Sep 28, 2015

Editorial Review: Charles St. Chi - @CaneistheName

Cane at Santos Party House NYC
Cane is a name that many cats might have missed out on for awhile. 

I know I did until seeing him live opening for Rapsody a while back. Turns out I had actually heard of him before as he was featured on Statik Selektah's Lucky 7. The DMV native did well on a track with Talib Kweli and CJ Fly word to Niles. Point blank as an emcee you're not gonna be featured on a Statik project unless you got skills. After chopping it up with the emcee backstage, I took the time to go back and listen to his tape, Charles St. Chi way back from 2014. Let's waste no more time and get to the music.

The tape starts with a hilarious intro. Cane finishes off most of the tracks with a humorous skit of him and his homies. The music begins with track two Scoreboard. Track three Glory Greens is a freestyle over Collard Greens by ScHoolboy Q. It concludes with the Fredericksburg product's attempt to sound West Indian. that transitions into Shabba nicely. yes it is the same beat as the one made famous by A$ap Ferg. Crown Royal is his freestyle to the Lorde song Royals. He takes a more serious flow than a happy mood like he has in his last few songs. Next is Suit & Tie Rap over the Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z hit. Cake Boss follows over the ever popular Pound Cake beat. He serves it justice better than a lot of other freestyles I've heard over this beat.

After this point I believe Cane really started dropping his best verses on this track. The next track Fiyah is the best hands down. He came crazy over the Lou Burna beat. Flow, lyrics, and funny punchlines trend throughout the Busta Rhymes influenced verse. Cane really sounds more comfortable over traditional boom bap beats and delivers more fire with Mommy's Kitchen (Leftovers Mix). The tape wraps up with Charles St. Clearly it's an ode to where he's from but the production is great. It changes throughout and even uses beat box after each hook. Very solid.

If you don't like freestyles over previously popular beats this tape isn't for you. What I do suggest is you listen to of Citizen Cane because frankly he's way too slept on. The ability to make each track his own is so impressive to me. I also enjoy the humor and skits. He shows his character outside of his rhymes. The skits in between could be vines gone viral if he just put video over it, it's that funny. I'm also impressed because the project was entirely done by Cane with no features. Not easy to retain attention for that long by yourself without a misstep. I know you guys have been deprived of a great artist and Cane is the Name I promise. Wake Up and Listen to Charles St. Chi below. Pass it to a friend while you're at it.



Jonathan C. Ramsey
Jonathan C. Ramsey

Multimedia Journalist, Founder and Chief Editor of WTM Host of A-Side B-Side Podcast and more. I like to talk about stuff and write it down. Sometimes to a microphone. Either way, I need you to feel this.

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