Your Absolutely Right EP: A Breakdown by ByLwansta with Hoover. (pt. 2)
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5. Grey Feat. Kimosabe (Prod. Yondo)
Hoover’s Impression: Think “Brenda had a baby” and “Runaway Love” but this one is way more personified. Focus is one girl that dude feels for. I think it might be a white girl because he says that the girl’s mom doesn’t really fucks with him because of the color of his skin)
“Grey” serves as a continuation of the short tale told on “Indian Ocean”, linked by the beach and storm ambiance that play in the beginning and end of both songs; the sunny beach day fades into a storm creating the mood and tone for the continuation This is a song I’m not incredibly vocal about; the day my girlfriend broke it down for me, back in 2014, I was rendered absolutely mute. my lips seem to have been stuck together with some kind of glue made of unhappiness, I couldn’t contribute a single thing to the conversation that day.
We’d obviously speak about the results of it when things would come, but we never really reflected on what initially happened and started it. Two years later it would make up a song, the last song I recorded on the EP. I kept all the songs and the process away from my girl, she understood, she just never expected anything she’d hear on the 11th of August.
One day I was streaming some beats on the Tube, those “type beats”. I then came across a beat by Yondo, and followed the link in the video’s description to his catalogue, which had a “cart” “pay” interface that would take you to PayPal to complete your purchase. So I spent the afternoon listening to all the beats there and I found the one for “Grey”, after having freestyled over 70% of his catalogue, and proceeded to confirm and finalize my $25 purchase.
On NORMVL, I had a song titled “The Corner” which uses a similar anatomy and blueprint I used on “Grey”. “The Corner “, named after the SA Hip Hop Awards cipher I took part in a few years back, found me having a conversation with my father via phone call, explaining to him how strong the passion for music is and pleading that he to allow my brother Kimosabe and I to pursue it freely. The song ends with a sort of distorted, rewinding sound effect that suggests that the phone call never happened. Basically, the conversation, or rather, confrontation I’m having on “Grey” is only something I’ve imagined-- how I’d speak to her mother, how I’d approach her, how I’d get to the point, without disrespecting her as an adult. Neither “The Corner” or “Grey” have cuss words.
6. Stay At Home! Feat. Sipho The Gift (Prod. LonzTooStoned)
(Hoover’s Impression: The hardest joint on the EP, I could play this in the club or at the gym. Sipho The Gift also comes thru with ether on the joint. Maybe this song is a shot at his peers and the competition as a whole).
“Stay At Home!” is a more specific extension of “Funny How”. Both songs touch on the idea of me leaving home for the first time and changing. This song is particular tackles the a more specific kind of change.
As far as I remember I’ve never been one to easily succumb to peer pressure, at all. I was always confident in my choices. My reasons for doing or not doing certain things had very little to do with opinions of others but rather were purely based on my OWN personal preference. I didn’t/don’t drink alcohol because I abhor the taste of it on my tongue. I’ve always been a taste person, so the first time I was high off marijuana, it was via a space muffin, I loved the taste. I think it was a chocolate space muffin so it was an intense first trip. It was never a habit.
Fast forward to my departure from home to pursue my studies in 2014, I was exposed to them more than I was before but it still never became a habit. I was tripping more often than I ever had, waking up every morning regretting it because I panic and get anxious when I’m productive and the high makes me very unproductive.
I’d reflect and introspect every following day, disappointed in myself, beating myself up and etc. the song itself sources that internal conflict as inspiration. Sipho The Gift had a different take on the concept, through introspection, he beats himself up based off his dissatisfaction of the progression of his rap career.
I met the producer, Lonz Too Stoned a few years ago in East London. I had a show in the evening and my then manager and best friend was originally from that side, Lonz was one of his boys. In 2016, I liked an EC Hip Hop music Facebook page called The Blacksmithed. It had profiled one of his beat tapes, so I checked it out and found this beat. I inboxed and he sent it my way.
“Stay At Home!” is the outlier of the EP. I chose to do that because the song itself touches on the topic of influence. I decided to communicate the idea of influence further using the sound I’m being hassled to create
7. The Sigh (Prod. By Champ')
(Hoover’s Impression: Frustration and the feeling of anger is what initially sensed on this one. Frustration and the feeling because you can rap the hardest but your efforts will be overlooked. From radio airplay to your video being sent back because it doesn’t meet the criteria)
Hype Magazine ranked me the number 1 Most Aggressive SA Hip Hop Artist purely because of this song here. I don’t write this with much pride because I don’t necessarily see myself that way; I just think I’m extremely expressive and subjective. Although it was cool that they noticed my work, I’m not an angry rapper.
“The Sigh” was basically me reaching my boiling point while trying to promote and plug my short film (Lindiwe Short Film) onto several platforms and failing. It was about many of my other grievances too: being overlooked, under booked, and underestimated. I was very unhappy and frustrated. The industry wasn’t responding as well as my listeners were and it frustrated me to the point of minor emotional breakdown. That scared me, but it also assured me that this is what I really wanted. The song was produced by Durban-based Hip Hop artist and producer, Champ, who also mixed and mastered the EP. The song was recorded at his studio (Winnerz Circle Inc). I had caught the flu earlier that week, but because I was on and off campus and hadn’t had a chance to relax and recuperate, we recorded the song anyway, my flu voice added such an interesting effect to my delivery, it sounded very painful and I absolutely loved that.
“The Sigh” is one of my most honest songs to date, and contrary to popular belief, despite name-dropping, there were 0 shots taken at other rappers. That song was about the way I felt, not how I feel about other rappers. I didn’t discredit anyone, that isn’t the point of my music.
8. The Routine (Prod. By BeatMochini)
(Hoover’s Impression: Hmmmmmmm. I don’t have much to say on this one. I think Ima leave it to the rapper to break it down)
By now, the listener should have identified the transition from a slightly light-hearted tone to a darker, more aggressive one on the EP. On “Grey”, ByLwansta seems to bag on himself a lot more on the last 2 songs.
“The Routine” in particular serves as an unexpected account of how my performance at Back To The City ’15 really went. Unexpected because I’ve never publically spoken about what really happened or how I really felt, I just shared a YouTube link to a mini-doccie of my experience and a positive account on my Facebook. Meanwhile I busy dying inside. I was never satisfied upon leaving the stages of the shows that followed that one. Yeah, it might have seemed like I had a great set but something inside me never allows me to have it, never completely happy after a set. There always seems to be something I fucked up, I don’t know, I’m just never happy.
On the contrary, I’ve had 2 shows since the release of Your Absolutely Right, and they’ve gone surprisingly, really well.
The beat was produced by Beat Mochini. He tweeted me one day about how he wants to do a song for me because “kid got character”. I followed up and he sent me a couple options, I chose this one and started writing immediately.
I had suppressed my disappointment until I heard that beat I called it “The Routine”. It references what always goes on in my head as I get off stage, it seemed almost routine for me to always feel as if I underperformed after a set.
9. Something To Say Feat. Clara-T (Prod. ByLwansta)
(Hoover’s Impression: There are undeniably some shots being sent on this joint. The lady Clara T comes thru with bars. I think this is one of those joints where a rapper just flosses. Lwansta does this in a sense by saying that I know I’m good and I got the raps to back it up. If the labels don’t see it and if we don’t see it, that’s cool with cause sooner rather than later, we will see his shine)
Then there’s this song, My love for it is similar to that of “Funny How”, for a similar reason, I didn’t skip a single step in the creation process, because I was the performing artist (one of) AND the songs were produced y me.
The dark tone of the previous four songs sort of switches up on this one. Despite not necessarily being as light-hearted as “NORMVL Still”, “Indian Ocean” and “Funny How”, purely because I took on the role of being an asshole in this particular song, “Something To Say” bring about a vibe-y transition.
On this song owned my dark and negative thoughts and converted them into something more positive, like a bomb-ass song.
Originally the song was to be titled “Negative Energy” because it converted all my negative energy, disappointment, frustration, anger into something positive. I didn’t allow my negativity to defeat me on this song, I owned it and reigned confident. Just like “Funny How”, I made 2 versions of the beat for “Something To Say”, but unlike “Funny How”, which was remade as a result of my PC crashing, I remade “Something To Say” because I felt the song deserved a different, more vibe-y sound to it. Clara-T, whom I had reached out to for the guest verse, agreed and was quite happy about the change.
Clara-T and I met at a cipher for a Durban Hip Hop award show (OMAZ – Original Material Awards) submissions session near UKZN in 2014. I joined the cipher after I had submitted and caught up just in time to catch her rapping and I jumped in straight after. We added each other on Facebook a few days later.
“Something To Say” would’ve been our second collaboration if my PC hadn’t crashed, with some vocals I had recorded for her; the timing was perfect, to say the least, because we’re both making some noticeable advancements in our budding careers. We were both booked for Back To The City 2015, which says a lot about the pace we’re working and moving at.
“Something To Say” seemed like the perfect anthem for people like her and I, with people always in our ears with advice and corny suggestions. This song is a perfect reminder to stay on my established and desired path.
Hoover’s conclusion
I guess this EP is my introduction to Lwansta with this being the first project I've heard from him. It's refreshing to hear a cat from DBN rap the way he does and I think, with what has been said by him in the Ep, it'll remain that way. From the move to DBN, trying to find his place and where he fits in the Rap and also just dealing with what life throws at him, one thing has been a constant on the EP: the raps are consistent from start to finish.
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