If you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the last year or two you’d like come across a couple of posts about Ohio-based emcee producer Vice Souletric, who has worked with the likes of Awkword, KRS One, Brimstone 127 and Dug Infinite on a powerfully conscious track that channelled the Stop the Violence Movement and for the politically charged “Troublesome” off his Vice For President EP had the producer collaborating with Guilty Simpson.
Vice For President 2 was released last week and the album’s latest single “No Tomorrow” has the emcee rhyming about how nothing in life is ever promised — except death — and because of that we need to make every single attempt to live out our dreams, and to live without regret. After all, the worst thing is to grow old with a sense of wondering about “what could have been” or “what should have been.” Soulectric rhymes over a lush, old school soul sample bolstered by squiggling synths and tweeter and woofer rattling beats which channels hip-hop’s beloved golden are — in particular, you can’t help but think of Pete Rock and CL Smooth –but with a slick, modern finish. Unlike most of the nonsense you’ll hear on your local corporate conglomerate “hip-hop” station, Soulectric’s latest possesses a sense of introspection about life’s fleeting nature and about working with a desperate urgency towards your dreams and passions and in way that’s both inspirational and absolutely true.
The recently released music video was produced by fellow Ohioan Ced Lynch and it follows Vice Souletric as he wakes up, writes some lyrics, makes beats and heads to the studio to record vocal tracks. As I mentioned to a fellow blogger on Twitter that sometimes people forget that creativity involves actual hard work and dedication to your work and passion — and the video manages to remind the viewer that your favorite emcee or producer actually has to do actual work to do before we even get to hear them spit or see them rock a stage. Interestingly, the video features what appears to be Souletric’s young dopplegånger mirroring everything that Soulectric is doing. And although it’s actually adorable, it nods to the fact that happiness requires us to retain our child-like wonder but it also nods act the fact that for those within the creative world, this has been a crazy lifelong passion that we’ve somehow wanted to do since we were children.