Beats and Rhymes: The Hustle

Song provided courtesy of Blackbird

Originally emerging from Los Angeles High School, the alma mater of Charles Bukowski and Ray Bradbury, is the L.A. based lyricist and musician Blackbird. Formerly a member of the legendary crew Darkleaf, and longtime denizen of important L.A. hip hop venues like the After Life, Good Life and Project Blowed, Blackbird has recorded several solo albums in the last five years. He considers each track a film score. The imagery in his lyrics translates well and several of his songs have been made into scripted videos. This track "The Hussle" captures the peril of life in the city's underworld,

The Blvd breaks the back of the hardest
The ones who stand back and watch are the smartest
Unless you're tested and fail its regardless
dope make a man turn heartless...
 
After his successful single "Outro Revisited" with Cut Chemist, Blackbird continues to experiment. "The Hussle" is from his newest project, Black Electro, a 15-song album that includes 12 songs recorded with uber-producer Thavius Beck. Their chemistry was a natural fit because they both make music that eludes categories like hip hop or dubstep.

With Black Electro, he says, "I had to keep reminding myself that I am not my ego, I am not my perception of myself, I am not a rapper, I am not a poet, I am simply a vessel chosen by a higher source to receive inspiration. That really helped me to write to songs that normally I wouldn't approach due to my past in hip hop, or underground. I'm breaking my own mold."