We have been waiting
for it, now it’s here. The rap trio, The Art Departments, “While You Were
Sleeping” album is out now! You see, when you go out and say that the industry
has been sleeping on you and you offer the industry an album, you have to show
us that we were wrong for sleeping on you. Fortunately, we were lucky enough to
have the album for over a weekend and as it drops, here’s what we thought about
it.
The album starts off
with an intro that summarises pretty much all the songs on the album, but it’s
not one of those intros we can say a whole looot about, let’s go to the first
song.
Bang:
This song was the
official second single from their album. The instrumental was appropriate for
the song. We won’t say much about this one, because we already talked about it
here
For
The Money
It’s that song that has
never ceasing affirmation of what rappers/ hustlers/ anyone really will do to
get money. Only this one was more centred on them. The flows switching content
slightly between first, second and third verse, Tone LakeSide on that gotta
grow up tip, the second was on the more retrospective of how irrelevant Illsicker
was before and the third being about what we do for the money, “sell a shirt for $3.00” anything but
selling cough mixture hopefully. Veiltorn laid a beat that people could dance
to, not full out shake it but move to slightly.
Ride
with us
This was the
introduction we got to the Art Department. The PHD produced and Alaina featured
song as explained in one our blogs is really a “we will have the last laugh”
typa jam. Message to the unbelievers of the crew that they are “fly with the Desert Eagles”.. well, we
get the message fellas, you have guns and you don’t want us to ride with you. The
feeling of being underrated is one that most rappers in Zim and albeit, the
world over have, however not most of them can put the words in song and bring
it out properly. The Art Department did a good job at this. Alaina was great on
the chorus vocally but we think a lot more could’ve been done there in terms of
the wording.
Drunk
in The Morning
This song excludes Navy
Seal. The beat is not vicious or hard so much that you nod so hard your neck
hurts or anything. BUT, the title of the song and the content are misleading.
One would think “Drunk in the morning” would have more to do with being drunk
in the morning, e.g, we were partying all
night and woke up drunk in the morning, but more than anything else they were talking about the city having their backs or yes
again, getting money (it would be
hard to get money if you are drunk in the morning to be honest, unless of
course you drink for a living). The good thing is the delivery of the verses was
top notch but it’s one of those songs which leave you thinking “so what are
these guys really saying because we don’t see the connection between the phrase
“drunk in the morning” and the song itself…except on the chorus.
All
night
Once this song goes on,
you magically turn the volume up and get a head dance going. Navy Seal starts
it off like he was born with the beat on his tongue! The synthesiser effects
that jump in mid verse make you wonder who the hell produced such artistry! Good
thing we have the answer, PHD! By that time, you are in the chorus which sounds
oh so delectable, Rob Illsicker takes over, more effects are added as he
murders the second verse like Navy did in the first. The song is a party jam
straight from 2003! As the third verse starts, some effects are removed, we get
a closer feel of Tone Lakeside who like the first two verse owners kills it
with finesse. The song is so good Navy comes back with a bridge like thing and
magically, you press replay. WHAT MORE CAN WE SAY!
Dreams
of a man
After “All night” the
feel of this song sobers us up. “Dreams of a man” sounds like a more mature,
poetic, real and honest version of “For the money”. Robbie to us had the verse
which we feel stood out, the word play and how he just carries the mood of the
song without the usual rap “the more that
I get colder the more I write again, the more that I feel lonely , the more I
can hold this mic again” , something really special about the verse. If one
thought that these guys weren’t lyrical, it’s the song that shows you that they
are.
Cooling
Off
The reason why this
song is good is really because you just can’t find anything wrong with it,
NOTHING! It was not made for radio exactly but it would still be good for
radio. It’s a drink in cup song or driving home from a lit situation type of
song. The really lovely bit of the song is that it was produced by PHD who
produced the two songs before this one on the track list. The guy is versatile.
It might not be played like “All Night” but it will probably never leave your
play list. “ you know we international, the flow is metaphysic” If this was a
play on words with the name of the diaspora
legend MC Metaphysics then… good one Navy
Bring
it Back
Navy seal goes solo on
this TR Hitz produced song. Like “All night” it’s straight out of the early-mid
two thousands. You immediately confirm that Navy Seal was probably influenced
by Aftermath/ G Unit / Dr Dre sound. The awesome thing about it all is that he
left the song in a body bag. We think it’s one of the best songs on the album.
Party jam but it still packs a major gangster punch.
Set
It Off
“Beats
I am f**king the beats up, means I am leaving em pregnant, which means you
gotta get these f**king beats some contraceptive”
This is a straight up
street, gangster rap sounding; take no prisoners, ME AND MY CREW ARE BETTER
THAN YOUR CREW type of song. First Class showed us why he is named that way. We
thought this song was a killer till we heard the third verse, after that we had
no words, just listen to it.
Like
This
Braggadocio flows, The
song seems to be supposed to get our hands up but, with the current way in which
turn up songs are done, it might not be the most possible thing to do with the song.
Not too much stands out about the song. it’s a good song. It doesn’t hold a candle
to some of the better moments on the album.
Top
of the World
This track is a
motivational song. “why fly when you can walk on water”, it’s all about being
on the top of the world without the fear of falling. The mellow nature of the
song and the message behind it merge to take the message through to the
listener. It was a good way to close the album. It has a good balance content
wise, a more intimate and honest version of the come up of the crew. The Grind
continues
The
Over view
This collaborative
effort was a success. The Art Department have excellent synergy, their articulation
of their manner was well presented. They don’t sound like they are confused
about what sound they want to present or what they are associated with. There
is an undeniable American Hip Hop from the peak of the 50 Cent, G- Unit era
influence in this album. Strong hints of Aftermath type Dr Dre, 2002-2006 type
of hip hop are underlying characteristics of their music. These are especially apparent
in “All Night” and “Bring it back.
Question is, is there a
problem with it all? Most Zimbabwean MC’s are looking hard for the next
exclusively Zim sound? There is this “originality” thing that Zim rappers have
been told to look for but in the case of the Art Department, they seem to have
taken all that and flushed it down the toilet. When you listen to the album
again and again (like we did) you see as Navy says, that they make music for
real G’s, that he will still wear Timberland boots to church. THEY DON’T WANT
TO SOUND ALL VERNAC OR ZIMBO LIKE. We think that it was a bold approach and
they nailed it. Their choice in words, phrases, metaphors and similes really
sound like they are from some neighbourhood in New York but for some strange
reason, it’s not irritating, it’s really good.
One thing that we
noticed is that in as much as the songs are different, they all pretty much
talk about the same thing, “I am outchea hustling, tryna get paid, don’t mess
with my crew,” and repeat. We were not going to let them go especially with “Drunk
in the morning”. The album is pretty long too, slightly monotonous sometimes
mostly because of the content. The other noticeable (could be) flaw is that,
unless you listen to the whole album at least three times, you might have a
hard time picking out which one is Rob Illsicker, which one is Tone Lakeside,
you might just hear Navy Seal because of
a slightly different voice and style. Our issue here is that, they all have the
same style. Compare this with other groups, say G- Unit or MMT, their
individual differences in style make us anticipate what X will rap like in the
next song, as in say, at the beginning of the song when the beat drops, it’s a healthy
thing to always be prompted to have a , “I wonder what Tone Lakeside will sound
like on this beat”. However, because of their similarity, we can kind of
predict what will happen.
The Art Department have
songs that are nicely cleaned out, mastered, flawless in delivery. There aren’t
any words out of place, the instrumentals are balanced perfectly, chosen
appropriately for their content and just sound beautifully mastered. They are
disciplined in their approach; one can tell that they put a lot of thought in
this project. They respected the art and the producers didn’t give them a
shoddy job of it. We have nothing but praise for the technical team, the
producers of the song, the ones who arranged the songs and the artwork. The
only feature on the song, Alaina, didn’t do a bad job either and we hope to see
the visuals of some of the songs.
In conclusion, this
album has brought a sound which we had missed from Hip Hop in general. We are
so used to the trappy DJ Mustard sounds, loud bass, ear tearing beats or
slightly pop going Nigeria records where men dance but these guys kept the G in
HIP HOP. They stuck with the theme and truth be told, we have been sleeping on
them.
Rating 3.5/5
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