New Def Jam Signee, Nasaan shows his potential with "Kiss of Karma"
One of the greater lowkey up and coming stories in Hip-Hop is the story of Def Jam recent signee Nasaan. Son of Proof from the famous rap group D12, Nasaan has been putting in work to make a lane of his own. Like his father, Nasaan isn’t satisfied following the 9-5 like a routine that Hip-Hop artists now have been music releases are surrounded by social media drama. Instead, Nasaan has a different approach to supporting the music he releases. After releasing “Kiss of Karma” his latest EP, Nasaan followed it up by making videos to accompany the music. With the release of “Kiss of Karma” earlier this July, Nasaan is in a prime position to build on his foundation from his 2019 work as well as set up his 2020. Consisting of 3 total tracks standing at 7 and a half minutes Nasaan lays down a mostly dark vibe accompanied by videos that give a much fuller view of the story.
Made up of “Dirty Soap”, “Ben/Frank” and "lil boy (ben’s payday).” Each video tells a different part of the story detailing the effects of Karma specifically surrounding greed.
“Dirty Soap” a short but loud track, where Nasaan defends Detroit’s honor over a hard beat reminiscent of Meek Mill is accompanied by a video surrounding a story where two younger boys get caught in a drive-by shooting attempt and have to flee home to safety. His fast-paced flow, gives us a glimpse into his potential, rapping along to the hard bass, fast-paced melody.
“Ben/Frank” is a contrast to “Dirty Soap” with track two being a slower flow and a slower pace in the beat’s high hats and bass. Nasaan rides the beat flipping through flows telling stories of robbing and grinding to make ends meet. The story of this beat is the appropriate sounds that accompany his lyrics, one example being a door alarm in the background when Nasaan raps about a robbery. The extra sounds and skits help to paint the picture for the listener, almost allowing the listener to feel at the scene of the crime. The accompanying video surrounds a robbery that ends both successful and tragically when one of the robbers kills his accomplice.
“lil’ boy (ben’s payback)” is the most exciting track of the short project highlights a hard bass muddied with distortion and a cadence similar to Playboi Carti. The hard bass hits at a fast tempo which creates a turn-up vibe on the song, while still maintaining it’s darkness with the melody that comes in through the hook. The accompanying video surrounds the Man who killed his accomplice, and another man destroying the evidence of the robbery and the murder and cashing in on stolen merchandise, ending in the murderer wondering if he may be heading for a similar fate as his victim in the previous video.
The project is an overall symbol of the environment of the Detroit streets. Like many cities in America, the underbelly of poor communities is often exemplified by a “Get it by any means” mentality. That mentality is extremely prevalent in this music but is portrayed in the visuals as a warning, making for an all-around complete although concise concept. Nasaan uses these three compact, hard-hitting rap songs to be a loose canvas for his true intentions as well as his versatile rap ability. Nasaan shows us his ability to rap, tell a story and create a song to turn up two. With these three songs, Nasaan shows his potential to be the next big artist on Def Jam.
Go out and listen to Nasaan’s “Kiss of Karma” wherever you listen to your music. Also, don’t forget to check out OLDMLK’s Instagram page (@OLDMLK) and Twitter (@OLDMLKDOTCOM) for updates on OLDMLK.COM. And remember, when it comes to Hip-Hop if you don’t know it OLDMLK does!
