Noah Archangel – “Black Lotus” Featuring Yeaux Majesty, Juskwam & DJ Thruvo
Noah Archangel – “Black Lotus” Featuring Yeaux Majesty, Juskwam & DJ Thruvo – Single Review
“Until you get on the court, you ain’t part of the game.”
Fair enough. Not only are those wise-words, it seems as if everyone Noah Archangel knows took the lyrics in the chorus-hook of “Black Lotus” to heart and showed up, ready to play. On a track featuring the talents of Yeaux Majesty, Juskwam & DJ Thruvo – multiple skills make themselves apparent in this collaboration from the charismatic vocal-flows to the rad electro-beat that drives the music.
“Black Lotus” was definitely one of those tracks where the more I heard it, the more I liked it. By the time I got to the killer video they’ve got put together for this new single, it was just icing on the cake.
I really dig on crews like this one – to me a lot about Hip-Hop in general comes down to the art of being a wordsmith…some emcees ‘get it’ and understand the significance of making the lyrics an integral part of the song, others somehow don’t. Noah Archangel, Yeaux Majesty, Juskwam and DJ Thruvo – these guys ‘get it’ – listen to the selection of words, complex & intricate flows and the patterns in their flow, that should be all the proof you need. They all bring their own unique flavor and character to the mic, they all add to the song and complement each other’s performances, and most importantly, it all still comes out sound tight, cohesive & compelling in the final results. They’re working each syllable across the bars like veterans of the rap game, spitting out knowledge-bombs and pop-culture references in amongst socially-conscious words that prove these boys are woke & ready to wake the rest of us up. I think they all do an exceptional job of balancing the art of being a wordsmith while still making time to give each verse its own personality, style & sound in their lyrical-flow to bring out their own unique hooks to maximum effect. It’s not as easy as you might think…sometimes you can find all the right words and have the end results come out sounding flat, even though you couldn’t have possibly written a better verse – what makes these guys great is that they’ve found the words that work best for them personally as individuals & they’re all on the same page as a group when it comes to the overall theme.
Using a minimalist approach to the electro-beat guiding them along, section by section this crew makes sure each part of this track glides along sleekly & slickly…I’ve got no complaints here, they’ve put this together right from beginning to end. Production is tight, performances are controlled, professional & highly entertaining…the writing and ideas are there…the execution all-around is right where ya want it.
And like…I’m not even kidding when I say this video is rad AF. You know…it’s ’fire’ as the cool-kids say. The onscreen visuals are honestly awesome…likely a lot of green-screen at work here, but no joke – the work has been put in here. Essentially what you see is one thing – how it’s all put together is what takes this video to the next level cut-to-cut; it’s seriously well shot and some of the effects being used set the entire thing off in the wicked ways by distorting the imagery in creative transitions that move wickedly with the music. They all went with it…all these space-themes and crazy visuals take them off the planet they know and out there into the atmosphere…but as they’ve already proven on their new song “Black Lotus” – quality emcees can adapt to any environment. They’ve put together a song/video combo that plays to the strengths of balance – they’re all holding their own from the screen to the studio, delivering a track that keeps it interesting, entertaining and real at all times in a perfect mix of serious fun.
Find out more from the official website at: http://www.bandofthehawk.com/
Join the thousands of bands & artists reviewed at sleepingbagstudios by clicking here!
