Rhyme Asylum - Life Support; the state of Hip Hop

Another track from Rhyme Asylum called Life Support from their album Solitary Confinement. This time it features the three main artists of this UK group; Possessed, Psiklone and Skirmish. This track is primarily about the hip hop culture itself and the group’s position within it.

Here is the video followed by lyrics:

[Verse 1: Skirmish]

It’s funny how I fell in love from my first ‘yo’
Blood, sweat, tears in every verse wrote
With every word spoke
But I’l do this music if I earn dough or I was dirt broke
[‘Lyrical Exercise’]
But people respect the grind more than they respect the rhymes
We make sure the names of all the heads that died
Will always be kept alive
And [‘How long will they mourn me?’] – Everyday until the end of time
Look at the legacy they left behind
And [‘One Love’] to the lyricists that still exist
Coz I couldn’t picture this
[‘It was all a dream’] before it was thoughts I’d see
When I close my eyes and fall asleep but now I’m living it
This rapping shit ain’t a passing phase
Cos the habit is hard to break I can’t escape

[Verse 2: Psiklone]

I put my soul in every rhyme that I write
['Big L Rest In Peace'] – cos [‘Ripping mics is the light of my life']
Been fed up and my stomach is cramped
The scene has practically vanished but my hunger is back
Classics are haphazard
All I see is backpackers, wack rappers, black adders and backstabbers
As if that matters
When we’re out laying the ground breaking foundations like jack hammers
Miss ripping ciphers and open mics
It’s a lifestyle – we rock our clothes oversized
Inspired as an adolescent
By Roc Raida on cross faders scratching battle weapons
It’s my passion – banging the beats
From DJs to B-boys and the graff on the streets
[This is hip-hop] music’s inner vision
Bringing you back to ‘boom bap’ fused with super-lyricism

[Verse 3: Possessed]

Still a fan of this shit far from marital bliss
But I’ma stick with it till I’m carried by six
What happened to Em what happened to Bis?
Will I be the next rapper to slip [Crazy]
No better way of expressing myself
See there’s Hip-Hop, then there’s everything else
We go against the grain change the game
(And we) pave the way while you stay the same
So pay homage
The difference is we give to this Hip-Hop shit not take from it
Every word in the pad every verse every track
Work ‘till the verge of collapse
Never, turning my back my life is Hip-Hop
Live breathe spit bleed and die for Hip-Hop
How much time is left?
Hip-Hops not dead, its dying, and this here is its final breath

First up is Skirmish, I thought he was black from the way he sounded but it turned out he was mixed race! Anyway I digress, let’s start looking:

“But I’l do this music if I earn dough or I was dirt broke”
This phrase, or adaptations of it, is used a lot by all kinds of artists, from painters to musicians, to signify that they are passionate about what they do. They don’t care if they earn “dough” (money) or not, they do what they do because they love it in and of itself. This strays far from the mainstream which focuses on what audiences want to hear and what will sell as opposed to the Artists true emotions.

“But people respect the grind more than they respect the rhymes”
Many people stopped caring about the values of what the rhymes and lyrics say, and instead focus on the beat while in reality a lot of work goes into these rhymes.

“And [‘One Love’] to the lyricists that still exist”
The word still implies that not many lyricists are left. And maybe that is true in the mainstream where most “artists” have songs written for them or write songs just for mass appeal.

“This rapping shit ain’t a passing phase
Cos the habit is hard to break I can’t escape”
“It’s just a phase” says Mum, when her child walks in wearing dark clothes with dyed hair and an array of piercings. Skirmish says that hip-hop is much more complex, it is a habit for him. Forget phase, its a way of life!

Next up is Psiklone, and I have to say I love the dude. His voice is crazy deep and powerful, and it is an instrument (yes I will call it that) that he knows how to use. I too have a deep voice, which is why I listen to him a lot especially to try and learn a thing or two.

“I put my soul in every rhyme that I write
['Big L Rest In Peace'] – cos [‘Ripping mics is the light of my life']“
Big L is an underground artist in the USA, he was very influential but now he has passed away. Putting this sample in the track is a mark of respect. Simple as. Ripping mics, and that is certainly what Psiklone does, is basically pouring your heart out when you rap, so its not always chill out and laid back. That fits in well with “I put my soul in every rhyme that I write“.

“The scene has practically vanished but my hunger is back
Classics are haphazard
All I see is backpackers, wack rappers, black adders and backstabbers
As if that matters
When we’re out laying the ground breaking foundations like jack hammers”
I can actually physically see the flow in this part, it’s beautiful! The scene is the hip-hop scene, the golden era being in the 90′s and now it is filled with “backpackers, wack rappers, black adders and backstabbers” But you see, Rhyme Asylum’s flow and of course their word play has been a major revolution in hip-hop. I only found one group that rap similar to them and that is Unusual suspects. They have indeed broken foundations with their jack hammers of awesomeness!

“Miss ripping ciphers and open mics
It’s a lifestyle – we rock our clothes oversized
Inspired as an adolescent
By Roc Raida on cross faders scratching battle weapons”
Here is the reference again, that Hip-hop is a lifestyle that can even be reflected through what you wear. Roc Raida (R.I.P) was a well known DJ, I will check out his music soon. And that is another thing I love about Hip-hop, they refer to something you know nothing about so you have to look it up and use your own curiosity to teach yourself. A track that does that is a good track!

“It’s my passion – banging the beats
From DJs to B-boys and the graff on the streets
[This is hip-hop] music’s inner vision
Bringing you back to ‘boom bap’ fused with super-lyricism”
Remember the four parts to hip-hop culture? MCing (rapping) DJ’ing, Break dancing and Graffiti art (Let us make it five parts, I was corrected by a good friend and apparently beat boxing is another section of it too! The more you know). There ya have it right there . “Boom bap” is the classical type of hip hop beat and not the overly techno/synth stuff you hear today. A boom bap beat goes like this:
boom bap
boom boom boom bap
I know that it doesn’t make sense, so watch this vid to see what I mean, pay attention to the drums! And that is another thing that I learned the meaning of thanks to Rhyme Asylum

Possessed is next, and he is one of the best MCs I have ever listened to. His flow is sick, not good…sick. Genius word play and rhymes is the sweetest icing on the most savoury cake for me.

“Still a fan of this shit far from marital bliss
But I’ma stick with it till I’m carried by six”
Do you know what I mean? Carried by six meaning the day of his death of course. Far from marital bliss? Bliss is not a word to use for us men haha

“What happened to Em what happened to Bis?
Will I be the next rapper to slip [Crazy]“
Em is referring to Eminem I think. And he is right,what the hell happened to the dude? Well according to Possessed he “slipped”, and by that it probably means that he signed with a major record label and is now screwed as an artist.

“No better way of expressing myself
See there’s Hip-Hop, then there’s everything else
We go against the grain change the game
(And we) pave the way while you stay the same
So pay homage
The difference is we give to this Hip-Hop shit not take from it”
Hip-hop lyricism, like any other form of literature is an art. So Possessed hits it on the nail when he brings self expression into the formula. That is what art is! And the game that they change? It is what is hip-hop is about. Forget the bling bling, the chauvinism and all those half naked women, forget the drugs and “thug life” shit…this is Underground!

“Never, turning my back my life is Hip-Hop
Live breathe spit bleed and die for Hip-Hop
How much time is left?
Hip-Hops not dead, its dying, and this here is its final breath”
See the passion there eh? Die for hip-hop, that is hardcore stuff. And people have heard “hip-hop is dead” but no it is not. It is dying, and Rhyme Asylum is (among others) it’s final breath. Hip Hop is on life support, but in my opinion Underground is growing and mainstream is collapsing.

Hip-Hop is alive and kicking.

Peace to all of you!