The days of pure artistry may in fact be more numbered than the staying power of The Invisible Hand theory. Art for it’s own sake is a theoretical beauty but in practice it is one ugly bird. Ask any veteran songwriter, producer or lyricist who still puts quality and message first in their craft what it’s like to sell entertainment with integrity and they will kindly kill you softly with a “don’t be mad but UPS ain’t hiring either…”
So what does a pure artist do to make a living? He creates art, stupid. That’s just what MC/Producer/Socio-Political entity IAMISEE does. When one grows up in the Delaware Valley (read: Philly metro area), talent is plucked from the chaff early (or errly in Illadel slang), by process of some of the most concentrated natural selection (read: meanest streets) known to man. IAMISEE (now transplanted somewhere in GA.) was an early contemporary of Scott Storch but he doesn’t wear that on his sleeve, nor does he piss and moan over the success of his early beatmaking partner (and let’s not forget Storch fell hard, for cocaina, Lil’ Kim’s fake tatas and luxury boats that ended up being repo’ed; fret not, Scott is back behind the pot again, that Big Boi “Shutterbug” shit was him).
IAMISEE sculpts songs out of rubble with his primary partner Gary Gnu; both make beats and rhyme, sticking together somehow, even when age and peers say give up the dream and make peace with the doldrums, the two push each other forward whenever possible. IAM is a studied, thoughtful MC, with a careful delivery that can entertain or edutain you with spiritual and political savoir faire. Mick Boogie, Talib Kweli and the Blacksmith massive certainly thought so, having selected IAM’s manifesto “Threes” for the Blacksmith Community Mixtape, Volume 1 dropping sometime in late 2010/early 2011.
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IAM espouses utter dedication to his creative path but is also fluent in the technical languages necessary for proper 21st-century artisanry. Whether it’s designing his own websites, painstakingly writing his own code or applying self-taught graphic design principles and animation techniques to his chosen medium (he does a lot of his own videos and artwork), IAM attempts to master terrains where many artistic types fear to tread.
Gruff is his enigmatic voice and one can’t help but hear Mr. Lif in it, but while Lif’s abstract flows are a-linear (and not particularly compelling in this listener’s humble opinion), IAM’s lyrics are concentric circles with a fulcrum point. Whether locking firmly on topic; intellectualizing the Transformers on his concept track “Generation One;” or deconstructing some sort of Terry Gilliam revisionist theory on the Hunter S.-styled American Dream for his upcoming release, Fear And Loathing In The Music Business, it is clear we are dealing with a philosopher-poet here, all from a firmly chiseled hip-hop perspective. Have at a few other choice cuts and try to decipher where this comic book anti-hero is coming from.
You can also bark at him on Twitter
Everytime I hear Hip-Hop, I think about Scott LaRock
Have you ever held a hip-hop artist or a dope b-side song to heart from your youth your entire life and every time you hear it you can recant the clothes you were wearing, the girls you were pining after, the car you were driving, the time of your life…..
That’s how I feel every time I hear a song this cat puts out… and when I think he has reached his appex, he goes Blur Frontman Gorillaz ala miosis Rakim for that ass, and lyrically destroys everyone… beats dismantle everything above ground in a New York minute and Underground in just under 33 years. IAMISEE is the illest Emcee on planet Earth and like so may great artists of his time will not be recognized in his time, for he is Timeless. Truly.
Rakim is the only one that can hold a candle to him and toe-to-toe, you should have put your money on the Pikey…I See.
Talent is measured not in glitz and glamour and back-up dancers, but true vision and raw talent….his lyrics will change your life…. You don’t Listen, you wait to speak. Open your third eye you might learn somethin’, because from what I see.. you and the World got Nothin’… Music is the key to our survival as a species, so do yourself a favor and check it check it out… IAMISEE. You will never be the fuckin’ same and I have heard it all… Want the bottom line? Hunter S. Thompson, Bob Marley, Robert Zimmerman, Bill Murray, Jon Mayall tag team Wrestlemania versus MF Doom, The Rza, KRS-One, Rakim-Allah, and the One KRS.
God Bless,
~Ceelo
follow up, this shit should not be free, but alas it is:
http://www.yearoftheblacksmith.com/page/the-community-mixtape