Music CD
PRIEST
FOREVER: "Live
and Let Die" - The Mixtape...Born in NYC and raised in Harlem,
the Hip Hop Artist / D.J. / Producer known as “Priest” has had a
multitude of experiences within the music industry.... He has even
toured with Hip Hop legend, “KRS ONE,” performing along with him
on stage and appearing on several cuts from his album “Tha Kristyle”
After testing the waters on the Mixtape circuit
and moving two thousand copies of his independent release “Priest Revolutions,
Tha Mixtape Has You...,” Priest is excited about the opportunity
to take his career to a higher level. The first single off the new project
“Dreams of Smacking an Entertainer,” is already enjoying a strong buzz
on college radio and quickly becoming a daily request from listeners in
the NYC area. Priest Says, “I took the song “Dreams” by the late
great “Notorious B.I.G.” and flipped it to make a commentary on
the state of the music industry. I decided to just have fun with it.” Priest
is especially optimistic about the future. . And to think, he's just getting
started. “I’m gonna keep working hard until reach the top. Failure is not
an option.”
Priest Forever, Live and Let Die: Tha Mixtape
Rapper/DJ/producer Priest is from Harlem, New York. His thirty track “mixtape,” Live and Let Die, features a series of collaborations with heavyweights like Kanye West and Mase (“Jesus Walks”), John O. (Harlem ta Hollywood), Koran Carlos (“Put Ya Hands Up,” “Ride Wit’ Me,” “Always Remember,” and “Stalkin’ you”), Streetz (“Gangsta Shit”), and, most significantly (I think), KRS-ONE (“The Movement”).
How does Priest reflect the contemporary state of hip hop? Musically, some of the tracks sound as good as anything I’ve heard before, making effective use of some first-rate samples (e.g., Wings’ “Live and Let Die” on the title track) and stripped down, old school beats. On “Tennis Anyone?” there is no music as such, as Priest raps over the sounds of a tennis game.
It’s hard to place Priest. On one level, he sounds socially conscious with tracks like “Gangsta Shit,” “Always Remember,” “Tennis Anyone?” and “100 Guns.” On these tracks, he complains that “niggas like their pit bulls more than their kids and baby mothers” or that “niggas wanna forget where they come from”. Towards the end of the CD, he raps “All that pimps and playas shit is dead.” But at the same time, the CD is liberally peppered with references to “niggas,” “bitches” and so on, either reflecting the macho posturing so common to hip hop or conscious irony. I find it hard to tell which although I suspect the former more than the latter. I was particularly troubled by some of the lyrics on “Jesus Walks.”
Overall, though, Priest lacks the hardcore, militant edge of Public Enemy but neither is he as laid back as, say, Snoop Dogg. I suppose it’s telling that, in my opinion, the best line on the CD is delivered not by Priest himself but KRS-ONE, “I’m the Alan Greenspan of rap.”
--Dr. Nathan Abrams, University of Aberdeen, Lecturer in History (School of Divinity, History & Philiosophy)
The public is invited to send
us your candid comments on "Live
and Let Die" to bryworld@aol.com
Send your press packages to:
Bryan World Productions, LLC.
Attn: Bob Bryan
PO Box 74033
Los Angeles, CA 90004
Tel: 323/856-9256
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