http://www.datpiff.com/SBG-Writers-Block-mixtape.306621.html
In the music world, you have recording artists and you have fans. Some are made to be artists and some are, clearly, made to be fans. Unfortunately, some people are just not content with simply enjoying the music.
SBG is one of those guys who, in my opinion, should really just be a fan. I don’t know this MC personally, but if I did I would tell him that I don’t feel he’s cut out for rapping. Now, of course, he doesn’t have to take my word for it. If he has a passion for rapping, by all means, stick to your dream. But I’m going to give him a few things some people might say to him on his road to stardom or mediocrity.
First off, if you want to be taken seriously do not release anything (mixtape or album) if you haven’t properly mixed it. On the first song, his vocals were far too low in the mix, while his ad-libs were way higher making it extremely awkward when they come in. Half the time, the vocals were mixed so poorly it was next to impossible to decipher anything he was saying. And when I did make out what he was saying, I wasn’t too happy out it.
True, hip hop doesn’t always have to be lyrical, but when you’re ambitious enough to go over tracks like Tech N9ne’s “Am I A Psycho” or Royce’s “Writer’s Block”, you should expect to be judged on your lyrics and flow. For SBG both are severely lacking. The lyrics sound amateur at best and he sounds extremely uncomfortable on a beat. I can’t say he’s off beat. He just doesn’t sound good on it. On some songs his breathing is off causing an inconsistency in his bar. On some songs it sounds like he’s just talking, realizes the bar he wrote was too long for the measure and then tries to rush his bar to catch up. That doesn’t sound good on a song…at all.
One important thing I noticed is he sounds very young. His age is important because it means he’s probably new to this craft and has plenty of time to improve on it. It’s never my intention to be a young man’s dream killer, but, as you all know, I don’t like to pull punches. He needs a LOT more practice. Rapping over songs by the likes of Hopsin, Tech N9ne and Royce, it’s clear that he’s into the more lyrical style rappers, so I’m not quite sure why he hasn’t studied them a little harder. That being said, this mixtape is like a kid getting a D on an exam when he’s been given study notes from some of the smartest people in the class. SBG needs to keep studying those notes before submitting any more online exams unless he truly doesn’t care about getting graded. If this mixtape was a practice exam (rather than a throwaway quiz), then he needs to go over the answers he got wrong and, maybe, take it again at a later date when he’s more prepared. Or drop out respectfully.
SBG, if you’re reading this, if I’m the first person to tell you this music is really bad, then you should really reconsider the relationships you have with the people you call your friends. Not saying everyone will hate this, but if all of your friends are telling you this is good, then there’s a very good possibility that some of them are lying to you. And if they’re not all lying to you, then there’s a very good possibility that some of them have really bad taste in hip hop so you shouldn’t listen to them anyway. Now, if you have some people telling you it’s bad, you may want to listen to their critiques and learn from them while you still have time to develop your style. If you’d rather just ignore everyone and keep making the same kind of music you’re making then Godspeed, my friend, and good luck to you.
“You’re a botched abortion. The best portion of you flew down your mama’s leg onto the hotel floor, son.”