Artist: Theus
Album: The Love
Articulation: Courtney Cosby
"The Love" EP by Theus has an abundance of metaphors and analogies. It put me in the mind frame of an ex hustler who converted over to rapping, but who is also conscious. "Dope Whips and Ill Chains" talks about the industry and how some artists sell their souls for cars, jewelry, fame and material things. It's my favorite song and stood out the most because of the subject matter. Theus starts off the song asking "Pharaoh" to let his people go as if they were slaves asking to be freed. In the second verse he talks about how it's not cool to be a fiend on drugs suffering from withdrawals and calls the music industry "pimpish". He mentions people being so intoxicated that they can't see clearly and refers to the bad business done in the music industry as "lynching". It had me thinking about all the conspiracy theories I've ever researched. It's obvious Theus has been exposed to things going on behind the scenes that he doesn't agree with.
He also talks about people choosing fast cars over college tuition and how they end up being locked up in the system for chasing the wrong dreams. I'm not sure if it's Theus or a feature artist, but toward the end someone is chanting that the new "shackles" are drugs and foreign cars. They also mention "Pharaoh" again and accuse him of enslaving his own people. This song had me in deep thought and wanting to do more research.
With songs like "Heisenberg", Theus refers to his music as the drug meth and calls it "Heisenberg", meaning he has the best music on the market. It starts off with the scene from the highly popular show "Breaking Bad", where Heisenberg announces who he is and makes them say his name. If you've ever seen the show then you know exactly what scene I'm referring to. After listening to it I wanted to pull up the show and watch that particular episode.
Theus' flow and delivery has a Down South meets Mid West kind of vibe. Mixed with vivid metaphors, consciousness, lyrical substance. He wants us to be aware of what he believes the music industry consists of. "The Love" EP was very interesting and a pleasure to listen to.
Key Dope:
Dope Whips and Ill Chains
Heisenberg
Greatness