The Mid-week Music Video Mini-Reviews Round-Up – 12/11/14 – The Melodic Rap Songs Edition

Hi, folks. This one is a big one. As much as I love strong, aggressive Hip-Hop, I can always appreciate it when folks turn it down a couple notches and explore the musicality of the genre. And that’s what we have here, a large collection of MCs who chose a more melodic route and opted to keep things a little more chill and smooth. There a ton of great songs in here, so kick back and enjoy this batch.

Jason Chu x J. Han x Gowe x Ruth Cho – “Oh Lord 2”

+Hipster Christian rappers at their best. Cool video editing.
-I like Ruth’s “As One-ish” type voice, but I think it could have been mixed better

Danny Chung – “Norma Jeane”

+Nice to hear Danny slow it down a little and who knew the guy could hold a note?
-The video is nice and simple, but I wouldn’t have minded something a little more complex

DANakaDAN x Clara C – “Is There Anybody Out There”

+Dan’s really found his niche with this style of melodic, alternative rap.
-No Clara in the video =(

G Yamazawa – “Thank You”

+I’ve known about G for a while, but this song makes me regret not paying more attention
-Video suffers from uneven color and focus issues

Jin x Hollis – “Complicated”

+Trippy but cool video, imagery and symbolism is fun to read into
-Some days I dig Hollis’ voice, others I’m not feeling it. She’s got a unique but odd tone.

Andrew Huang x Ally Rhodes – “Los Angeles”

+Huang and Rhodes play off each other fantastically
-The beat is a a bit too industrial/atmospheric for my tastes

Trus Real x Amanda Lee – “Take Me Away”

+Awesome to see two hometown (DMV) artists putting in work together. Trus is one of the better rappers you probably don’t know about
-The entire world is apparently in slo-mo. Quality lacks just a touch of polish.

Lil Crazed – “Ain’t Promised Today”

+A bit sappy and saccharine but in a way it makes it a refreshing listen
-This “MV” is essentially a well edited home video/BTS montage

D-Pryde – “Bitches and Gold”

+Prizzy is doing a pretty damn good Drake impression, balancing song and rap beautifully
-The kid appears to be going through an interesting growing up phase

Verseatile x SJ – “Last Call”

+Great beat selection, enjoyable song overall
-SJ is kind of mediocre as a vocalist, the narrative is too slowly paced

Jargon x Joyce Angela – “Shoot ‘Em Down”

+’Gon can make some pretty decent radio-friendly tunes
-Joyce is aight but holds the song back

Gowe – “Lavender”

+Gowe’s found a winning formula with his rapid flows against the ethereal instrumental
-His singing on the other hand, could use some fine tuning

Mike B x Vincent Lacsamana – “Pinot Noir”

+Smooth song. And oowee that female lead is pretty.
-What you see is what you get. Nothing deep about this video.

Sam Ock – “Never Ending”

+Sam’s songs tend to have a larger than life feel
-The chorus is layered too thick for my tastes