Once in a while an artist decides to toss a complete curve ball to his or her audience, and sometimes that curveball is hit for a home run and other times it's a swing and a miss.
Imagine my surprise when I opened my email to find a solo track by Maal Himself that is the complete opposite of anything that he'd ever done with Umbrella Music Group and Misen Link.
The swagger and braggadocio raps were vacant from this new track and it isn't a "hood" or "hip-hop" song at all, in the traditional sense. Maal Himself, instead, made a pop song about the trappings of famous life and women that can be found in that circle – kind of like what Kanye West did with "Gold Digger."
"Ms. Beverly Hills" is produced by Jonathan Frost and Freek Van Workum, and features some backing vocals by Diva. This are also cuts by DJ Adamocity and live guitar by Sean Williamson.
Whether or not this song works is yet to be seen. You have to commend anybody that tries something completely different because that takes a lot of courage. We will say that the ball has just left the pitcher's hand.
Maal is clearly trying to re-brand himself as he's launching his solo career, and in a post-genre world, a good amount of people might gravitate toward it and his new project.
Either way, it's worth the listen to see if you like it, love it or want to laugh at it. Check it out here.
Born in Milwaukee and raised in the Milwaukee suburb of Brown Deer, Concordia University Wisconsin alumnus Poppe has spent the majority of his life in or around the city and county of Milwaukee.
As an advocate of Milwaukee's hip-hop community Poppe began popular local music blog Milwaukee UP in March 2010. Check out the archived entries here.
Though heavy on the hip-hop, Poppe writes about other genres of music and occasionally about food, culture or sports, and is always ready to show his pride in Milwaukee and Wisconsin.
