Stop Sleepin: Melo-X

This Brooklyn “Emcee, DJ, Producer, Audio Engineer, Photographer, and Human”  as his twitter bio states, is all about expressing himself through whatever medium he can get his hands on.  That being said, his most recent mixtape Mustafa’s Renaissance, did a great job of displaying this passion for self expression.

This tape is filled with creative instrumentals, original songs, and remakes of other songs, making it more of a work of art than just another hip hop mixtape.  When listening to Mustafa’s Renaissance, I feel like I’m back in record stores, discovering new music and talking hip hop with people who truly love the culture!

Melo-X belongs to a new age of hip hop artists who make the music they love and build a community online around evolving technologies.  This group of hip hop aficionados doesn’t need their music played on the radio or praised by the masses because they are doing what they love, for the people they respect!

Here is an introductory video made by Melo-X himself to give you a better feel for his work and personality:

As you can tell, Melo-X is a fun, laid back dude.  However, when it comes to his music, he says that you can see his heartbeat in every line.  We see his heartbeat because Melo-X chooses to recount his life and share personal feelings, leaving the bullshit lyrics and make-believe rhymes for other Emcees who are only in the game to chase riches and fame.

The introductory track for his latest mixtape shows some of this autobiographical rap style as Melo-X speaks about living in New York and trying to survive the recession.

That song helps to set the tone for Mustafa’s Renaissance, which has a very poetic/spoken word creative vibe to it.  In one of his more serious lines on the track, Melo-X pays tribute to Sean Bell:

“It feels like I’m living in hell,
50 shots now sean’s name rings bells,
I’m furious, dont you think its serious.”

No matter how many times I hear NYC Emcees speak about Sean Bell, it will never get old.  I hope we never forget what happened to Sean Bell and his family.

Another standout track on Mustafa’s Renaissance is “Just Me.”

This track about self expression helps to establish the theme of the whole Melo-X experience.  Mustafa’s Renaissance is a glimpse into Melo-X’s personality, and with this track he helps us realize that the only person we should aim to please or emulate is ourselves!  Melo-X spits:

“Let’s get back to the shit that I hear,
about how I dress and the clothes that I wear,
See I dont really care what you think when you see me,
as long as I love what I see when I see me,
They tellin me cut my hair, do something with my beard,
but I dont really care.”

Now if you want to get a feel for how creative Melo-X can get with his remakes, take a listen to “The Peeps,” “I Don’t Rap,” and “Incredible” off of Mustafa’s Renaissance.

Here is a live performance clip of “Incredible” featuring Mickey Factz.

This remake of Mickey Factz’s hit song “Incredible” is just that… incredible!  Melo-X really stirs things up by spitting, “I’ve been making niggas put my verses on replay, and to think I’m only Mickey Factz DJ.” That line calls out all of Melo-X’s haters/disbelievers who saw him as Mickey Factz’ DJ and may have doubted his ability to be an artist himself.  I guess being a major artist’s DJ has its good points and bad..

All in all, after listening to Mustafa’s Renaissance, you will see that this soulful story teller is probably what your favorite hip hop bloggers & magazine writers bump in their off time.