Stalley:Intelligent Trunk Music

Tags: Hip Hop, Intelligent Trunk Music, Maybach Music Group, Ohio, Rap, Stalley

Record Label: Maybach Music Group

Judging by the year Cleveland’s had so far, the Ohio city doesn’t have too much to cheer about in 2011. Lebron left, the Cavaliers have the worst NBA record ever, and their other sports teams aren’t exactly championship-worthy. However, one name in Cleveland continues to create huge internet buzz and it’s the young, super-big-bearded Stalley.

With the success of his first Madlib-produced mixtape, Madstalley : The Autobiography, released last year, the MC dropped his latest mixtape Lincoln Way Nights (Intelligent Trunk Music) this past Tuesday. Intelligent Trunk Music is the perfect alias for this record, combining the young, gifted musician’s conscious and sentimental lyrics with heavy bass across the boards of production with local music comrade Rashad. This is the kind of record that will make you turn up the bass on your sound sytem and let it ride from beginning to end.

There are many promising songs included on the album’s impressive track list. Off the bat, the record opens up with the horn sample-driven “See The Milq In My Chevy,” a soulful underground banger dedicated to riding in your whip. A particularly interesting pairing can be found on “Assassin” which features a chorus sung by John Mayer; surprisingly this unlikely appearance works extremely well over the song’s deep bass and percussion-inspired melody. The groovy piano- and trumpet-assisted “Go On” sounds like something out of New Orleans with Stalley rapping about his college days of basketball and blunts. One of the most exciting tracks on the album is “Pound” with its Cool Kid similarities; on this song, Stalley absolutely lyrically murders the mic. It’s got no hook and an estimated 50 bars of pure rapping, starting off with “Im’a go to a place where the bass sounds thicker, slow the beat down cuz the pace a little quicker.” To me, that line completely described this album. Intelligent Trunk Music includes slow beats, heavy bass, and fast-paced, witty, intelligent flow from a star on the rise.

Hip-hop currently has a ton of promising acts coming to the forefront. Given the caliber of what he’s released, it’s very easy to throw Stalley into the mix of the most impressive new artists in the industry. While an actual debut studio album from the artist has no finish line set, no one can complain with mixtapes of the quality he’s producing (and honestly, his beard is enough to attract anyone’s attention, so things are looking good). Stalley’s Lincoln Way Nights (Intelligent Trunk Music) can be downloaded for free over at New York clothing brand Mishka’s website right now with a simple email registration. Below is his recent single “Tune Up.”

-Jay Wolman

Fri Feb 18

DROPPS

LOCALDROPPS

ARTICLES / INTERVIEWS

NEWS

EVENTS

Stalley:Intelligent Trunk Music

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

The Dropp is: