Fokis featuring Drive-By - "The Switch Up"

By -


American rapper Fokis has an upcoming project called Seasons Change, People Too: The Experiment. For the project's first single, Fokis brought in German emcee Drive-By. "The Switch Up" sees Fokis rapping German lyrics that Drive-By wrote and Drive-By rapping English lyrics written by Fokis. The song is a total throwback to early 90's hip hop, which is kind of my hip hop glory days. It's the kind of hip hop that isn't the gangsta rap or positive hip hop of the day. It's lying kind of in the middle. But it's going to make you nostalgic for that era, regardless of how much rap you listened to in your youth.

In a press release, Fokis talks about the song:

"I've been touring Germany since 2018 and have connected with the people really well and in the process I also learned a few basic words in German. One day I thought to myself, what if I wrote a verse and had a German rapper say it, and a German rapper wrote a verse for me, to say... so I reached out to my boy Drive-By with the idea and he was all in. It took him 20 minutes to record what I wrote for him and took me 8 hours to record what he wrote for me, but we got it done and had fun doing it."

You can watch the video for "The Switch Up" below. For more on Fokis, check out the artist on Facebook. You can find Drive-By's Facebook here.

On Repeat...

Liam Kazar - "Shoes Too Tight"

By -
Image
Photo by Alexa Viscius This may be Liam Kazar's debut single, but the Chicago based musician already has an impressive resume, having worked with Jeff Tweedy, Chance the Rapper, Steve Gunn, Daniel Johnston, and others. "Shoes Too Tight" features childhood friend Spencer Tweedy on drums, Lane Beckstrom on bass, and Ohmme on vocals. It's an absurdly fun and groovy little song that is a party waiting to happen. What he gives us here is a timeless song that could truly have been released any time since the 1960's (ok... maybe not the 80's...) There are elements of classic rock, 60's crooners and R&B, indie rock, modern Americana... it's really just packed with everything in a cohesive song that maintains the vibe the entire way through. You can watch the video for "Shoes Too Tight" below. For more on Liam Kazar, check him out on Instagram and Twitter . He's also raising money on his Bandcamp for Constellation and The Hungry Brain. ...
Read more

The Freqs - "Witch"

By -
Image
Photo via Facebook When you're a rock band from Salem, MA, you have to have at least one song about witchcraft. The Freqs have fulfilled their obligation with a banger of a song. "Witch" is this giant monster of a song, filled with fuzz and strained, screaming vocals. This is the type of song that doesn't usually exist in this century. It's giving me some serious 90's flashbacks, like if Hum got aggressive or Alice in Chains decided to do some damage on the college charts. As great as the vocals are in "Witch," what's really drawing me in is the instrumental break down that takes over about halfway through. This is the kind of song to make the hipsters and the headbangers equally excited. You can listen to "Witch" below. For more on The Freqs, check out the band on Facebook and Instagram . The Freqs · Witch
Read more

Dutch ReBelle - "GOONIEZ"

By -
Image
How is Dutch ReBelle not a national superstar at this point? The Boston MC just released "GOONIEZ," and I know I'm a bit out of touch with current mainstream hip hop, but this song is absolutely killer. It's a stripped down hip hop song that has this futuristic space age sound to it. Plus, ReBelle's flow is unsurpassed. You can't listen to her and not be completely sucked in. The song has a feel reminiscent of classic Missy Elliott. As much as I love that we can still see Dutch ReBelle in smaller Boston venues, "GOONIEZ" proves she should be playing much larger venues nationwide very, very soon. You can watch the video for "GOONIEZ" below. For more on Dutch ReBelle, check out the artist's website . 
Read more