In the Making of Riot video below Gabe shares, “Basically the album is just coming from the lens of a Christian, address some current issues in the culture, in the christian hip hop culture as well, give you some of our own realities as individuals and what we go through every day and we hope to show every listener the world view on the culture as we see it.” This vision behind the album is most definitely filtered through into each track on Riot and the quartet from Compton, California profess to “know rap” so let’s take a closer look to see if that’s true…
“California Burning” opens up with the words of Billy Graham and other preachers echoing in the distance before Escort cuts in, spitting a passionate and smooth staccato flow which slows down and quickens up in tandem with the backing track. At just over 2 minutes long, and with a 40 second intro and a 25 second musical outro, this track serves it’s purpose as an album opener well and warms the listener up for what is to come.
Next up, Todd McCray (of Zoe 4 Life) lends his vocals to the captivating hook on “I Ain’t The One,” giving the track a completely different feeling to the rest of Riot. In fact, the hook almost sounds like it doesn’t belong on top of the beat in the background and they’ve taken a slight risk with it but it turns out to be a stroke of genius from Keno Camp as, not only does it work, but it works brilliantly and will leave the hook reverberating around your mind for hours to come.
Even the most novice of hip hop enthusiasts will pick up on the West Coast road map laid out in the song “Obey” by the prevalence of trap, bay area, crunk and horn themed beats throughout and will have you getting crunk within seconds. Sounding reasonably similar to Tedashii’s hit song “Riot,” “Obey,” one of the standout tracks on Riot, is a hype track about obeying our high and almighty father. Supporting the clever wordplay and varied cadence of the participating artists is a catchy hook that will certainly be a hit on the western half of the country, if nowhere else. The track is currently available for free download and Keno Camp have recently been filming a music video for it too which will be premiering January 23rd on WadeORadio.com.
Opening in the same vein as the album opener with a distant exchange of dialogue, “Still me” is a defiant statement of who we are as Christians as Gabe spits, “This is as real as it’s ever gonna get, still rapping flesh, homie don’t forget, ain’t tryna be celebrities, at the end of the day boy, I’m still me.” This defiant statement, along with the rest of the track, is given extra emphasis from the strong, banging beat behind it.
“Murder Me” features the guest vocals of B.C. The Marksman (of Zoe 4 Life) and starts off with Terrell defiantly declaring, “You can’t crack me bro, I’m a grafted in, ‘coz he exchanged my sin and inputted his righteousness, my debt to my Savior can never be repaid, so you’re going to have to kill me ‘coz I’ll go to the grave before I deny his name.” In the second half of the track, Escort once again displays his slick flow skills as he takes the track name a little too literally and absolutely murders his bars in his verses, and in such a way that you’re left with a profound awe-induced feeling as the track draws to a close.
“If I” picks up where Murder Me left off and showcases the lyrical ability of Gabe, Escort and Todd McCray (of Zoe 4 Life) to the max as it’s difficult to keep up with the rapid fire, machine gun like lyricism from all 3, with Todd especially shining. The distorted low tones of the hook, “If I talk it, you know I got to walk it,” will have you strutting around and it will stick in your memory for hours.
PG 12