Then I remembered two lines I wrote a couple of months ago…

I can’t believe she’s trying to change a nigga
Even Obama couldn’t even bring change my nigga

This gave me somewhere to start, although I still didn’t know where it would end up.

After the Bill Clinton line in the song, I had a decision to make. I could either either continue on the regular path and make more blow job references or dive deeper into political topics. I chose to go the political route because it’s the road less traveled in the popular rap music of today. Now I had something to talk about; something I can discuss for hours, probably.

What follows in the rest of the song is a myriad of observations…

1. Politicians are like gangsters
2. They many gang territories around the world
3. Paying taxes is like paying protection money
4. Police protect and serve their own
5. If you don’t pay your protection money, you’ll end up in jail (like Lauryn Hill)

There will be more songs on these topics, I have just begun.

Let me know what you think.

Of all the tracks, A King’s Embrace stuck out the most for me. It struck a cord because the intro to that song reminds me of the old school Haitian folk music that my father would play back in the day. Although the language is different, the feel is the same, authentic.

My lyrical addition to this song tries to maintain the theme of the King’s Embrace with the words and confidence that only a king would possess. Hopefully I did it justice. Let me know what you think.

I wrote the song, Already Lost, knowing that I’m an unknown unpopular rapper with nothing to lose. I don’t rap about popular shit because the “popular shit” market is saturated enough. I don’t need to add to it. After resigning to those facts I wrote this song for a specific hip-hop fan. It’s for the hip-hopster who can tell the difference good and bad rapping. If you can’t tell the difference, I honestly don’t want you as a fan. Not to toot my own horn but the track is dope. It may be the best song I’ve recorded to date. It’s definitely the best song I’ve heard this year. So if you listen to this song and be like “this guy is whack”… you’ve already lost.

(Click here to view all tracks)

(Click here to view all tracks)

(Click here to view all tracks)

You may not know this but, I have not done a million shows (yes it’s true). I’m still fairly new to being on stage in front of a bunch of people. As such, I have some habits I need to break. It’s so humbling to replay your mistakes over and over and over and over again to analyze where you went wrong and how you can improve. When I’m doing this, I pretend that I’m commenting on another person’s performance, but it’s still hard watch.

Below are the notes that I’ve taken on my performance of “You Suck”. I don’t know if you’d care to see this but sharing it helps me to remember that I am a fucking human being, unlike this guy.

You Suck, Performance Critique

The Good

• Call and response at the beginning
• Points where I laugh or smile when rapping
• The gestures that i made that relates to the lyrics
• Looking at the crowds, trying to get everyone to participate

Changes

• I need to say something before the music comes on (maybe to ask people to post their pics on instagram or facebook and tag me and trash bar in it)
• I need to put emotions into the tracks
• The 3rd “you suck” use another gesture to get the crowd to respond (e.g. hand to ear)
• Rocking forward and backwards during verse 2… stand still make more intentional movements
• Keep the playful tone throughout the song
• Stop hugging my stomach
• At the end, wait to hear the crowd before i go into the outro…

Summary

• Call and response is good
• Put more emotion into the song, laugh have fun with it, playful tone
• More intentional hand gestures
• Keep eye contact with the crowd
• Before the music comes on make announcement about instagram/facebook hashtag #RS
• Use hand to ear gesture after 3rd “you suck”
• More intentional footwork, stop pacing back and forth like rain man
• Wait to hear the crowd applause before going into outro

If you were there… let me know if I’ve missed anything. Thanks.

Thursday, May 2nd
Trash Bar
256 Grand St. Brooklyn NY 11211
Doors 6:45 // Starts at 7:00
$10 adv. tix // $13 door
21+ only

Here’s the link for tickets
https://tickets.aftonshows.com/Reyshizz

use the code REYSHIZZ952 to save $3 until April 3rd

This post is password protected. It is only available to those with exclusive access. To get exclusive access please leave a tip then send an email to rey@reyshizz.com

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For those of you that couldn’t make it to my show and/or knew nothing about it let me go into more detail about the experience…

Way Before the Show

I got to the bar between 5 and 5:30 to check in with the show manager. After checking in, I met with some of the other acts. Everyone was extremely cool. Some were noticeably nervous, myself included. Wait… Let me back up a bit more…

I took the day off from work that Thursday to get myself mentally prepared for performing. I didn’t want to worry about replying to emails and wireframes before I performed. Right after breakfast I ran through my set to make sure everything was tight. Afterwards, I got dressed and went to the barber shop. I wanted to be fresh. I also wanted to have a completely stress free day, so I did very little and watch some shows. But the closer it got to show time the more nervous I became.

When I introduced myself to the other acts, I was pretty nervous. I felt like I didn’t belong there. Here I am, a guy 5 years into his professional career coming to do a hip-hop set at Trash Bar. How lame is that? I kept quiet for the most part. I like to observe people and their attitudes. Since I had about 4 hours to kill, I did a lot of observing.

When the show manager checked off my name after signing in he mentioned that I sold a shit ton of tickets. It turns out that I sold more tickets than any other act that perform that night. I don’t know why but that put me at ease. I guess I felt validated as more than a mole who’ve infiltrated the inner circle of the hip-hop world.

Right Before the Show

When all of my family and friends arrived, I was so excited to get on stage and rock out. Well, it was a mix of both excitement and nervousness. When the act before me finished his set, my heart dropped… It was time. I went over to the DJ booth to make sure he had my music and to give him some last minute instructions. He assured me that he would make me sound awesome and that I had nothing to worry about. I believed him.

As I walked through the crowd to get to the stage everyone that came to see me followed me to the front. I hopped on stage, cleared the stage of the extra mics, than I gave the DJ the cue that we agreed on to start the show.

Yo wad’up erry body my name is Reyshizz and I’m happy to be here tonight…

After the Show

It was all applause and cheers. I KILLED IT. Everyone that came to see me was congratulating me on how well I did. It was great. People that I didn’t know came up to say how much they enjoyed the show. I like when other rappers make it a point to give me dap after a show. There’s nothing like the feeling of acceptance from your peers who know the art and know how hard it is to get on stage and do what I did. Thank you.

Of course this performance was video recorded. I’m going to send the video to my mailing list for those that missed it. I consider my performance exclusive content. If you want to see it you should join my mailing list today or go to the exclusive section of my site.

Once again I want to thank everyone that made it out to see me. If you weren’t among those few, don’t worry there will be more shows!