![]() ![]() They love me broke and bummy, got rent money now I’m feelin’ sadder Love me when I’m broke as shit, they hate me now my pockets fatter Wealthy and not healthy, if you ask me it don’t fuckin’ matter ‘Cause I’ve been dealin’ with these family mattersĬodeine on my fuckin’ bladder, doctor say I’m gettin’ fatter ‘ I know heaven’s high, feel like my wins low The second half of the sole verse on this track also houses some relevant, heart-wrenching bars: ![]() It is without a doubt one of the most beautiful videos I’ve seen recently, enough to bring more tears to my eyes as “Roaches” did before it. And the music video for this track? A continuation of 2Pac‘s “ Thugz Mansion“, which imagines heaven as a lush villa where family and friends are rejoined to break bread and dance together after they pass. Paying homage to 2Pac, there’s two lines in particular that show why I love him and his brand of wordplay: ‘ Pray at night like, ‘Father God, is there a heaven for a G?’/ Jesus Christ could walk on water, I’ma Crip Walk on the sea‘. This intro track is such a great first impression, allowing Maxo to vent about his anxieties and mourn his losses. It’s what makes songs like “CRIPSTIAN” hit really, really hard. Maxo himself is strong beyond measure, and he keeps a quiet storm-esque power in his vocal delivery on every song, never faltering or raising his voice beyond a clearly enunciated mid-timbre. With that much change in a short amount of time, it’s only natural for someone to reflect on life, and that’s what makes WEIGHT OF THE WORLD so strong. In his words, he’s a family man now with the weight of the world on his shoulders, and this album is a testament to the steel-reinforced, inhuman perseverance and resolve, having the right team on your side to help stay on the right side of things more often than not to make Maxo the man he is today. ![]() He has a son on the way, possibly wifed up(?) a woman, and he has a lovely niece he cherishes and helps raise in light of her father’s death. ![]() With WEIGHT OF THE WORLD, it’s more apparent than ever that he’s a product of his environment, one that took his brother Money Du‘s life, got his father locked up multiple times, made his cousin kill himself, and got some of his family on drugs, among so much more. Maxo’s life is something I’ve never experienced and never will, yet I can’t help but really feel for the dude. It quickly became one of my favorite rap albums in recent history, and digging in his past only revealed more gems like his debut album Punken, which has one of the only hip-hop songs that’s made me cry in recent history, “ Roaches“. His positive review and cosigning meant I had to check it out, and to say I was blown away is a bit of an understatement. The Houston native came onto my radar when my pal Ash reviewed his second album Brandon Banks. Maxo Kream isn’t someone that will likely change your mind if you’re entrenched in your opinions on the matter, but he’s definitely someone within that ilk of rapper – someone really speaking some truth in his music, no matter how painful and revealing. It’s worth looking into exactly why NWA felt compelled to write “Fuck Tha Police”, why Ice T with his metal band Body Count released the incendiary “Cop Killer”, or why Public Enemy wrote “Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos” (this also includes why the feds also came down hard on at least the first two groups for their music in a bid to not only censor their art, but, by extension, the truth). If you listen to rap and hear nothing but villainous tales of outlaws who deserve to be locked up for their supposed crimes, well, you may not be looking deep enough. I take in stories, listening to hood-borne plights of systemic racism, gang life, poverty, police brutality, and being forced to sling drugs or rob to feed their family and friends. I’ve been listening to rap music for over 20 years, but only listening real intently for about 15 years. I think your enjoyment of much of hip-hop, especially the more classically-tuned stuff, is very dependent on your sense of apathy and nuance. ![]()
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