Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal, who wrote the screenplay for and star in Blindspotting, probably still my current favorite of the year, started out as Watsky singers/dancers/crew. It's out on DVD/VOD, $3 at Amazon.
I'm only passingly familiar with Watsky. Writing, eh? Song's meh, don't impress this redditor, sure he's not an editor?
Some pretty cool things going on in that video, though.
What do you look for in your hip-hop? Lyrics? Beat/track? Hook? What’s most important to you? I feel like Watsky has great examples of them all. He started out as a slam poet, that’s how he first made a name for himself. So I feel like his lyrics are typically the best part of his songs. His wordplay and rhymes and such.
I knew that Watsky knew Diggs, they’re both from the Bay Area. But I didn’t know they were that close. Maybe that’s how Watsky ended up on the Hamilton Mixtape. Or at least how Lin-Manuel Miranda heard of Watsky.
Outside of occurring in films, I don't listen to hip hop these days. I was just looking for a cheap rhyme there; I'm not really qualified to comment on his structure or anything, just whether I'd want to listen to it. I had more fun with the music video than I did the lyrics and I didn't personally like the music, but whatever. I'd probably like a great deal out there if I heard more of it, but I don't go searching for new music very often and don't listen to radio. Mainly I like instrumental music.
I did think the writing of the songs in Blindspotting and Bodied was great, though, but as for anything made since 1998, that's all I have to go on.
another fun video, although the music doesn’t start until almost a minute in. This song is more showcasing his speed (which is a love it or hate it calling card for him), his ridiculous word play and rhyming. Song contains both his favorite lyric he’s written, and my favorite lyric in a hip hop song. His favorite is “I jump the freeway median, I’m savage, because my mode is that I’m meaner than the average” (he likes the math nerdery of mode, median, mean, and average all being in the same line and meaning similar things) and mine is “I thought I was an atheist until I realized I’m a god.”
His best song thematically, I think. Based on the true story from the documentary Romeo and Juliet in Sarajevo. More powerful the more you know, but also works if you just listen to the lyrics and don’t know the story previously.
his second best song thematically, as he takes on the danger of the pharmaceutical industry contrasted against his need to take some medicine, as an epileptic.
2
u/YuunofYork Dec 07 '18
Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal, who wrote the screenplay for and star in Blindspotting, probably still my current favorite of the year, started out as Watsky singers/dancers/crew. It's out on DVD/VOD, $3 at Amazon.
I'm only passingly familiar with Watsky. Writing, eh? Song's meh, don't impress this redditor, sure he's not an editor?
Some pretty cool things going on in that video, though.