No spelling in Street Lyfe...
For me there are a number of things that you have to look at when you are talking about rap music. Firstly the voice is very important as that is what you hear, and more importantly the flow of lyrics as the spill out, which will very quickly help to decide whether or not it's worth spending any longer than necessary listening to what they are saying. The content isn't always that high up there, but the back beat has to be something a little more than just background music.
E-Dro has voice that sounds very much like 2-Pac in its tone and its flow, and whilst this shows that it is a popular sound, the originality box remains un-ticked. First song here, 'Be Eazzzzy' has production that nods towards Dr Dre in his Death Row days with a simple hard beat and quick piano keys in the background. The flow is quick and a little more Nine with the deepness in the voice. The hook is catchy and the female soul tones from Mary J give it the little extra that's required.
'Grew Up' has rapping which is good enough but I'm really not feeling the back beat which is neither tuneful, or has a beat that sounds anything more than a little tap, instead of a big phat and chunky beat.
Now I don't know, people may well say that I'm not qualified to review a rap artist from Washington in America who is telling me, a white guy from the country, about the struggles of growing up on the streets in the city, however, I've listened to more rap that most white guys, and probably more open-mindedly with a whole spectrum of the genre than a lot of people in general. My point is that although 'Street Lyfe' is good, it's not great, and along the same lines as British Indie rock, there are loads and loads of artists that are churning out music which is bland and done by numbers, without setting the world a light. 'Street Lyfe' plods along a little more like the previous song, 'Grew Up', but it's nothing that hasn't been done a million times before.
Last song, 'On The Grind' has more balls to it, and the rhymes are nice and simple. Along with 'Be Eazzzzzy' this one shows where E-Dro needs to be concentrating. There are a number of areas in which a rap artist can fall into, and this neither makes you laugh, nor shocks you, but falls into the struggling to survive area that is the most popular and over used area of the genre.
E-Dro (real name Demetric Brown) has a slow flow which does work, but seems to ride on the coat tails of 2Pac, and only time will tell whether this will go for, or against him. Signed to Upper 11 Records, and currently recording his debut album, we shall wait to see whether or not he will set the rap world on fire .