Community Spotlight: Luca Brazi

Luca Brazi is a skilled and talented underground rap artist from North Carolina that, in this blogger's humble opinion, epitomizes concepts of conscious rap in a manner and style that very few artists have been able to successfully capture and execute.

More relevant to the reader is that this rapper is a member of the Valucre Community. By the very nature of our community we all like to celebrate one another's creative ability. And when one of our members' creativity ekes into other areas of expression, be it through painting or playing a musical instrument, or as is in this case, living poetry then there is cause for further celebration.

In this blogger's humble opinion what stands out about Luca Brazi as a rap artist are: (1) the content he includes in his songs, stressing the importance of sharpening your mind and reasoning skills over the random chaos of gun play and drug pushing one is likely to hear sounding from the radio. (2) The fact that he has actual rapping ability, able to express and deliver these concepts in a way that is both comprehensive and fluid in style. (3) The style itself. With a lot of lower grade rappers their schemes are often repetitive (AB AB AB AB), predictable, stale or a combination of all three. With Luca Braz his style is innovative, fresh and effective.

Below are links to two of his songs that he's shared on the forum along with highlights picked by yours truly.

Smile by Luca Brazi

Square pegs don't work in my circle
My hood niggas smoke purp with the Urkels
And kick knowledge like gods in the earths do
~~~~
Somebody gotta polish the obsidian
Because the way they display it is hideous
News reports portray us as idiots
In every major city it's the same ol' nigga shit
"Flip a brick. If you five kill a six
And I'm a fly guy with a fine ass - bitch"
So when I switch up the format
The scholars and blue collars adore that
The robbers and two-timers implore
That I give them more scores to explore and absorb

360 by Luca Brazi

My generation is complacent as template creations
We don't investigate invisible principles shaping
Everything we do and who we are as a part of a nation
I mean the human race. Our country is corporations
That for the most part are human racists
They tell us we should never show heart around human faces
That protocol will show us all how to make good decisions
No thought at all just let the law show us what good envisions

Luca Brazi's Youtube
Luca Brazi's Bandcamp
Luca Brazi's Flavors

Witness: Diner Coffee

For those of you that weren't already aware, I like to listen to rap and hip-hop. To be honest, I have a hard time differentiating the two when talking to your average man, but the common consensus seems to be that hip-hop is more serious and lyrical. Confusing as I've also been told that rap means Rhyme And Poetry.

Whatever the case, Witness was my very first foray into what is commonly termed "underground" or "conscious" rap. Up until that point my only knowledge of rap was what you heard on the radio. Now granted, as I was born in the late 80's, this meant that my first few tastes of rap were legitimate artists. Tupac and Biggie, et al. Ludacris. Xzibit. Eminem. And so on and so forth.

But Witness introduced me to a new kind of rap. He's an amazing lyricist with a smooth voice that delivers his punchlines, or sets up intricate metaphors as you'll see in this song, and provides one with plenty of food for thought.

Give it a listen.