There is something exciting happening in the hip hop scene right now. Mumble rappers are saying even less than they did back when they were trying to say something, and this is all because the new blood is rising-up, unafraid of offending the snowflakes, the SJWs and labels.
These new lyricists are drawing straight from the depth of their hearts, where demons like to play, and bring that unfiltered message to the public; and I have to say that I am so excited about this paradigm shift. Musicians like NF, Tom Macdonald, and now Detroit’s own ruffiØ, are obviously just as tired as I am of watching the revolutionary approach to hip-hop being suppressed by safe and scared popular opinion, as their mounting war cries can be both seen and heard across the online world more and more.
When I first came across ruffiØ it was for a bloody aggressive and all-to-real music video by the name of Mayday from his debut album Speramus Meliora (We Hope For Better Things). What Mayday does best is offer up an open invitation from the artist to the listener to step right square into ruffiØ’s heart and mind, unfiltered, honest, and important. A song like this is going to help a lot of people, I have no doubt about that.
A day before the album’s release, ruffiØ released his latest music video for his song Paralysis, a song that deals with the paralysis brought on by overwhelming anxiety, among other things, and yet there is a sense of hope woven within this track, and all the others. This is what Detroit rapper ruffiØ does best, he draws from both the dark and the light to give us listeners an emotional response that cannot be denied. Even the vocal delivery on the album can be described as a fusion of hip-hop meets punk meets metal, and the beats, oh the beats, they are all so very catchy.
Somewhere along the way people got scared about being too real, too honest, and too exposed. It feels like an entire generation of artists are putting their honest selves on a permanent timeout while they chase the almighty dollar through socially accepted means; and then there are artists like ruffiØ that put their art first, the ones that say what they need to say, and not necessarily what you are ready to hear; even though you need to. Mental health awareness has been swept under the rug for so long that those depressed, lost, and confused, have wandered around like ghosts in groups of people, and Speramus Meliora shines the brightest light on this troubling situation by being bravely and unapologetically real in its delivery.
Whether you are new to hip hop or a veteran fan, a listener of punk or metal, Speramus Meliora has something for you to sink your teeth into, and I do hope that you give this album the listen and share that it deserves.
