Detroit crew Clear Soul Forces is still playing video games, reading comics and killing the competition bar for bar. It’s nearly overwhelming how heavily they pile on the references, but that’s their appeal. In fact, the earnestness with which they craft every line makes their myriad references less boastful and more creative. Instead of bragging outright, they write their verses in a way that embeds the boasts within the music. They don’t literally say, “We’re better than most rappers.” They just rap better than most rappers.
In many ways, “Continue” is representative of their recent album, Gold PP7‘s, as a whole. Rapping over the sounds of some of their favorite games, they stake their territory in their favorite genre. It’s easy to dismiss that territory as nerdy or “rappity rap,” but if you listen closely, you notice that it’s really just them being focused. And whether you like that focus or not, it allows them to do some interesting things with song structure, like going beyond the stale mix of 16 bars + chorus + 16 bars + chorus + bridge. Plus, the fact that they are doing these experiments with structure as a group is even more engaging. There are solo artists who can’t even conduct such experiments.
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