I'm Starting a New YouTube Series!

Inspired by the YouTube channel, Emcee Mind, I am doing a Freestyle Rap Impromptu series! You have 30 seconds to think about a rap after reading a quote. Then, you rap for 1:30 seconds! Rapping with a beat or over 1:30 seconds is optional. Check out the first episode below.




More episodes will be coming over this Spring Break. Plus, I am recording my new album too, which is scheduled to release in May.

To stay updated withy new music: http://bit.ly/TheRealLegendSoundCloud

Keep reading here and stay up to date with my new blog posts for my album reviews, social commentary, and news about my music! Live Legendary!

Akala - Knowledge Is Power II - Album Review

The Real Legend gives "Knowledge Is Power II" by Akala a 10/10!

INTRO:

Kingslee James Daley or Akala is an indie hip hop artist out of London, England. But don't be fooled, Akala is one of the smartest people you'll come to know. He had options to become a mathematician at Oxford and a professional UK football for West Ham United. However, he declined these options to follow what was really in his heart, art. Over the years, he has built a discography of hit studio albums, founded the Hip Hop Shakespeare Company, and he has even written a book. Ever since Akala has toured for his previous album, "The Thieves Banquet" and for his book "The Ruin of Empires",  he has hitting the studios hard for making "Knowledge Is Power II". In the 16 weeks leading up to the new album Akala has made videos of him once of every week spitting 16 bars on his YouTube channel. This was good to keep his fans occupied and let them know he was still at it and working. As the release date of March 30th is approaching, Akala has even put out two lyric videos for two songs of off his album called "Sun Tzu" and "Murder Runs the Globe" on GlobalFactions YouTube channel. Also, "Bang Wit Us" and "Mr Fire in the Booth" came out on BBC Radio Extra 1 too. On top of that, thee "Bang Wit Us"  music video will drop on SBTV the day of the album release. Oh wait there's more! Akala has even teamed up with Noisey to make the album available for stream three days early on SoundCloud. (That's why I'm reviewing this early). I love Akala because he puts a message in his music. Plus, he make good music. Good music plus a message equals greatness! Ok let's get into the track by track review! #firstreation

TRACK BY TRACK REVIEW:

MR FIRE IN THE BOOTH: Holy shoot! This bangs! Mr Fire cuz he spits the truth! OMG! Freaking amazing. Great way to start the album! "You can't explain it, you can't contain it!" Soulful loving the horns! Loving the boom bap. Great lyrics! Heck yea

THE FALL FT. AMY TRUE: Great lyrics about the racist ways of empires and how they'll fall. Great music behind it. Anti colonialization/imperialism and greed. Great feature and vocals from Amy True.  Talks about empires built on greed will never succeed, how basically these empires raping the world pays. The instrumental goes well to the song. Loving the strings.

SUN TZU FT. ASHBERBER: "Any which way some of you wanna come through, I'll be ready for you like Sun Tzu!" Great song to workout to and get ready to work! Get pumped! Amazing! Catchy! A message plus great music behind equals greatness! "Don't be foolish why do you wanna test thy for?"Amazing vocals from Ashberber.

SOMETIMES: Chill beat here, great song to listen to when depressed or sad. Great lyrics how to system puts most people at a disadvantage because their pawns in a chess game. Kind of like Akala is talking to himself here and his problems. However, they're relatable for EVERYONE. Honest lyrics about inspiration and spirit. Life is strange, life is beautiful, Life's a musical. Gets everyone settled into the album. Perfectly leaders into Murder the Runs Globe

MURDER RUNS THE GLOBE: Chill song which includes about how the media portrays the lower class as thugs when the governments are the real thugs with all the murder they do. Ya know democide kills like 300 million people a year. Talks about the government killing to get their wealth imperialistically. It doesn't matter if you wealth if can't guard you're screwed by the imperialistic countries that'll rape your land. Examples being Africa being raped by Western world.

URGE TO KILL: Boom bap drums here. Talks about how the sins and wrongs in the world would making even sane people want to kill cuz off it. You see Police, government and religious institutions murder legally and peace won't work, whatchu do? Do you have the "Urge to Kill". Good message pretty good music equals a good track. No hating here

TIME TO RELAX: Ooo I already love the beat, plus his vocals really sooth you and prompt you to reflect on your life. Great chill track. "If you're always exhausted, you can't help anybody". A reminder to take time just to relax in a society that is designed for you not to have peace of mind. I could see people meditating to this. Amazing. Just breathe...aaaaa. (breathes in deeply, breathes out) Namaste. Love this song

SOVEREIGN MASTER: Ooo... I'm feeling this'll be a banger. Not trapped influenced but strings. Yup teach those young MCs! Breaks out of a few chill tracks into this! Heck yeah! (Starts dancing) "RU fucking deaf" Great track.

FREEDOM FT SWISS & AMY TRUE: Heck yea loving the vocals from Amy. Seems like I heard it maybe from another song I found on GlobalFaction . But it works. Free your goal, time, and soul! Big up! Swiss's feature is on point. "Can I get a third eye witness!" His verse stands out. I like the dialogue Swiss and Akala have too.

BANG WIT US: I heard this on BBC Radio. Good song. Loving the music video preview I saw on Akala's FB page. "I don't get it. How can he have so much message?" Kind of like "Roll Wid Us" from "It's Not a Rumour". "Sit down Matthew!" "Take out a town like Obama with a drone" some of my favorite lyrics from the song. Catchy.

THE JOURNEY FT. MIC RIGHTOUS: Ooo..."Isn't the purpose of life to find some purpose". Great dialogue from Akala and MIC Righteous. Thoughtful track. Great instrumentation from the hook. I'm especially liking the guitar. Ooo... the mood changes after the first verse. Mic Righteous drops a killer  verse. Great hook from Mic Righteous. Every feature on this album is on point. "Every journey begins with just one step" Mic Righteous' flow has improved over the years so well. Akala states how he beat the system in his journey.

DON'T PISS ME OFF: Blow off them haters with this track. The bass in this track is sweet. Amazing hook! "I don't to lose my temper and it don't happen often". Great track.

MY MIND'S CHANGED FT SELAH:  Reflective song here. Akala spits great lyrics with great music  behind it. Selah's music is on point. Another great song.

RIDDLE OF LIFE FT AYANNA WITTER: Another reflective song as we close of the album. A trend I have found from Akala's last two album's is that he'll end the album with something poetic, and emotionally gasping. This meets my expectation of that.

DARK CORNERS (BONUS): Oh wait there's more! Akala drops amazing lyrics as usual with a message over a head bopping beat. He then tells a story of a conventional girl who studied at Cambrige. Greatly closes off this album"When those Dark Corners you cannot run"

CONCLUSION:

Akala's new album, "Knowledge Is Power II" is a glorious work of art. If you listen to this album, then your IQ will increase 10 fold. There countless amounts of history lessons, literary devices, and life lessons and virtues that just make an unforgettable message that should leave a mark on your life. If your only in it for the beats, then this is your album because they are so good that'll you'll come back for more and more. If you value lyrics over beats, then this album is your gold mine. This album speaks to your spirit through beats and lyrics surely, and it does not lack. People have everything they could want from a hip hop album here. There are bangers and deep thoughtful tracks. Cool thing is that his bangers are not about the usual stereotypical rap subject of hoes, money, and sex. All of them are my favorite tracks and I guess if I had to a track I liked least is "Urge to Kill". Before listening to the full album, I had listened to the preview from the preorder on iTunes, listened to "Bang Wit Us" & "Mr Fire in the Booth" on BBC Radio, and listened to "Murder Runs the Globe" and "Sun Tzu" lyric videos. I was expecting something between a 7 and 9.  But this exceeds my expectations. I give this album a PERFECT 10 out of 10. Since Akala is not backed by a major label and has an independent musician's budget, people might sleep on this. It'll be a big mistake if people don't listen to it and sleep on it. So stream the album on SoundCloud now, Spotify when March 30th comes and buy a CD from akalamusic.com and on iTunes digitally. You won't regret it. You'll certainly one step closer to "living legendary" with this project.

Stream Akala's new album here: http://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/blog/stream-akalas-new-album
Preorder "Knowledge Is Power II" CD here: http://akala.tmstor.es
Preorder on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/knowledge-is-power-vol.-2/id976529734

Steven James - Love Life - Review

Hey The Real Legend is back with a music review! Enjoy and LIVE LEGENDARY!


The Real Legend gives this album a 5/10!

Steven James is an independent singer/rapper from the Greater Toledo area signed to his self created label of “Raw Recordings (a division of Fibonacci ENT). His lyrics come off as raunchy, are usually about sex, and are unoriginal as a rapper. Now as a singer because of his unique voice, his music is listenable.“Love Life” by Steven James is a sex, love story where I feel it begins with the couple meeting and them having sex. Maybe this work is a bit influenced by The Weeknd; but Steven is really developing his own style. It’s a decent sex playlist, as it was intended to be. His singing is incomparable but not overwhelming on this musical work. On top of that, is half of the album being very forgettable. Listeners will probably have mixed feelings about this project. This record does not standout in an ocean of love and sex R&B/Pop albums. Only the intro and conclusion are good, memorable; but however, the body, which is the main portion is mediocre. “Love Life”, “Backseat Bitches”, “Tell Me” & “With Me” are my favorite tracks. These tracks hit you with reasonable amount of that powerful emotion you should get from listening to a great record. Also, my least favorite tracks on here would be “Nasty”, “Wanna Be”. The other tracks here are very lukewarm and forgettable. but paint a definite colorful picture of the story going on in this album. So based on my grading scale at the end of the post, I give this project a light 5 out of 10. By the way, there is a track by track review of “Love Life”  below with the album stream and my grading rubric further below.

TRACK BY TRACK REVIEW OF “LOVE LIFE” BY STEVEN JAMES

LOVE LIFE KICKS OFF THE ALBUM AMAZINGLY! The synthesizers are great, this love he is talking about in this song is genuine which is a plus. A bit TOO repetitive. Good song for a party.

BACKSEAT IS GROOVY! “I”m fucking you, you’re fucking me, I trust in you, you trust in me”

Layered with metaphors, a bit more than dirty than LOVE LIFE but it works!

WANNA BE. FEELS LIKE A BAD Second part to BACKSEAT. Vocals are underwhelming, repetitive, catchy.

STAY THE NIGHT: Beat really sets the tone well, nice eerie vocals. I am liking Steven’s creative voices on this project so far. This definitely a love sex album. OK as you get into the track, it starts to get redundant until the bridge where it goes like “I fucking you

You’re fucking me, I’m touching you, You’re touching me”

NO SLEEP: The story evolves well and Steven creates a vivid picture. However, this feels very redundant and underwhelming. It really could be an interlude because half the song he just repeats We ain’t getting no sleep” and the chorus over and over again

NASTY: Steven paints a great picture again of this story of sex with many different sex positions and practices. But this again feels like a repetitive interlude without a body just intro and conclusion. Something is missing. You could fall asleep to this track because it gets boring. Very boring.

FOREVER: Seems like the sex is over at this point. The love expressed in this track is very romantic. Good track to hug someone over.

WITH ME: Is an amazing, song, with lyrics and singing that’ll make you feel plenty of emotion. Emotion is great to be felt from music. Great song.

TELL ME: This closes off the album not all rosy and merry. It seems another project Steven James is making could possibly continue off of this project because of the love and relationship problems from the one night stand the rest of this album has created

*If you are an hip hop indie artist and want a review for your album send me an email at thereallegend1@gmail.com or comment below*

Grading Rubric.

1. Trash
2. Trash with a good song
3. Couple of good songs
4. Below average, forgettable, few good songs (OK)
5. Average
6. Above average
7. Memorable, good
8. Great
9. Classic
10. Perfecto (will be remembered through many ages)