While checking out the latest offerings on okayplayer.com a few weeks ago I came across a comment by another member promoting a rapper I'd not heard of & they provided a link to his Myspace site. That rapper goes by the name of Whuzi from Tallahassee, FL. I checked out his site and was pleasantly surprised by the fresh sound he's bringing to the hip hop scene as an independant rap artist.
Whuzi doesn't have an album out as a solo artist though. It's supposed to be out sometime this coming Spring(which can't come fast enough!). I'm pretty particular about the hip hop & rap I listen to so for me to want a new artist's album to come out is saying something.
Whuzi's style is a literal 'Kitchen Sink'(the title of his upcoming album), with the biggest influence I hear as being Outkast but I'm sure you all will let me know what else you hear. There's definitely some old school influences too. He's got an unusual style, sound and flow but it all works VERY well. Check out his myspace page here.
Here is a video of a live performance of his other rap group After The Smoke(it kinda starts out rough & w/a corny skit but the actual songs are worth the wait):
I personally like Whuzi's solo tunes better but After The Smoke is pretty good too. But mark my words, Whuzi is destined to go places. And you heard it here FIRST!
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The dude is definitely on his grind. Music, graphic design, photography. He's determined to get paid one way or another.
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His 'space page is hot. Just from the illustrations you know this cat's got a little something different to offer. Really like the song "The Line"-as an aside, it's almost got a Euro dance feel to it. Good stuff, Aug.
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Troy yea, he is definitely hard working. And he's still in college, in his senior year! What do you think of his music?
Britt his 'space page is hot. He's got creativity to spare! I like the fact that he's all over the place w/his music styles too. Glad you enjoyed.
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pretty good. but i didnt care for the first song on his page 'fugitive' its the robot voice! its getting so oldddd. but im feeling the rest of em. especially makin it.
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Aug, i was just at his MySpace, his songs were certainly interesting enough to hold my attention until i've listened to them all.
i am the last person to like genre labelling but i guess his sound falls somewhere under what's called "alternative hip hop" along with Mos Def, Lupe Fiasco, Talib Kweli (i love him), M.I.A., and, yes, OutKast.
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ooh I can definitely hear the Outkast influence or more so the ATL influence on him just from the youtube video. I wonder if he will be working with qtip? Sounds like he may have something here. I need to check out his myspace page for a better listen to the rest of what he has to offer. Thanks for sharing @augusts1
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I'm with Sam. Having the robot thingy as is first song was a deal-breaker. I listened to a few of the others, but he never really recovered with me.
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Haha Sam I really like the song Fugitive, it has an '80s vibe to it. I don't listen to alot of popular hip hop so I don't hear the robot voice much. Glad you dug the rest though & yes Makin It is a good one. My fave is The Line.
ii, it is alt hip hop definitely. Glad you liked & they held your attention.
Jennifer, I hope he does eventually work w/Q-tip. I'm sure if he gets picked up by a major label he will eventually. Yea, check out his myspace page & the rest of his tunes, I think you'll like 'em.
Troy see my response to Sam about the robot thingy. Unfortunate that you couldn't get past that, since the songs are quite good I think. But then again you listen to alot of hip hop so I can see what you're saying.
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Hey August, thanks for the blog post and writing to me on myspace. Appreciate the love. Had to come check it out and repond. Funny that somebody mentioned lupe. I'm actually working with the same producer now. I don't know if he wants his business out there, but he is the same guy who created "The Coolest" single for Lupe and many other songs from his last album and upcoming album. Lol, he actually posted on my space a couple of days ago. :) So hopefully one day, I'll be in the same boat as those guys since I'm going to be working along side talent like that. I'm driving up to ATL to start working in Nov.
But yeah, as far as Fugitive goes...I made that song like 2 years ago. I didn't release it b/c everybody started using autotune. But I decided to put it up last week b/c my homegirls loves it, so its for her. :)
But thanks to everybody who took time to listen to the music and enjoyed what you heard. I will put up new songs all the time.
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WHUZI! Very cool that you joined Mog & commented on my post! That's great you are working w/the same producer who worked w/Lupe. I guess he certainly would know talent when he hears it, so that's encouraging to hear that you're already getting exposure to the producer help that will get your sound out there.
Looking forward to hearing the new songs! Here's to a Whuzier world!