Most
know of Ab-Soul as the TDE member with the long hair, black lips, and dark
shades. Of course there’s more. The guy has an unmatched skill of mixing soul,
reality, and meaningful wordplay together in a song. Standing out in group of
diverse talent is pretty difficult and competitive, but Soul brother number two
is handling it well. Go deeper into the conscious emcee’s mind below.
The twenty-seven year old Ab-Soul
was musically born in a family owned record shop. The shop was called Magic
Disc and it opened the door for something different in Soul’s mind. The store allowed
him to become student of music first and an emcee second. Having the works of Canibus,
Eminem, Jay-Z, Twista, and Nas at arm’s reach gave Soul an advantage. Leaders
of music planted an enriched seed and now we see the growth.
Ab-Soul started his Longterm
Mentality mixtape series in 2009 with project Longterm. A year and some months later Soul drops my favorite
mixtape out his resume titled Longterm 2:
Lifestyles of the Broke and Almost Famous. This project is home to amazing tracks “Turn
Me Up” featuring Kendrick Lamar, “Be a Man”, and “Soul Cry”. The mixtape as a
whole is very personal and showcases what it means to pour out your soul in
something.
Creating a buzz from the two projects
recently discussed, Soul releases the Longterm
Mentality album in 2011. The album offers more complete songs and elaborate
thoughts than his mixtapes. One of the best tracks off the album is “Nothing
New” featuring the melodic voice of Jhene Aiko. Soul addresses world issues and
personal matters that never change. Another highlight from the album is “Hell
Yeah” which is assisted by Schoolboy Q. The song is very aggressive in the fact
that the two are expressing their competitiveness against peers in hip hop. Ab-Soul
started to gained momentum and listeners were anticipation for more.
As the TDE name continued to grow,
so did the artist. Ab-Soul kills his appearances on projects from Kendrick
Lamar and Schoolboy Q, thus drawing new listeners to his work. This leads up to
the release of Soul’s science project Control
System. The album touches on sensitive
personal and social issues while shedding light on possible resolutions for
these issues. Every line, verse, and bar plays a critical role in the overall
concept of the album.
Currently, Ab-Soul is preparing the
release of long awaited album These Days.
With the release of lead single “Stigmata” featuring Action Bronson and Assad,
as well as a video, give fans a lot to be excited for come June 24th.
In the meantime, do some homework of the
intellectual Black Hippy member that was discussed above.
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