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[yarkmagazine]

HOW HELL CAN WAIT CHANGED MY LIFE

Ya boy Zaanx is back and this time I’m writing about how a single mixtape changed how I wanted my life trajectory to go and my view on life itself. Honestly I probably wouldn’t be writing this article right now if it wasn’t for Hell Can Wait by Long Beach’s very own Vince Staples.

Hell Can Wait by Vince Staples came out during a very influential faze in my life and it wasn’t just Vince but Odd Future,TDE, A$AP Mob, Flatbush Zombies and Pro Era were essentially the cycle of music I was listening to at the time along with some other artists here and there. Vince along with Odd Future but mainly Vince impacted my life to the point it changed how I viewed it. Hell Can Wait was that catalyst. Not only were all the songs bangers but the whole message behind the album. Vince did an interview where he said he got the title of the album from what his mom and grandma used to tell him, “Hell ain't gonna wait for you to get your shit together”. The album is basically talking about the feeling of having all the time in the world. Off the first song “Fire” the hook hits with him just repeating “I'm probably finna go to Hell anyway” so that I took that phrase and ran with it. At that point I  told my self imma do what I want to do and stopped trying to do what everyone else was or wanted me to do and “65 hunnid” just reinforced that feeling.  “Screen Door” having some of the best storytelling I’ve ever heard till this day and is still my standard for story telling rap. Not to mention songs like “Hands up” still having relevance 6 years later which really is sad when you think about it. The way the album ends with “Feelin’ the love” feels so relatable too. With the hook talking about how he want to take the love he feels when he is alive when he’s gone which in itself is just something I think everyone really wants because no one wants to die lonely. It changed how I approached people I never tried to make people like me because to me that always came off as fake but I was always me and if you fuck with me imma fuck with you and if you don’t then ok. But to those people that do fuck with me I got friends for life even if I don't see them or talk to them all the time.

I didn’t talk about every song on the mixtape cause this isn’t a mixtape review but I think y’all get the point. The feelings he got across through a mixtape impacted how I viewed life, made me do what I want and set a standard for one of my favourite styles of rap and for that, Vince Staples will always be one of my favourite rappers ever.

[yarkmagazine]

The Summer of Migos and No Label 2 Causing A Kitchen Fire

Whats poppin with it again, ya boy Zaanx is back and this time I'm taking y’all back to the summer of 2014. We was in high school, didn’t have no taxes to pay, wasn’t old enough for a job. “Versace remix” went crazy and put the Migos on, no matter how many people want to say it was Childish Gambino no it was Drake on the “Versace remix”.

Anyways Its the end of the school year and “No label 2” just dropped and because they were the new hot thing on the streets everyone was listening to it. “Contraband”, “Add it up”, “Fight night”, “Handsome and wealthy”, “Freak no more” this mixtape had hits, not to mention because they were just blowing up there older songs were going crazy too , “China Town” and “Hannah Montana” just to name a few but the  Migos were going crazy. So because its the end of the school year we got final assignments to do and for this one I have a partner the homie Shelli (you’ve heard him or seen him if you’ve tuned into Yark Radio) so one Saturday I go over to his house to work on this project I don't remember what it was for I just remember what transpired because of it I just know its early not crazy early but early enough. So we sitting in the kitchen figuring out what we are going to do and we are listening to music while working on it as most high school students do. While we are in the kitchen doing this either his mom or grandma was in the kitchen cooking Aki and Saltfish and as soon as we started playing Migos “No Label 2” Bam!!! stove catches on fire.The house and everyone was fine no one got hurt and everything got under control.  But till this day I’ve played many a song, albums, mixtapes, projects, playlists not one had started a kitchen fire so all them memes of songs being hot and this shit burning down a house, Shelli and Me lived it.

I know the Migos are in the hot seat of late but lets remember the better times with the Migos, and Saweetie holla at me ;)