Baton Rouge, Louisiana-native Dutty Devioso (@duttydevioso) is carrying on tradition for the region that birthed southern rap royalty like Lil Wayne, Juvenile and Boosie BadAzz. A true mirror of his life experiences, as well as experiences encountered by others, Dutty’s direct style is as heartfelt as it gets and beams with raw energy.
Dutty has a mission of bringing substance back to the game. He strays from surfing the current waves, opting instead to focus on crafting music devoid of gimmicks. In his own words, “I’m just delivering music from the heart.”
BGM Smoke’s (@BGMxSmoke) new album Menace to Society is based on BGM Smoke’s life and current situation. “Calling My Zoo Babies” is the lead single. BGM Smoke is an indie rap artist from Thomasville, GA.
In the words of Cesar Belifonte (@Cesar_Belifonte): “This song is going on my new up and coming mixtape #LowTolerencePt2 and it really displays my crazy punch lines, word play, and stamina due to the fact I killed the whole beat! Y’all will definitely luv #ZebrasRunnin!”
Anthony “Franco” Fortes (@anthonyfortes), is an artist from Salem, MA, who has a project coming out later this year rumored to be a very different sound than what we have here. Keep up with Franco on Instagram @francadellic
Sean T. (@seanthomps) is a producer and beatmaker who creates indie hip hop instrumentals and is looking to collaborate. This beat is a chill hip hop instrumental available for free for artists for a limited time. Go to its YouTube page and read the description for more info and subscribe to Sean T. for more dope beats!
Saúl’s (@souloperator) Vintage Collection 2008-2012 is a collection of instrumental and rap songs, hip hop and electronic beats, made between 2008 and 2012. Saúl is a beatmaker from Allentown, PA. He has been making music for 20 years and is now based in Tampa, FL.
What are the elements of popular songwriting?What makes a hit song? Multiple Billboard Top 10 songwriter Ron Hamrick’s single “Time” shows us many of these elements:
1) Feeling
Most people don’t talk about feeling with enough importance, but I’d say it’s the primary element. The songwriter needs to love what he’s doing. That love for music first and foremost shines through the moment Ron Hamrick’s voice enters the track.
2) Relief
The music feels like a great relief, i.e. that it stems from an authentic place in Ron Hamrick that feels every word he sings deeply and strongly. Every word and every nuance of every word is enveloped in the vision that Ron Hamrick is locked on, and which he’s trying to communicate.
3) Relatable
Before you know it, you’re in the chorus. Ron Hamrick touches a common chord in every person: time passing by.
No matter whether you’re a 55-year-old truck driver, a 35-year-old upcoming entrepreneur, and possibly harder for the younger generation, but there would be some early-20-year-olds and some teens also seeing what the song talks about: When you’re 13, you can still picture how you were an infant, a child in primary and secondary school, all kinds of different friends you’ve had, classes you’ve been in, your relatives, your parents and family. Places you’ve been, things you’ve seen and done. So Ron Hamrick chooses a topic that’s close to every person.
4) Picturesque
The lyrics weave together settings, objects, people and movements, making it easy to see music-video-like pictures of the sound painting Ron beautifully orchestrates.
The picture that came to me was a guy on a brown-and-white porch surrounded by green bush, kicking back with a cup of tea, as his eyes turned inwardly to his thoughts, and he traveled into a flow of memories and a contemplation of time. There was also lots of camera panning, zooming and movement involved in these pictures.
5) Optimistic
Shining guitars, and drums-and-bass that hold the rhythm with a persistently calm drive, bed the track with a characteristic simplicity and positivity.
While different to most music I listen to, at the level of these elements—feeling a love for music, music as a relief in life, a topic common to all people, picturesque lyrics and an optimistic tone—it shares so much in common in today’s hip hop and rap songs that I like, and yesterday’s grunge and metal songs that I liked (and still like), and the day-before-that’s pop and rock music that I liked (and also still like), i.e. when looking through a more fundamental lens, outside cultural influences, with focus on the common things to all people that Ron Hamrick’s music has, I greatly appreciate the intermingling of elements that have woven together through Ron Hamrick with such precise professionalism. Ron masterfully uses his songwriting and musicianship skills, his body, his guitar and his voice, as tools to express exactly what he wants to sing to every person alive on the planet.
In addition to all that, since I help artists with their branding, I also have to mention Ron Hamrick’s genius branding tactic: using “Ron Hamrick is an internationally acclaimed Billboard Top 10 songwriter” as his tagline.
Why is this so genius?
It’s because, without knowing anything about Ron, when I received an email with Ron’s material, before clicking to listen to his music, I clicked to find out about him, and in about 2 or 3 places, it was strongly mentioned “Ron Hamrick is an internationally acclaimed Billboard Top 10 songwriter.” Thus, before I even started listening to his music, I already had the context locked into my head of “Okay, let’s find out why’s Ron Hamrick is such a successful songwriter.” Then, with that inquisitive ear, I entered the song, and the music started playing out as many answers to this question: “Why is Ron Hamrick a successful songwriter? It’s because…” and then I heard and wrote the reasons above. I believe that Ron’s branding approach and the domino effect it caused in me is worth a mention, because the context you set before people approach you helps shape the perception and feelings that you’re trying to convey.
I wish to thank Ron for the opportunity to listen intently on his music and write this review, which I believe provides great value to any upcoming musician, as well as anybody who wishes to take a deeper look inside a great musical experience.
Navan (@NavanReal) records, produces, mixes and masters the majority of his material. His self-titled album, “Navan,” really defines who he has become from his near past.
About Navan:
In the words of Navan: “My Journey, My Story, My truth; I am a self taught Producer, Mixing/Mastering Engineer, and recording artist from Chicago, Illinois. I live in my car as of now in Los Angeles. I have been living in my car for 7 months, I went to school for 5 months in Hollywood, which was a music school.”
That naughty-boy British voice of Keith Flint blazes around a sound completely unique to its own. No one brazes such a horn-like sqwanking tone that Keith Flint could reach. His coupling with Prodigy made him forever memorable. #RIPKeithFlint
One of the greatest things music can do is take you from emotional point A to emotional point B, and even C, D and E etc. in just a few minutes. That’s exactly what Love Ghost’s “Mr. Blue” achieves.
Aside from the warm guitar tang, the full, chunky-yet-bouncy drums, the chest-felt bass undercurrent, graduating into a blooming ensemble of strings, pads and lead guitar, and the voice seated in the center holding a strong body throughout… i.e. aside from the luscious production and engineering work, the song makes a great use of dynamic range and intensification.
“Mr. Blue” opens at a relatively receded energy level. The more the song evolves, the more the interaction of efforts to combine sounds of the different instruments and the vocals together, materializing into a flourishing bouquet of harmonious elements.
The accumulation erupts when the chorus hits, like a drone camera sweeping into shore from high above the beach… waves of “I am Mr. Blue-oo” flowing over a field of an epic distorted guitar and additions of more and more strings and pads, continuously intensifying throughout and leading each time to the next song plateau.
Vocally, Love Ghost give out a hand to their parachute partners participating in the listening experience. In a style that can often spill into vocal overload, Finnegan Bell maintains a moderateness that is fair and perfectly complementary to the instrumentation. His inviting vocal delivery finds an integral slot in the dense palate of sound space that Love Ghost masterfully fill up thanks to producer Carl Restivo, known for working on Tom Morello’s The Atlas Underground.
With such a pleasurable musical world that Love Ghost generates, the connection to life’s problems communicates through the plane of language: the pain of Finnegan’s depression, struggle with relationships and finding his place in society clashing with the uplifting musical current like waves on the shore.
I see the world is tainted
I bid you all adieu
I am Mr. Blue
Ah, how the painful experience of life gives more flavor to the pleasurable experience of music. That’s what I love about Love Ghost, which is what I’m sure Love Ghost also loves about Love Ghost.
Or maybe, the experience of connecting to make music gives more flavor to the pleasurable experience of music. That’s actually what I love more about Love Ghost, which is what I also now think Love Ghost loves more about Love Ghost.
Here’s a great shot of them together…
About Love Ghost:
Love Ghost is an alternative rock band consisting of Finnegan Bell (guitar and vocals), Mya Greene (Viola and Keyboard), Ryan Stevens (Bass and background vocals) and Samson Young (drums). They have just returned from a successful tour of Ireland where they played Whelan’s, Crane Lane, Roisin Dubh and Spirit Store (amongst others). They will be touring Japan in March and have 11 shows booked in Tokyo and Osaka. On April 27th they will be one of the featured bands in de Música de Vanguardia Festivalfff in Ambato, Ecuador- and they will be playing 2 shows in Quito prior to the Festival.
