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A new EP from Asheville-based rapper SIYAH (Isa Whitaker) explores faith and family in a style miles away from the gangsta rap of the 1990s. Enlisting talent from the ranks of his own family, SIYAH delivers an impressive 14 minutes of conscious hip-hop on Dark Clouds<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Dark Clouds<\/i> opens with \u201cThe Heights.\u201d Like all four of the tracks on the EP, it showcases SIYAH\u2019s particular approach to hip-hop: he keeps it positive. His brother Dallas Henry (aka DJ Dallas) provides the music. Against a relatively dark and minor key synthesized backing with understated percussion, SIYAH delivers a self-referential rhyme that sets out some of the values he holds dear: \u201cTake care of my mama \/ stay away from drama,\u201d for example. The track expresses faith his his god, and touches on the fact that some of his friends suspect that he\u2019s fronting, holding himself up as following the straight-and-narrow when (perhaps) he\u2019s not. SIYAH makes passing and oblique asides (he mentions Oakland but doesn\u2019t get into details), hinting that he hasn\u2019t always been on the righteous path. But these days, he tells us, he\u2019s striving to stay true to those values. \u201cThe Heights\u201d includes a statement that encapsulates SIYAH\u2019s goals, modest and ambitious at once: \u201cI\u2019m holding on to my faith \u2026 I may never have the newest whip \/ I know I won\u2019t see the billboards \/ or the Grammy script, I\u2019m better off nameless.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI Pray\u201d has a hypnotic musical track with a stronger beat. Part of the track features SIYAH rapping in the persona of someone taunting him: \u201cGo, go lil\u2019 rapper dance \/ Sing for \u2018em they\u2019ll clap they hands.\u201d This unnamed character counters an assertion made in \u201cThe Heights\u201d when he predicts, \u201cYou might even win at the award show.\u201d But SIYAH doesn\u2019t seem taken in by all that. \u201cRegardless we all destined for the same thang,\u201d he tells us. And he further defines his responsibilities as he sees them: \u201cIf I don’t give ’em the whole truth \/ That’s going to be on me when I get buried.\u201d<\/p>\n
A disembodied, synthesized voice provides an eerie, faraway backing melody while stuttering drum machine patter lays out the beat in \u201cThe Struggle.\u201d Another autobiographical track, it expands on SIYAH\u2019s approach of peeling back the layers of his story, bit by bit. In \u201cThe Struggle\u201d we learn that he\u2019s been rapping for a decade (he\u2019s 28 now), beginning with the goal of finding riches. \u201cFound out this whole time was already rich,\u201d he explains. SIYAH enumerates some of the reasons that \u2013 as an African American \u2013 he lives in daily fear, but his overall goal is to remain positive and grounded. \u201cWe’re all pursuing the same \/ Can’t get lost in the game,\u201d he raps. \u201cIt’s easy to do, but in the end there won’t be nothing to gain \/ Yea, In the end there won’t be nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
An inspirational and impassioned \u2013 yet clear-eyed \u2013 archival speech from Dick Gregory provides the introduction to \u201cBlessings in the Rain.\u201d A lush instrumental backing (with occasional blasts of thunder that call to mind The Dramatics\u2019 soul classic \u201cIn the Rain\u201d) supports what\u2019s easily the best rap of the four on Dark Clouds<\/i>. SIYAH\u2019s mother Melody adds some soulful vocals on the chorus while the rapper lays out rhymes that echo the sentiments of Psalm 23. And while he may worship a (slightly) different deity than the one described in the New Testament, his devotion is clear: \u201cOver here we say our prayers \/ we don’t do no wishing.\u201d Once again SIYAH expresses some real-world fears (\u201cAnd pray I kill these demons before they conquer my family\u201d) while at the same time asking for help in form of prayers to help him in his journey. And he invites listeners to join him: \u201cYea, let’s pray for peace, and pray for sanity \/ And pray we kill these demons before they conquer our families.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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