Tag: Saukrates

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Saukrates – Season 2

Saukrates, Soxx, Big Soxx – he’s a man of many names, and with that, comes many talents. Behind the mic and boards alike, the forefather of Toronto hip-hop defined the sound of a region with the rejection of major labels and a blast from the underground (read: The Underground Tapes). Upon claiming his rightful throne, he quietly aligned his heir apparent via the introduction of Drake to OB OBrien – the pop and rap landscape hasn’t been the same since those two connected, and with that, the waves of Saukrates’ influence can be felt across decades.

That being said, I’ll try to not minimize Saukrates’ talents to so few words as I digest his newest creation: Season 2. The man is a storyteller who weaves tales of romance and heartbreak (“Fever”), pride and probity (“Jays Fitted”), all into a potent mixture of bars and wonderfully sung vocals. He’s adept with each word he spits, turning lines into pure poetry with vivid imagery attached to each and every syllable: “You think your bitch is bad, my lady such a sweet disaster.” As always, Soxx also has a finger on the pulse of old heads and new heads alike as he taps Kardinall Offishall and SonReal respectively for a set of hometown features that make the record feel like a true Toronto celebration.

On Season 2, the golden era of hip-hop, past present and future, is alive and well. Big ups to Big Soxx.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-keQZPNiDA]

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Music

Saukrates – Mysterium (ft. SonReal)

It’s not often that the old school and new school collide with cohesion these days, but Saukrates has always had an ear for what’s hot. SonReal has way more in common with traditional hip-hop than the Soundcloud rap sphere, sure, but it’s impressive how a rising star goes bar for bar with a living legend. The entirety of the track is breeze filled with lyrical gymnastics that flow with the fluidity of a world class acrobat, not to mention silky smooth sung vocals from both rappers.

I also have to give big ups to Soxx for putting on so hard for the new school. There’s so many formerly cherished rappers on the outside looking in because they’ve refused to keep up with the kids or outright denounced them, claiming the style of hip-hop they were pushing decades ago is superior to what’s being made right now. Over the years, Soxx has let his sound gently evolve without sacrificing the core style of his own music, maintaining a high level of quality by simply doing his thing. It goes to show that you can stick with your sound while simultaneously championing artists like SonReal who are prepared to be handed the torch. I can’t wait to hear how Soxx blends the past, present, and future on his upcoming album.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfFRCf3SSCo]

Categories
Music

Saukrates – The Underground Tapes

Well, we’re officially old. It had been knocking on the door, but when a rapper about the same age as you can re-release a classic album about 20 years after it’s initial release, well, now said door has been torn off it’s hinges. I can vividly remember when “Father Time” dropped, probably in 1998. I had never heard of Saukrates before that song, but I never forgot about him afterwards. At that moment, Toronto, and Canada in general didn’t have much of an international presence in the rap scene yet. If any presence at all. I remembered seeing a video from Maestro Fresh Wes on Yo! MTV Raps when i was a kid and that was the extent of my exposure to Canadian hiphop.

Saukrates was memorable for a lot of reasons, namely his tough, gruff voice that still somehow flowed like hot butter and ridiculous beats that were filled with classic drum breaks and smart samples. There was an East Coast feel to his music and style but he didn’t come off like another NYC rapper at all. There was something distinctly different about him and the underground hiphop world definitely took notice. Everytime I tuned into Friday Night Flavas (the wildly popular “underground” hiphop show that ran on Friday nights on LA’s massive urban/dance station Power 106) I’d hear “Father Time” or “Hate Runs Deep” or something else featuring Saukrates. Or maybe a track from his TO contemporaries Kardinal Offishall or Choclair. Whatever the case, Toronto was making it’s presence felt in hiphop for the first time, and it would only be 9 or 10 short years later that would Drake drop “You Da Best” and begin the process of finishing the job that Soxx and crew started.

As much as i tend to think like an “old head,” I can appreciate what the kids are doing with hiphop right now. I can’t really listen to much of it, but I get it. And I know they probably feel about 90’s hiphop/boom-bap the way I felt about Sugar Hill Gang and Kurtis Blow when I was a kid – I couldn’t get into it no matter how much I was “supposed to.” I think there’s a specific DNA of a generation, and if you’re born into that time, you have a bit of that DNA wired into you. I’m laced with the boom-bap DNA and I always will be. I don’t expect a 20 year old Lil Uzi Vert fan to spend too much time with our “classics” but I do really hope that a re-release such as “The Underground Tapes” can sneak into the kids consciousness. Everything about the album represents that late 90’s hiphop DIY aesthetic, in sound, style and presentation. It’s an album that would help anyone gain a new appreciation for a very vital moment in hiphop history.