I woke up this morning to an email from a young emcee out of Pasadena, CA named Versis. When I say young, I mean young. Being a recent high school graduate, I wasn’t sure what to expect of his music he sent to me. The last time I played a show in Oklahoma with Astronautalis and Jabee, there was a high school hip-hop group that opened for us and I guess that really set the tone for how I see younger people. The group was talented and obviously popular but they sounded very now. Ironically, the now sound that I mean revolves around using vintage drum sounds, electronic synths and simple, fun rhymes. There’s nothing wrong with this sound at all and I can appreciate it when I’m in the mood, but for the most part, you can consider me a fan of the classics.
I guess that is what I expected to hear from Versis. Here at FT we have a policy to listen to everything we are sent without discrimination, so I gave it a chance without discrimination. The song we were sent, All In, surprised me in a great way. The beat has a classic J Dilla approach with a nice bassline and a clean, cool Rhodes sound. The whole thing is very Slum Village sounding, but I don’t hold that against him. I immediately went to his myspace page to hear more.
I won’t tell you that the music is AMAZING or anything but I really like it and I would absolutely bump this on some cool out shit. Versis makes some great sounding, feel good tracks and I can’t help but be impressed (and proud) that the next generation will have people like me, who are definitely not in the majority of the music makers/listeners. I’m looking forward to hearing how this young emcee grows and reaches his full potential. Hope you enjoy it too!
