Novel “Song Cry II”
Not too many rappers could open up a song by stating “I can’t see ‘em coming down my eyes, so I gotta make this song cry” and then proceed to pull off just that with such flawlessness, but that’s just what Jay Z accomplished with The Blueprint‘s introspective rap ballad “Song Cry”, one of the many moments of his career where all the elements seemed to come together perfectly.
Longtime up-and-coming R&B singer/ songwriter/ producer/ rapper Novel (who Mixtape Maestro has been a fan of since his early “I can eat a peach for an hour” days) taps into that Jigga classic on “Song Cry II” and it’s equally as mesmerizing.
Novel gives off a lil’ Al Green/ D’Angelo vibe here as he expresses the stifled woe of a young man hardened by inner city living: “I don’t cry/ Cause there’s something inside sayin’ ‘Don’t cry’”. But like the hip hop song he references, he does a good job illustrating that pain through the cut’s smooth, soul-sampled-enriched production and a vocal performance that finds him impressively weaving in and out of a moving falsetto.
An instance where the overly-repeated “one to watch” cliché holds some true weight.
While you eagerly anticipate the release of Novel’s debut The Audiobiography (set to drop sometime later this year), grab “Song Cry II” below, followed by the “making of” clip and final product of his “Soul Version” cover of Kid Cudi’s “Sky Might Fall”.
DL: “Song Cry II” (alt)
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