Kid Pretentious No longer a real person.

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G-Side - “My Aura (Acapella)” (Live, 2011)

When this video first turned up in my RSS reader I skipped right over it. I do this to just about any post with a title that includes the include the word “acapella” (or “snippet” or “teaser” or “Drake”). Because in 2011 rap acapellas are fucking boring by nature. The moment in the concert where the DJ’s laptop battery dies, the rap verse that the rapper was too far off beat to actually mold into a rhythm, the self important slam poetry interlude, the half assed carry out freestyle that was probably tons of fun in the moment but not at all worth preserving eternally on Youtube. I don’t want none of that. 

But the thing about G-Side - and this is probably why their critical acceptance so greatly exceeds the popular interest in them as of right now - is that they aspire to do everything bigger or better or at least more unique, to rise above the hum of mediocrity that most rappers resign themselves to. Not superficially so - like the mediocre street rapper who buys a multi-thousand dollar SLR camera to shoot a higher fidelity take on the same unimaginative video he would’ve made on a flipcam - but out of a desire to really add depth to their work. They don’t always succeed (see: those painful Euroman hooks that too frequently pull down Cohesive). But they try.

To say all this is to say just one thing: this is a great performance. And only because they consciously decided to make it better than all those other acapellas that I don’t click on. Not by doing anything too too complex, but by just doing things ever so slightly extra. It doesn’t take a genius or act of great labor to shift a country rap tune to a near doo wop acapella and make it sound cool. It just takes artists who care.

(Source: marathonpacks)