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Hip Hop: How Much Should You Sacrifice To Be Relevant?

So as an artist I've started to think about the question of relevancy. Like how much of your craft should you sacrifice in order to stay relevant? In some ways the answer is obvious. Just enough to keep your business alive so that you can have a craft to do in the first place. In other ways, it's less obvious. Take this for example; finding your style as a rapper can be a difficult task. The landscape of rap has changed so much in the last twenty years that it's hard for people to find their fit. In the past what was valued was pretty obvious. Lyrics. You always had your rappers that weren't quite as lyrical but relied on their cult of personality (which I hear was Tupac's claim to fame). You also had your complete booty rappers that were entirely commercial (Vanilla Ice for instance). But long story short, it was a market that was album driven and primarily featured lyricists. Now Hip-Hop has expanded so much that a lot of the things that make it "Hip-
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1st Podcast! Religion, Racist, Bombings: The Talk Show Where We Talk

https://soundcloud.com/kaiserunique/racist-religous-bombings Welcome to The Talk Show Where We Talk! Starring Kaiser, Volume and Xalkor. Yes, the SBs have done it again; bringing more spontaneous content! This time we finally wanted to fulfill our dream of having a podcast. And how'd it go? Mixed results. We cover a lot of ground in it by commenting on religion and dogma, addressing some racism and talking about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for waaaay toooo long! But regardless we got the time stamps for you right here: 0:00 Opening 1:32 Religion 8:40 Individuality 12:00 Ego Death ("Religion is Easy") 17:41 Racism ("Personally I blame white ppl") 19:31 Nation of Islam and Five Percenters 23:11 Pearl Harbor Debate 25:45 Historical Context 43:37 How did we get here? 44:45 Closing Also the episode is available on Volume's youtube channel in admittedly worst quality cause it lacks background music:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8
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Poses No Hero Opening 2

                https://vimeo.com/album/5204288  (Click here to see all the Openings) Yes, for this one we needed a whole album! To make up for the fact that the first Poses No Hero Opening was only 45 seconds this time the sequel Op is full-length but that's not all! Each of the creators decided to edit their own version of the Op, choosing different songs and editing them in their own style. So there's not 1 but 3 versions of Poses No Hero Opening 2, all of them available on Vimeo. This chapter of the saga also sees the arrival of a new character portrayed by Sloane and Kais and K Beemer as the returning cast members.         
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Kaiser: Tricknology (Rap)

https://soundcloud.com/kaiserunique/tricknology Would you believe me if I said I had to write this for English? The requirements of the assignment was make a song that has thematic relation to George Orwell's 1999 and the real world. Hence why you hear references like Big Brother, proles and Newspeak laced through out the song. The whole thing is a black pride song masquerading as an English project. It talks about the "Tricknology" that white people often deploy upon black people. Their ability to manipulate history since our history as a race is not present, the same way the government in 1984 does. So yea, lyrically I'm pretty proud of this one. Lyrics: Everyday I pledge allegiance To a nation that impedes us And constantly believes that it’s in their best to defeat us From each of our pain I guess they see some type of gain And protesting with a knee more contentious Than kill is shamed They think the fabric is more important than the symbol But that point
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Kaiser: 85 to 15 (Rap)

https://soundcloud.com/kaiserunique/85-to-15 This is my first track and first time using GarageBand. I w rote it after I heard Black Panther reached a billion dollars and it reflects in the lyrics. I’m no Kendrick, but I felt like he didn’t mix enough references in his Soundtrack for the movie. Didn't have much relevance to the movie’s plot or explore the bigger implications of what the movie said about the world. But it’s fine. I got it. Lyrics: Aiyo, my spirit has awoken We’re ain’t just playing tokens You got us in the box office game And then we broke it Just Keeping it a hundred or 99 that’s my slogan  Cuz the other 1 percent won’t be subjected to erosion The smart notice the program, like a pirate knows the ocean And the 85 percent deny the cause of the commotion  That’s our special potion we be ruling from underground We got every nation hooked on this hip hop sound  Cuz a colonizer knows what the fuck is vibrating  Some of em play
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Volume: Time (Poem)

Rivers flood the valley, overflowing with red Darkness hangs over the town like a fly swarm  The grim feeling settles in, and takes control Struggling, trapped under the heavy mountain A crushing sound echoes across the canyon  Rocks start falling, the rumble follows Screams are heard from the distance Birds flock away as if something bigger is there Rushing waterfalls get drowned by greatness Glass shakes and shatters, the shards obsolete, As small as each human's role in the universe Strength is drawn from the destruction and it's path Something rises up as the fire roars in the night  Trees collapse like buildings during an earthquake Crackling is heard for miles as the light is a signal  Flames burn everything that comes into vision  From the skies, something starts to stand up Someone larger than life emerges from the pain  Suffering builds the savior like cells to a person Legendary awe is felt throughout space and time 
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K Beemer: Sophomore Slump (Rap Album)

https://soundcloud.com/beam-n-blitz/sets/sophomore-slump-ep
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