While it seems hip-hop is making a departure from its original NYC native sound; every now and then a New York MC chooses to challenge this occurrence. -Next up to the mic is Nock, hailing from Hollis, Queens. With a nostalgic 90’s hip-hop flow, Nock is taking us back to the days when hip-hop belonged to the “Rotten Apple”.
On “Queens Finest” he gets straight to introducing himself, his sound, and his life. “I don’t condone but my past is written in stone.” He raps about serious issues in his hometown of queens; but manages to smoothly place these words over a smooth, melodic, feel good beat. On the tracks “This is Us” and “Humble Pie”- which effectively uses Tribe Called Quest‘s addictive Electric Relaxation beat , Nock manages to find a smooth balance between the aggressive sound of NY hip-hop and a laid back tone . Yet, the beats on these tracks are so memorable; almost any decent rapper could sound good over them. But Nock does manage to deliver decent lyrics and not be outshined over the classic instrumentals.
With “Rock Bellz” and “OMG’ he gets straight back to the grit of his native NYC sound. Yet, with these tracks he doesn’t manage to sound unique or capture the same addictive effect as tracks such as “Higher.” His artistic abilities and flow are heard more on smoother tracks. “See I’m a rock star. Pulling strings like guitars.”
Hopefully he manages to stick to the smoother and catchy tracks, which work better for his flow and makes him a more unique and marketable artists. Based on some of his work, being able to smooth out his classic NY sound is a forte he could possibly master. In today’s Drizzy, Nikki, Weezy, and Yeezy hip-hop era, just being a decent MC does not guarantee success. People want a character, a unique persona they can be entertained with. With more comedic rants, similar to the one heard at the end of “Humble Pie”, this decent MC could possibly become a star.
Check out his music @ http://www.reverbnation.com/NOCK
written by Steven Chew
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