Emcee Monte Drops New Single/Video

Emcee Monte has been in the music industry for over seven years, and while his experience is quite evident when listening to the new single “I’m so Black,” he isn’t showing much (if any) of the wear and tear a lot of his contemporaries have after the same amount of time. “I’m so Black” has this player sounding renewed and energized not only about music but about the narrative he’s putting forth through the beats in this latest release. He puts a lot of muscle into this performance, and delivers some quintessential listening for hip-hop fans this February for sure. 

There’s definitely a lot of extra pizzazz on the bass, but even at its most indulgent the line is never allowed to bury the vocal in messy brown noise. The synthesizers are always the biggest buffer in this performance, giving the verses enough space to breathe while letting the low-end tonality go unchecked – as is required to develop the atmospheric tone of the backdrop. It’s a complicated way of bringing a pop element into the fold, but one I wholeheartedly endorse as a critic who can’t get enough of an elaborate setup when the artist utilizing it knows what he or she is doing. 

These lyrics aren’t running back the Black Lives Matter story to us; they’re adding on a chapter from Emcee Monte, who gives us a little history via the poeticisms forming the intro to the chorus. It’s easy to learn how to rhyme, and even easier to master the sound board, but taking this subject matter and working it into a groove the reflects the heaviness of the issue (while still being pretty danceable, I might add) is something that requires a level of talent and skill they don’t teach in any school. 

I could have done without the excessive percussion here considering the sizeable role the synths are already playing in this piece, but I also get what Emcee Monte was trying to accomplish just the same. In overwhelming us and himself with a lot of noisy tension, he obtains a critical opportunity to show us just how big a mountain he can move with his voice – and in “I’m so Black,” it’s a mighty big one. Demonstrative as it is, some will still call it a little over the top for what he can handle at this stage, though I’ll still give him props for the concept here regardless. 

Emcee Monte has done it all, from DJing to songwriting and rapping to some of the slickest grooves coming out of Chicago at the moment, and in “I’m so Black” he makes a strong case for his being ready to roll with the biggest players in this business. The wit and the wisdom of his lyricism is incendiary and only burning hotter with each release he stamps his name on, and even though I think he still has some more maturing ahead of him, he’s an artist I’d certainly like to hear and see more often in the future. 

Michael Rand

The music of Emcee Monte has been heard all over the world in partnership with the radio plugging services offered by Musik and Film Radio Promotions Division.  Learn more https://musikandfilm.com