Cleveland rapper Authentic Issue is set to release his new mixtape titled “Fuck All That, Just Rap!”. He passed me two of the songs off of the upcoming project and I must say I was impressed. The Intro is a sobering reality of what Cleveland is going through during this time of transition. The public housing area known as Longwood or Down the Way, the area Authentic Issue calls home has gone through some drastic change over the past few years.
The sound bytes at the end of the intro explains the general process of gentrification, something that Clevelanders are becoming quite aware of. At the end of the song there is a disagreement between a younger voice and an older voice where the younger voice believes there should be a community effort to keep the neighborhood “black” and black owned in an attempt to resist the assumed gentrification of a predominantly black neighborhood. The older voice blames the culture of drug dealing and black on black crime for devaluing the property of the black neighborhood.
The second track titled Real Shit uses a sample of the late Barry White’s Cant Get Enough of Your Love Baby, and while it doesn’t have an apparent message like the Intro did it’s still a fun song to listen to. Issue plays around on the track with simple but lyrical punch lines and even shares a moment of laughter with a playful “do-do-do” chant.
Fuck All That Just Rap looks to be a different type of rap than what is usually promoted around the city. You can follow Authentic Issue on Twitter and Instagram @Ant_Ant91. Fuck All That, Just Rap! releases Halloween on Datpiff and Hot New Hip-Hop.
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