FROM THE WEATHERED STREETS OF HARM CITY YOU WILL FIND AN EMCEE/POET/ARTIST THAT DIDN'T ALLOW THE ELEMENTS TO COMPLETELY DICTATE HIS PATH. HIS NAME: AHMED THE LAST BORN CHILD. HIS PATH: THE EVOLUTION OF AN EMCEE---AHMED THE LAST BORN CHILD. HIS FACILITATOR: DJ BLACK WIZARD. HIS AIM: TO ELEVATE THE ART OF HIP HOP. AHMED IS FROM THAT SCHOOL OF HIP HOP THAT INSTILLED REAL LYRICISM AND SKILL IN THE ART OF RHYMIN'. YOU CAN HEAR EXACTLY THAT LYRICISM AND SKILL IN THIS MIXTAPE. IT IS A BIRD'S EYE VIEW INTO THE SOUL OF A MAN THAT TAKES HIP HOP FOR WHAT IT REALLY IS, A CULTURE. I CAN DEFINITELY IDENTIFY WITH THIS LIKE-MINDED ARTIST, FOR HIP HOP IS NOT JUST RHYMIN' FOR THE SAKE OF RIDDLIN', BUT FOR ELEVATING MIND STATES FROM STATE TO STATE. COMING FROM THE FREE STATE AND CITY OF HARM, AHMED SHOWCASES OVER AND OVER THAT INTELLECT IS A PRIZED COMMODITY THROUGHOUT HIS MIXTAPE. IN THIS DAY AND TIME IT IS RARE THAT AN EMCEE, A TRUE EMCEE, REVEALS HIMSELF FROM A TRANSPARENT STANDPOINT. AHMED THE LAST BORN CHILD DOES JUST THAT, WITHOUT DILUTING HIS MESSAGE OR MISSION.
THE MIXTAPE CONSISTS OF 26 TRACKS ALTOGETHER, A COMPILATION OF COMPLETED SONGS AND INTERLUDES. LISTENING FROM THE ONSET, YOU HEAR (AND ACTUALLY VISUALIZE) SOMEONE THAT CARES DEEPLY ABOUT WHAT HE SAYS IN EVERY VERSE. THE FIRST OFFERING, "SCENE 1" (OVER KRS-ONE'S "MC'S ACT LIKE THEY DON'T KNOW) STARTS OFF THE MIXTAPE STRONGLY, ALLOWING AHMED TO EXPOUND ON HIS BEGINNINGS IN THE HIP HOP SCENE. HE TALKS ABOUT HOW HIS INITIAL HIP HOP GROUP EXPERIENCE YIELDED THE PREDECESSOR TO THE CONTROVERSIAL "DMV MOVEMENT". BALTIMORE, DC, AND RICHMOND WERE REPRESENTED DURING THIS MUSICAL HEYDAY. THREE DIFFERENT, YET SIMILAR-MINDED, ARTISTS COMBINED TO SPIT "WIDE WORLD OF RAP". THROUGHOUT THE MIXTAPE, YOU CAN HEAR AHMED DISCUSSING HIS INFLUENCES WITHIN THE HIP HOP CYPHER, AS WELL AS HIS BEGINNINGS AS A DJ BEFORE PICKING UP THE MICROPHONE FROM AN EMCEE PERSPECTIVE. IT IS QUITE REFRESHING TO HEAR AN ARTIST ARTICULATE TRUE FEELINGS ON THE STATE OF HIP HOP MUSIC WITHOUT ADVOCATING IGNORANCE. THE MIXTAPE CONTINUES TO FLOW, WITH VARIED INSTRUMENTALS SUCH AS '''93 TIL INFINITY" AND "MEMORY LANE" PLAYING AS THE BACKDROP. EACH SCENE THROUGHOUT THE EVOLUTION OF AN EMCEE ALLOWS AHMED TO DISCUSS HOW THE ENVIRONMENT MOLDED, BUT DIDN'T COMPLETELY MAKE HIS WHO HE IS ON THE MICROPHONE, EITHER AS EMCEE OR POET. "SPITTIN'" COMES FROM A DOPE SLANT, AS THE BALTIMORE-BRED EMCEE SHOWS DURING HIS TWENTIES THAT HIP HOP WAS (AND STILL IS) A WAY OF LIVING. HE SPIT ABOUT HIS PASSION FOR THE ART OF SPITTING HARD-HITTING LYRICS. "CHERISH YOUR BREATHE" IS JUST AS THE TITLE STATES, AS THE MAN BEHIND THE MIC MUSES OVER LIFE AND LIVING. WITH "REAL HIP HOP" AND "ONE LOVE" BY NAS PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND, SCENE SIX KICKS OFF WITH A DISSERTATION OVER A DOPE PRODUCTION. "BALTIMORE SON" MAY BE THE BEST OF THIS DYNAMIC COLLECTION, AS THE LYRICAL WIZARD WAXES POETIC ABOUT BEING A PRODUCT OF THE CITY OF HARM. TOO BAD THE BALTIMORE SUN WON'T DEVOTE EDITORIAL SPACE ABOUT THIS "BALTIMORE SON", BECAUSE A BREATHE OF DOPE, FRESH AIR IS WHAT AHMED THE LAST BORN CHILD IS IN THIS DAY AND AGE. TIME AND TIME AGAIN, HE DISCUSSES STREET LIFE, BUT FROM AN INTELLECTUAL LEVEL. HE LYRICALLY SHOWS HOW AN EMCEE CAN BE INFLUENCED, YET RISE ABOVE, STREET EXISTENCE. TRACK 18, ENTITED "THE LETTER", CONTINUES THE INFORMATIVE, BUT NOT PREACHY, APPROACH THAT APPEARS THROUGHOUT THIS MIXTAPE. THE SEQUENCING ON THIS MIXTAPE ALLOWS EACH SONG TO FLOW FROM ONE TO ANOTHER, GIVING THE PROJECT A COHESIVENESS YOU USUALLY DON'T FIND ON THE MIXTAPE CIRCUIT. TRUTHFULLY, THIS IS MORE OF A CONCEPT ALBUM THAN MIXTAPE, BECAUSE OF THE CARE GIVEN TO EACH SONG INCLUDED ON THE PROJECT. "BACK TO THE STREET" IS A CAUTIONARY TALE ABOUT THE ALLURE OF THE STREET, AND THE ULTIMATE DOWNFALL YOU MAY ENCOUNTER IF VISION IS BLURRED. "MY WOMAN" SLOWS THE PACING DOWN A TAD BIT, AS AHMED SPITS KNOWLEDGE ABOUT NUBIAN QUEENS, SOMETHING YOU JUST DON'T SEE OR HERE IN 2011, WHEN MISOGYNY IS STILL A SOLID MINDSET. "9 TO 5" IS THE SONG I CAN DEFINITELY RELATE TO, AS THIS EMCEE TALKS ABOUT THE GRIND OF WORKING FOR PAYCHECK AFTER PAYCHECK WITHOUT ANY REAL PAYOFF IN THE LONG RUN. THE FINAL COMMENTARY ON THE MIXTAPE/ALBUM HYBRID WAS "SCENE 7", WITH AHMED SPEAKING OVER BLACK MOON'S "HOW MANY MC'S". "PRESTO CHANGO" UPPED THE PACING, WITH MORE INTROSPECTIVE, YET BRAVADO-LACED, LYRICS AIMED AT ANY AND ALL LISTENERS. "AHMED OUTRO" GAVE THIS ARTIST A CHANCE TO GIVE BACK LOVE TO HIS FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND COMRADES IN ALL WALKS OF LIFE. CLOSING OUT THE MIXTAPE WAS A CAPELLA IN NATURE, GIVING WEIGHT TO HIS ALREADY HEAVY LYRICAL APPROACH.
OVERALL, THIS MIXTAPE SHEDS EVEN MORE LIGHT ON A BLESSED AND TALENTED EMCEE. ONE LISTEN, AND YOU WILL AGREE THAT AHMED THE LAST BORN CHILD IS CUT FROM A DIFFERENT CLOTH THAN YOUR TYPICAL BALTIMORE EMCEE. HE IS A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH, EVEN AFTER OVER SIXTEEN YEARS IN THE "NOT TO BE PLAYED" GAME, AS AN EMCEE, DEEJAY, SPOKEN WORD ARTIST, RADIO PERSONALITY, RENAISSANCE MAN FOR THE 21ST CENTURY. KEEP YOUR THIRD EYES OPEN FOR AHMED THE LAST BORN CHILD!
Tracklisting----"The Evolution Of An Emcee-Ahmed The Last Born Child":
1) SCENE 1 (over KRS-ONE - MC's Act Like They Don't Know)
2) WIDE WORLD OF RAP
3) AHMED FREESTYLE 99'
4) SCENE 2 ( over Nas - Memory Lane; Artfacts - Wrong Side Of The Tracks; Soul of Mischief - 93' Til Infinity)
5) DI DOUBLE F
6) WHAT WE DO
7) SCENE 3 ( over Lords of the Underground - Chief Rocka)
8) TOO MUCH TOO MANY
9) THE DIRT THEY DID
10) SCENE 4 (over Crooklyn Dodgers - Crooklyn)
11) BACK AGAINST THE WALL
12) SCENE 5 -(over Pete Rock & CL Smooth - T.R.O.Y)
13) SPITTIN'
14) I'M NEXT
15) CHERISH YOUR BREATH
16) SCENE 6 ( over DAS EFX - Real Hip Hop; Nas - One Love)
17) BALTIMORE SON
18) THE LETTER
19) BACK TO THE STREET
20) AHMED PROMO ( over Nas -The World Is Yours)
21) MY WOMAN
22) 9 TO 5
23) SCENE 7 (over Black Moon - How Many Mc's - Dana Coppa - Paradise
24) PRESTO CHANGO
25) AHMED OUTRO (over Raheem of Ancient Sounds - Didn't I)
26) AHMED - FREESTYLEAPELLA 2011
Links:
http://djblackwizard.podomatic.com/entry/2010-12-31T17_19_08-08_00
http://cveg.org/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjjTefe_9pg
No comments:
Post a Comment