Nick Grant has been rapping his ass off, have you been listening?
Most of you already know how dope Nick Grant is and has been since he stormed on the scene late last year with his freestyle on Sway In The Morning. His ’88 mixtape that dropped back in February still stands as one the best releases this year and the number of singles he’s dropped since then were dope too.
But, in the last 30 days Grant has taken it up a notch showing that he can be a rapper who can drop music fast enough to trend online, as well as craft songs that will live forever.
Exhibit A: +ONE
When Solange‘s A Seat At The Table album dropped, it was so dope that many started wondering who was going to be the first rapper to have the audacity to rap over the instrumentals and f*ck it up for everybody. We won’t name any names, but there were a few people who stepped up only to let us down. However, Grant went the extra mile and selected a handful of songs that he felt inspired to jump on and you could hear how serious he took it. On +ONE Grant rapped over the repurposed beats with purpose and concepts, instead of just jumping on a beat and talking about whatever.
Exhibit B: “The Sing Along”
Most times when a new artist comes in the game pointing out what they feel is wrong with it, they are dismissed as a hater and rightfully so. You can’t criticize Dwight Howard’s late-game free throw shooting if the only experience you have is hooping at LA Fitness. Grant dared to criticize the current state of mainstream rap with his single “The Sing Along” that dropped on November 11. The Organized Noize-produced track draws attention to how many listeners are unconsciously singing along to tracks about being drug addicts and repeat offenders, on purpose. Talking about what’s “f*cking up the game” isn’t a new concept, but Grant avoid entering “hater” territory by actually making a dope song out of it and not just ranting on a beat. The only other time a new artist was able to make such bold observations and criticisms and be good at it was when Common [Sense] did it with “I Used To Love H.E.R.” back in 1994. That song went on to be a classic.
Exhibit C: “Luxury Vintage Rap”
Nick Grant has already garnered some Nas, AZ and Andre 3000 comparisons, but with his newest offering “Vintage Luxury Rap” he gets on his ’95 Raekwon sh*t. Here he just goes in for three minutes straight, no hooks, no bridges, just a couple moments to catch his breath and let the beat breathe. He provides plenty of lyrical guillotines but it’s knowledge God lines like “I don’t believe the devil came as a snake, why would he come as something you naturally hate” that steal the show.
Nick Grant’s debut album Return Of The Cool is set to drop early next year. Please wake up by then.
