WE DID IT, RIGHT?

Fader posted a lil update on Homebwoi recently. That is, an update for people who were down with the Bwoi before. From my perspective, however, it was (unfortunately) a bit of a late introduction. According to the bio on his Myspace, dude's been on his shit for over a decade rapping and producing but the only solo work I've heard seems to be from this year.


I gotta start with this most recent Coming to America mixtape (FREE at Bandcamp). I'm down for the most part, but honestly one of the best highlights is 90-second opener "Welcome to America." Personally, a lot of my hip hop/rap music consumption has something to do with feeling good. Rappers on the hard side bring back memories of rolling around in high school pumping N.W.A. out my car speakers with all my friends rattling off all the words to Straight Outta Compton (for example), blown away by how theatrical, brutally misogynist/violent, and admittedly hilarious it was. No matter what the message, I tended to and still tend to listen to rap music to escape, nodding my head, enjoying the company of friends, partying, all with a stupid grin on my face.

So it's when something like "Welcome to America" comes along (or some of the shit I mentioned from that 808s & Dark Grapes mixtape re: killing your body with weedsmoke and codeine) that I kind of tape a step back and make an observation about some of the more depressing aspects of what is being said. It's simply an intro, but I have a couple points to talk on:

1. Dude's from Griffin, GA. He is not making his first trip to America or something. He's not from Germany, as you're lead to believe. He's not Eddie Murphy. However, according to his Bandcamp, Homebwoi made this album "to link countries to the United States through my eyes." Bringing people of the world together is a good thing. World Cup, right?

2. It honestly sounds like DJ Noiz sampled some Lion King shit for this beat.

3. In order to set up #4, I have to list all the great things about America that Homebwoi describes:

-hip hop
-booty shaking
-nonstop partying
-bright lights
-Hollywood
-fighting in the street

4. Now, the other thing he mentions is how our president is black. This is something to celebrate, right? Diversity, right? We finally did it, right?

Not exactly. Homebwoi seems to hint at something along the lines of 'just because we elected a black president doesn't mean all our problems are gone.'

"the president is black, right?"

The enunciation on the "right" is more like "riiight?," coming off a bit sarcastic, even caustic. Seems to hint that we still have a long way to go. In the next track, "The Day After," he goes on to describe the joy and pain that goes along with such a big change. He describes the difficulties Obama had even getting elected in the first place ("they got his birth certificate they sayin that it's wrong -- they say he's not a citizen this ain't where he belong") let alone the aftermath ("I think the country need change, but ima tell you somethin they so motherfuckin strange - Obama get ridiculed for any fuckin thang"). He takes another jab at America to close the song:

"This here's is the land of the free - unless the president look anythin like me"

Also real into this track ft. Dub G from UGK. Homebwoi has this to say:

"I felt it was only right to get someone from the UGK camp to get on a record like this because it gave me that old school classic feel of UGK in their prime. (R.I.P. Pimp C)"

I gotta show some love for a couple of his slightly older jams as well, namely "Gimme a Break" and "Head Above Water," both available as free downloads on the Legend of Homebwoi Bandcamp page (all 17 tracks are going for just $1).

These couple tracks are best enjoyed in stark comparission to Coming to America's "Buy it Anyway," which sees Homebwoi flashing bills and dropping stacks on whatever:

"I got lots of money, might come off conceited
Buy what I want when I don't really need it
Fuck it fuck it fuck it ima go and buy it anyway"

These two older songs are about trying to get yer big break and the struggles of scraping by "overworked and underpaid."









Homebwoi's debut album No Place Like Home drops sometime soon on Collipark Music/Asylum.



EDIT:

While we're on the topic, here's some proof that 'just because our president is black America is not saved.' Look at this sort of amazing video of Dan Quayle's son Ben, in which he calls Obama "the worst president in history." Stop boycotting Arizona and its immigration laws. Start boycotting Ben Quayle (via).