Advertisement

Album reviews Music

Found on the Street: MCBC

Rating: NNN


The NOW music team writes about music we literally found on the street

WHO: MCBC

WHERE: Red Bull stage, Ryerson campus, NXNE

Opening line: “You don’t know me, but I follow you on Instagram.”

Go to enough shows and you’ll be handed your share of free CDs. That number multiplies when you get to write about music for a living.

This self-produced six-track preview of the upcoming album, Beats, Mics & Lights, from New Jersey rapper MCBC melds boom-bap with electronic production for about half the songs, but really shines on #42, Forward Motion and Rolling Stone, when the artist shows his knack for mining 70s vinyl and plucking out funky samples.

MCBC avoids profanity entirely, as well as many of pop music’s more tiresome tropes (partying, women). What he does rap about (hard work, haters, seizing the moment) is nothing remotely new in hip-hop, but he does it convincingly enough, via diverse vocal delivery that sometimes owes a little too much to hip-hop A-listers (Kanye here, 2 Chainz there).

The only weak link, Sun ‘n’ Beach, features clichéd female backing vocals – “oooah, yeaaah, summa, summa, summa time!” and the rapper overusing “Sorry, not sorry.”

Still, worth a few spins.

Top track: Rolling Stone

For more info see facebook.com/reach.BC

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Recently Posted