Imagine this: You go on to start your day and are strolling the frenzied streets of New York, when you see a crowd of people huddled in a circle. When you go over to see what’s going on, there are two emcees in the middle of this crowd, going bar for bar with a rough-and-ready approach, spitting substantial content and (beneath the surface) is leaving a trail for the emerging rap generation to instill this in the brains of our youth and wise ones. This is what Len Lama portrays in his debut album You Only Live Forever. Coupled with flex lines & phenomenal production, Len Lama brings back an old-school feel as he paints a picture with his words about his life, advice and advancements against his competition. From the onset of “Lenticular”, its spit over a complex built-up beat that leaves off a futuristic sound and it gives the listener “food for thought” on who Len Lama really is as he says “it’s a brand new motherf*ckin day, gotta get to it, n*gga no hesitate”, tagging that Len Lama works hard for what he has now. Following his proclamation is “Addis Ababa” which starts off with a trunk-rattling base and displays clean-cut lyricism and in summary: tells the crowd that he is the man of the function. “Loodie Name Len Loofa” is a piece of the album in which he re-invents what original New York rap sounds like and in return gives a wise perspective as he says “Unspoken words connect with the wise, and made men grab new muscle”. As “Honey” surfaces two tracks ahead, Len’s lyricism portrays that even he, isn’t perfect and has faults. It extracts a side of him that the audience can relate to and look back on. “Thug Reaper” “CCeason II” and “Ninety Three” reveal the tone once more of the album that would lead you to know that Len is wise for his age and wants to guide his generation towards the same direction. They hold impactful content with some reminiscent of artist like Nas and The Wutang as Lama proclaims lines like “Use your mind, quit with the clocking”/“Young with epiphany let’s get these chips G”. However, this album just isn’t a basic listen, it’s something that is rejuvenating to the music industry. It holds truth and power to the generation that we live in, and has a collection of songs filled with vivacious, complex loops intertwined with razor-sharp wordplay and in return, allows us to capture not only growth in Lama, but in ourselves.
Check it out: https://lenlama.bandcamp.com/album/you-only-live-forever
@eyeofthelama 🔥
By: Natalee Gilbert 🔆