West Coast rapper The West Ghost has a lofty goal in mind: “In rap there’s an obvious trade-off between lyrical integrity and catchiness, and obviously trends move toward catchiness,” he explains. “There have been those that spoke from the heart, like Immortal Technique, and countless others who no one really listens to. My goal is diminish that effect as much as possible. My goal is to marry substantive – though sometimes subtle by necessity – messages and cohesive flows in an effort to make reason cool again.”
Seeking to make reason cool again, over image and immediate catchiness, in the music industry may be difficult on a large scale, but there’s little doubting that he’s doing it with his own music. Track “Don’t Look At Me” is a furiously spacey effort that rides on great atmospheric construction, starting with grainy crackling and nocturnal guitar lines that mesh nicely with the trickling synths and charismatic delivery, somewhat reminiscent of Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda. With commanding lyrics and a futuristic driving beat, i’s an entracing and successful effort, one of four off his new Son of Sorrow EP, which can be streamed in full below:
