Safe and 2Pac’s Greatest Hits. Green is also a member of the The MiSFiT’s Club, a collective of local LGBTQ+ rappers that also includes J.A.B.S, Kweeng Doll, and DJ WhySham and collaborates for epic cyphers around the city. Splitting his time between Queens and Boston, Green is someone to keep your eye on as he spreads his talent across two major hip hop hubs, picking up and sharing influences along the way.
– Jared Steinberg
Graphic by Madison Arrichiello
Photos by:
@btsdesignstudio (insta)
@afrocenteredmedia (insta)