On Aptly Named “INNOV8!”, Nemesis Makes the Old School New Again

Now that my teenage son if becoming a legit hip hop head, I’m always on the search for tunes to add to our shared playlist of hip hop on Spotify and affordable concerts for us to go to. Of course, my tastes are often “old school” and he is more into newer artists… but we keep finding ourselves turning each other on to some of our personal fave artists. With the likes of Kid Cudi representing our greater area of convergence, he ends up loving just as many RZA and Nas cuts as I end up loving Tyler the Creator and Denzel Curry tracks.

Next week, we’ll be debuting his new mixtape feature on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and the first mix will be a hip hop mix that features some great stuff from the latest Denzel Curry album, Philly local Saynave, some Vince Staples, A$AP Rocky, and this great track from Nemesis, an LA based rapper who blends old school influences with new school sensibilities… in other words, a perfect bridge for the tastes of my son and I.

On “INNOV8!”, Nemesis demonstrates a flow that harkens back to MC Lyte over a backbeat that wouldn’t feel out of place on something Kanye produced. Clearly influenced by stuff ranging from Slick Rick to Wu-Tang to Missy Elliot and beyond, Nemesis produces clever and well-crafted rhymes on top of a backbeat that feels as slick as a Kanye track, while as unique as RZA or Pharell. There’s a true demonstration of understanding of the last 30+ years of the culture in a single track, which is something that is not an easy task.

Check the track out now and stay tune for its inclusion on the first edition of Mixtape Mondays with Cash next week!

thepaintedman
Justin has been running websites since his first Geocities site in 1994, but only did he ever start covering anything of substance years later. After he stopped regularly running local concerts in Northern NJ and the greater Philly area, he knew he needed to step up his writing game if he expected to continue to get free music to listen to. He writes regularly here and at Cinapse, as well as contributing to a few other sites on occasion. He likes music, film, the Philadelphia Eagles, the 76ers, talking about Criminal Justice, reading Intelligence Report, and his family... not in that order. His beautiful wife is far more talented than he is and his kids far more adorable... and crazy.
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