The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place - lots of times, you're even required to clarify when bad means bad and when bad means good - so once a week we're going to get with a rapper and ask them to explain things. Something you always wanted to ask a rapper? Email [email protected].
This Week's Rapper: iLL LiaD
This Week's Subject: Finding one's self through music
Note: Last week, we wrote a post about a sir named One Hunnidt. In it, we asked him to send his five best songs across and yada, yada, yada. It was an interesting exercise, we thought. Over the weekend, we received emails from several other local musicians asking to do something similar. One guy that we did not ask, though, was rapper iLL LiaD.
iLL LiaD, a talented, unforgiving MC, made some noise with his Salvation album at the beginning of the year, before promptly disappearing. Rumors about cocaine addiction and rehab and other sorts of things like that bubbled up, all conjecture that he eventually confirmed.
So we reached out to him and asked him to do the same thing we asked One Hunnidt: Send us your five best, most expository songs. LiaD did, and this time we were smart enough to get the actual MP3s of each to post so you can listen to them. The songs are more interesting than the answers. Put your headphones on.
Malibooyah.
"Die Slow"
A great song because it showed how [I] wanted to teach the Houston population on how to represent Houston hip-hop in becoming a leader.
"World Is Cold"
Displayed how [I] felt towards other artists not speaking the truth behind their music. And speaking it the best way [I] could: Being cold with the truth.
"Dead Beat"
Showed [the] struggle through drug addiction and the reality of what [I] went through.
"Rap Slayer" feat. Rusty James
One of [the] most distrubing ryhmes, with blistering lyrics and horrific visuals with learning that there is a dark side that still needs to come out.
"Close Your Eyes"
Showed the storytelling and the true talent. I dont think any one in Houston could pull a full-on track with a robbery scheme gone bad like here.
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