Souleye – “Follow Your Heart”

Souleye – “Follow Your Heart” – Single Review

Now here’s a name I always look forward to seeing pop up on my playlist – it’s one of my favorite forces in positivity and reliable quality in hip-hop music, none other than Souleye!  We’ve covered the music of this lyrical-expert extensively…heck, I’ve even seen twitter clips of people sending him what you’d think would be impossible words to freestyle with and watched him conquer the challenge with ease…he also made my top-ten list last year for our reader-voting contest for Best New Sound for his incredible work on his album Shapeshifting.  Ever since we discovered his music, quality has been something we’ve been able to count on – and his new single “Follow Your Heart” is of course, no exception to the rule.

I will say this…it’s not my favorite mix I’ve ever heard on one of Souleye’s tunes – it does sound like the sample came through a bit peaked in volume…BUT…try to tell me how you can deny this tune steady rotation on your playlist even despite that!   You can’t!  Souleye proves time and time again that he’s got the highest of high-caliber skills out there as an emcee, and he does so once more on “Follow Your Heart.”  His twitter-training free-styling ten-syllable words has paid off well for him…I like that this guy is a true champion of words and never backs down from a challenge, often assembling seriously complex words together in a string and bending them purely to his will.  The way he pivots and shifts with the energy and swell of the music he’s rhyming to on “Follow Your Heart” once again casts a bright spotlight on all the reasons that Souleye continues to be one of the most entertaining emcees out there in the scene today.  Combined with his uplifting attitude, message and inspiring tone to his writing & lyrics – Souleye has really taken the high road of respect for the hip-hop genre and continues to preserve its legacy of positivity, knowledge and passion.

All this being said…it’s my job to be truthful…you know that, Souleye knows that, we all know that by now…and if I’m being truthful about the magic you’ll hear on “Follow Your Heart” and WHY you’ll want to continue to repeat this experience over and over and over again – it’s straight-up the main hook in the chorus of this track.  That’s always a tough spot to be in…Souleye is working his nuts off in the verses and bars of “Follow Your Heart” with flawless precision and complex innovation in his rhymes, and it’s STILL going to be tough for him to stand-out in comparison to the strength of the melody in the hook.  When you combine that factor with the uplifting electro sound that drives the music – you’ll hear every reason as to why Souleye threw this track on to rhyme over.  I fully encourage you to check this track out at his Soundcloud page and have a read-over of the lyrics…take a look at his word-choice and then really listen to how he’s able to hit the metering so perfectly and still add all the right emphasis & strength to every syllable.  To me…it’s like Souleye rarely if ever compromises what he TRULY wants to say…he writes down what he really wants to express and finds a way to make the words work for him.

I maintain…Souleye is one seriously exciting artist to listen to and certainly doesn’t disappoint on “Follow Your Heart.”  In all honesty…I do think it’s one of his strongest tunes to-date overall despite any points I made on the mix – the idea itself, the flow and the melody are 100% intact and continue to prove that Souleye knows the right combinations that really connect music to our very core.  He’s feeling the vibe and he’s feeling the flow…he’s right in the moment where you can hear the love & enthusiasm he has for making music and how much he appreciates it audibly.  I know I’ve hit this cut up on repeat several times already…and I’d suspect I won’t be the only one doing so…Souleye has hit the mark on target solidly once again with one the best ideas I’ve heard from him so far coming together beautifully on “Follow Your Heart.”

Find Souleye here on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/souleye

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