NEW MUSIC
HIP HOP NEWS
03-03-2023 15:30 GMT
BLCK TAPE
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| Music industry update | Mississippi, USA | Indie artist, Coolidge |
Let me explain. When I first arrived at the SRL Music News room on my first day at work, the first thing I noticed was that there was a shower right on the left of the entrance. I thought to myself "that’s awkward, I'm never showering here". I've never been more wrong. And then I looked closer and saw a small sign that read “no ball games, mkay?”. I thought to myself “what kind of sick twisted homophobic place is this?” I went in to investigate and my eyes were immediately met by a well-built man walking out of a shower stall with a really small towel, almost the size of a face cloth on his shoulder. He was grabbing his crotch like they do on MTV, and rubbing it a little bit like Michael Jackson, as if he was feeling something owing to some really deep thoughts. He had really piercing eyes and when he noticed someone staring out of his peripheral he didn’t even stop to pay any attention. It was Monday morning so I thought to myself again “what the f* IS this place?” After spending ten plus years at SRL, I finally appreciate the importance of the shower. I’m about to be really awesome right now. So buckle up! I’m gonna need a really long shower after this.
When people ask me how I became such an amazing and successful writer my response is the same every time. “F* off! And F* You for asking”. I don’t say it to them but I’m thinking it, he-he-he. Then I respond with something really ambiguous and abstruse, and walk off leaving them in a state of shock and confusion while simultaneously trying to decipher my clever or meaningless words. My new intern asked me that last week, I totally f*cked his head up with the answer I gave him. He still looks at me funny and tries not to make eye contact. Now, imagine you are an overenthusiastic, overambitious, really hot teenage boy (not cool hot - sweaty hot, you know from all the raging hormones and the persistent boners that need to be tamed), dressed from head to toe in Armani but with a bus pass sticking out of your back pocket and the outline of a condom that you obviously carry everywhere vaguely noticeable in your shirt pocket. I’ve been there, I know, that’s totally not weird – you wanna be ready whenever and WHEREVER the moment arrives right? You'd hate to miss a perfectly good opportunity to play your first round of golf because of something as silly as not bringing a hat. That’s totally cool, but that’s not your size silly boy. ("Patting you on the head with a pitiful smile - in my mind - in your imagination of this scenario. "). You just graduated from music school and you are so ambitious, so determined you’d put hot sauce on your ear and fight Mike Tyson to make it in the music business, if that's what it takes. So you ask your boss (me), who by the way you look up to and think is so cool…and smells really awesome all the time too: “I read your last article, it was so amazing. How’d you become such a great writer?” I got pissed off! I looked you straight in the eyes and then pierced your soul ever so gently with my rage, just a little bit - so you could really feel where I was coming from (not to hurt you obviously). And My response was: “You young f*, EVERYTHING IS SH*T! EVERYTHING!”. Then I walked away calmly. I apologised later that day even though I knew the damage had already been done - we're still totally cool. He even bought me coffee the other day. Wait, should I not have drunk it? OMG, I hope he didn't stir it with his willy or put something disgusting inside it. I feel awful now, I think I'm gonna throw up... Oh wait no, I think I'm good, it was just gas... I also felt really bad for calling him Young F*, I had been listening to that old rapper Young Buck of the hip hop crew G-Unit earlier that morning so I just played with the name a little bit and blurted it like a crazy person. He has since adopted it as his rap name and everyone thinks it's really catchy. See? Wasn't all bad after all. Everyone's happy.
I know you need an explanation for the rest of what I said, so I’ll go ahead and dive right into it. I live my life by a very simple philosophy that most people would generally have the tendency to think is weird, but it’s totally not - I promise. I’m not weird. You think I’m really cool remember? And I smell really good. When was the last time you met someone weird who smelled really good? I know, never right? I’ve never really told anybody but I was really pissed off that day because I had some important stuff to do and I generally hate when people ask me questions. Again that’s totally not weird. That’s just my thing – don’t ask me questions. I believe in the philosophy so strongly that I wrote it on the back of one of my business cards the day I discovered it and I’ve carried it everywhere I've gone ever since. In fact I’ve got it in my chest pocket right now. My philosophy is , and you probably know this already if you know me but it will shed so much light on so many things: “everything is Sh*t”, and if you didn’t understand it the first and the second time – “EVERYTHING, SHYTE!”.
I can only imagine the shock on the face of whoever receives that business card in the event that I accidentally give it to someone, he-he-he. And what is it with people and business cards? Why do they always turn the back of card the minute you give it to them? Try it, give the next person you see your business card and see if they don’t look at the back of it at some point before putting it in their pocket. If you don’t have a business card give them a piece of paper with something written on it and specifically tell them the information they need is only on the front.
But where were we? Ah yes…
Remember at the start of the article when I mentioned that my reaction to that question was to respond with something really ambiguous and abstruse, and walk off leaving the subject in a state of shock and confusion while simultaneously trying to decipher my clever or meaningless words? I was totally going to do that to you, but you’re so persuasive (darn you!), so I’ll explain.
Have you ever bought a new phone? And then after about a year or even less of using it, looked at the old one that you thought was so awesome?
See? There, you have it! Deciphered.
Everything needs improving. If it looks like sh*t a year after you had the new one and it hadn’t changed a bit since the first day you bought it, except for the scratches on the screen and any damage you did to it, then it WAS shit to begin with – you just had nothing better to compare it with. The point is everything needs improving – everyone needs improving. No matter how amazing you are you’ll always have to be better, and if you do look back at your old self the chances of you thinking you were sh*t may not be very slim depending on how much better you’ve become at the time of looking back. So there you have it. Doesn’t seem like such a weird philosophy now does it? But don’t feel bad, that’s nothing to feel bad about, I promise. I totally forgive you.
And finally, to sum things up: the reason I gave that as my response to the question “how’d you become such a great writer?” is that I never like to think about how great I am or how great I want to become – I’d rather think about how much I want to improve. Hence the rage when asked.
Phew! To be honest with you I can’t believe we’ve strayed so far from what you and I both came here for. I would be sorry but I’m not because I’ve just managed to get a huge load off my chest and off my mind. In case you didn’t know already – SRL's writers room runs on a cloud-based collaborative writing software thingy. That means all the writers who bothered to come into work today and do some actual work can see everything I’m writing and can comment and interact anonymously – I’m also anonymous. We’re all anonymous in the cloud but we can easily guess or speculate on who’s writing. So they probably know it's me from my writing style and the things I've said, and I haven’t received a single eggplant emoji through out this writing session. I feel so awesome right now. Oops!! I spoke too soon, here they come – one, two, three eggplant emojis just arrived. Sigh! And I thought I was doing great. Wait yuk!! Someone just kissed one of the eggplant emojis. Yuk, yuk, yuk. I’m getting the hell out of here, there are obviously some sick writers in here today. Oh wait, the news story. Let’s do it.
On the 11th of February, 2 0 23 when Mississippi rapper Drevo Coolidge released what was expected to be his best work to date, after years of evolving progressively and persistently defying the expectations of even the most discerning hip hop music critics, everyone who has followed since the start of his illustrious independent music career knew it was gonna be huge. How huge was the only thing that was uncertain. With songs like “Decimals”, “Can I Have Your Number” - one of his earlier works but still a classic, “Red Alert”, “Vinci Code” , “Passport”, and the list goes on and on and on; Coolidge has defined and redefined himself year after year and is now at a place sonically where some of the greatest rappers in the game right now may only be able to dream of. Creative freedom is what makes independent artists so special to the music industry but when an artist is free to create anything at any given time it is possible for them to stray too far from the sweet spots of the very music fans they make the music for at the time of making it. This is never the case with Coolidge and that’s what makes him so special. That’s also what makes this new release so extra-special according to many critics and fans. It’s everything you didn’t expect to hear yet it sounds so familiar and so natural. The numbers are jumping and “Blck Tape” is being discussed and promoted by almost every self-respecting independent music outlet out there on the wild wild web so of course we’ll be reviewing it in the coming days to tell you how amazing it is and how much more amazing it is than the last major album, “King Drevo” which was released back in 2021, and all the exciting EPs and singles that followed. The new album is available to stream and download on Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal and all popular digital music streaming and download platforms; as well as selected indie/independent/underground/emerging/upcoming music promotion and music discovery platforms.
Of course, as is customary, there are a good number of concert dates lined up to promote the new album. There is even talk of a Blck Tape Tour in the works. As usual, concert tickets, radio dates, online events and details of other live appearances where you can see and/or hear the fast-rising Jackson, Mississippi sensation live in the flesh are available on the Skunk Radio Live Events page. His next live appearance has been scheduled for the 4th of March, 2023 when he will be performing live at the MPV Lounge in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Get your tickets before they're all gone. Alright I think it's time for me to hit the office showers now. It's been emotional. Have a wonderful day, I know I will. See you tomorrow.
Explicit.
Spotify:
Apple Music:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/blck-tpe-ep/1669568700
Follow Coolidge on Twitter:
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