>>9644219 lb
>>9644381 lb
>>9644447 lb
>More to Raz than Chaz Yo
MTV & NPR giving national attention to the debut album of a local punk-ass Seattle rapper in 2014?
Who's behind this guy?
https://web.archive.org/web/20141129085539/http://www.mtv.com/news/1723761/raz-simone-cognitive-dissonance/
On Monday, the Seattle rapper and producer released Cognitive Dissonance, his first release since partnering with Lyor Cohen, Todd Moscowitz and Kevin Liles over at their new company 300.
“I’ve done a lot of sh–, boxing in all of the shots/ And the c—s and the crotches, just for the profit/ My girl getting raped and then I couldn’t stop it/ To top it, the plane crashed with me in the cockpit,” he rhymes, before explaining how his career as a pimp and the time that he sold drugs to his aunt affected his psyche.
From the first track it is clear that Simone is no saint, on “So Far, So Far” he threatens to punch his son’s mother in the face while wearing multiple rings on his fingers. It all sounds horrendous, but Simone still manages to turn the tables and gain some sense of sympathy from the listener. “When I was a little boy I had big dreams/ Big house, big wedding, big ring,” he sings innocently before admitting that he is so far from the man he thought he’d be.
https://www.npr.org/2014/03/02/283937330/first-listen-raz-simone-cognitive-dissonance
He's skilled enough to make admissions of violence and misogyny believable, eerily so. In the context of Seattle's longstanding issues with human trafficking and prostitution, the pain caused and felt by Raz in songs like the Adele-sampling "Hometown" is difficult to take. Cognitive Dissonance alternates between rhapsodic and discomforting, confessional and dead-eyed.
This swinging-for-the-fences album comes from a city where most rappers (and rockers, and DJs, and practically all musicians) are resigned to staying close to home. It feels like a plea for outside connection. It was made by somebody on the move.