Written By Dee
Yelohill released his album, Pain Music produced by JHawkProductions and One Track from Steelz. Needless to say, it captivated the souls of his listeners. The 20 minute album gave exactly the feeling of the title–the mixture of pain and passion in someone’s life. Each of the seven songs on the album have a distinct sound. With the combination of Yelohill’s lyricism and storytelling, he creates a world of hardwork, dedication and gratefulness of living in West Los Angeles.
Yelohill describes himself as a “Hood Poet,” and listeners can agree within each song why “Hood Poet” is the best way to describe the way he raps. The album as a whole is a masterpiece and as a music reviewer I couldn’t just generalize the songs into one review. I decided to go in depth, song by song, and tell you exactly why you need to be listening to the Hood Poet.
Tear$-
Yelohill sounds very passionate almost to the point where he sounds angry of the way he wants to rap and how he sees other rappers faking it to look and sound better to their fans. Within the 30 seconds, one of his lines goes:
Is you from it or are you claiming it? Is you promoting or are you banging it? Cuz my n***** dying and you faking it!
Along with his lyricism, the production of the song is perfect. The piano and his voice for each verse bring out the wrath that he feels. The last 20 seconds of the song give you goosebumps and a preview of what’s to come.
Million Reasons-
The picture is painted clearly. When the song is playing, his lyrics take the listener into a “montage” state of mind. He makes it clear how intense his dreams are and how much he desires to succeed. He has millions of reasons why he wants to (and needs to) triumph. This heart-felt song will have listeners wishing the same thing for their dreams.
My Story-
What I love most about this song is that the production gets listeners hyped. The simplicity of sound makes his lyrics shine bright. Each time he raps a line the piano drops, only building up the sensation of “What is Yelohill going to say next?! Where is he taking us in his storytelling?!” The build-up to the entire song is amazing.
The Mission-
Out of all seven songs, The Mission is by far my favorite. The Mission helped me respect Yelohill in a different way. While most celebrate their successes, Yelohill raps about how he will not stop thinking big.
Yelohill is feeling the success of his hard work right now. As much as he wants to celebrate, I understood it as him telling listeners, “but I’m not stopping here, there is more to see and more work to be done”.
The “this is where I’m at, and this is where I want to be” lyrics only help you realize that Yelohill has bigger plans than what we may know of. Be prepared is all I’m saying.
Old You (Interlude)-
The West L.A rapper raps about the difficulties about having a fling and being a side dude. He raps about how he misses the times where his old flame was only for him. Things change and the girl has another man, so Yelohill has to sneak his hookups, only making him miss the past.
Toxic-
What I like most about this song is its irony, whether it was intended or not. The song is called Toxic, but is it really if he tells you straight up what he expects in the relationship? The calmer and quieter three minute song discusses certain expectations he has for women.
This is the song that is a little different from the rest. Nonetheless it’s a great song made during a time where being toxic is accepted.
Ghetto Child (feat. Tanasia)-
This song is a reflection of his past and present. Taking a step back and realizing that the hard work has been paying off as his life continues to change through each success. As he reflects, his mindset is still “there is more work to be done”.
Ghetto Child is the perfect way to end the album because it really tells you that Yelohill is going to make a huge impact, not only in the Hip-Hop community, but also with his people in West L.A.
Yelohill will forever be known as the Hood Poet to himself and to the many lives he’s already changing through his music. His way of getting his emotions through the listener only makes the album so much better.
His album could not have come at a better time. While his ambitions shine bright, his music opens the listeners mind to do the same.