Jordan Pedersen doesn’t want to be famous; he just wants to be well-off.
What do you call it when you stop reaching for the stars and start reaching for a decent-sized check and a cute girlfriend? Settling? Growing up?
Rap is so often the music of aspirations, of getting out and getting rich. But like any creative endeavor, the rap game is incredibly hierarchical: most of the wealth is focused in the hands of the very few – barely suppressing a pinko rant right now BTW – and the vast majority of rappers are just trying to pay their rent doing something they love.
Over a breezy, “Grown Up”-style boom bap revival beat, Mello Music cohorts Has-Lo and Castle paint the rap game as a somewhat thankless one. They’re not number one stunnas, they’re the “employees of the year.” This is rap as clock-punching, rap as a job that Has-Lo and Castle want to be the best at. “Just compensate us,” requests Castle somewhat politely. A reasonable demand.
I haven’t figured out what to call the thing Castle and Has are in the market for. I just know I want it too.
Live Like You’re Dead is out July 29th on Mello Music.
