'Surf or Drown vol. 2' is a Big Hit and Hit-Boy collaborative project. This 20-track album has gems; quality beats, lyricism, and honest storytelling about the ups and downs of their father-son relationship. The album's title extends Hit-Boy's 'Surf or Drown vol. 1'. This project is loaded with great singles such as 'Grindin My Whole Life Pt.2' which gives some details of the prior conflict between the two, Hit-Boy speaks on how his father's absence impacted him during childhood, and Big-Hit speaks of his priorities during that time and fatherhood was not at the top of the list. Big-Hit and Hit-Boy turned the adversities of their relationship into rhythmic narration with this one. 'Tony Fontana', Hit-Boy speaks of his affiliations with Fontana and Pasadena, growing up in both cities and as a CSUSB alumnus, I too can relate to driving up and down the 210 freeway weekly.
'Police', outlines the experiences with police brutality, immorality, and corruption in our justice system. Big-Hit's lyrics allude to the solution that people from the communities heavily impacted by the injustices in our country's legal system should seek employment within to better serve those incarcerated unjustly. In 'Wake Your Game Up', this song is for the ladies as Big-Hit formerly expressed that gangsta rap doesn't have to be hardcore all the time and can have a sweet spot for women. I believe Tupac expressed similar sentiments when discussing the inspiration for 'Brenda's Got a Baby'. 'Surf or Drown vol. 2' is reminiscent of my CD buying days when artists would give us a side A & B, the album has 10 instrumental tracks and 10 tracks with lyrics. So, if you're a consumer who loves Hit-Boys production you have the option to vibe out to hit-making beats and if you genuinely appreciate lyricism they've got you covered on the first 10 songs.
I appreciate the overall quality of the album. It has been a while since SOCAL had the combination of great production and quality recitation of rhymes. So why aren't we seeing and hearing more about this collaborative project? I think I have a strong inclination as to why this is. Based on some of the feedback I witnessed when the album was first released on June 16, 2023, social media was in a bit of a frenzy surrounding conversations about whether hip-hop is an ageist genre. There's another rapper who comes to mind when I consider the number of rappers both male and female who enter the industry in their primal years versus the number of rappers who have not. Is it that hip-hop culture is adolescent-like by what is promoted ( street life, sex, drug use, fashion, biographic storytelling) reserved for the young? If so, I find that notion interesting considering during the BET awards another common sentiment was how well the "old heads" outperformed and gave the audiences quality performances in comparison to some of the newer and younger artists. This leaves me to question whether consumers are more accepting of artists aging in the industry versus coming in aged.
Is hip-hop ageist, if so why? I had this conversation with several others and I have come to the conclusion that consumers may be off put by a more "mature" artist rhyming about things that are considered a "young persons" game. However, artists who have aged in the hip-hop industry continue to sell out shows performing music from 20 years ago. Technically they are the elder rapping juvenile rhymes. I stand by the notion that certain behaviors are age appropriate and often you can find people who attest that they do not think the same as they once did in their teens and twenties. However, new artists should be allotted the opportunity to tell their stories regardless of their age. Frankly young or old after your sophomore album the expectation is to elevate as an artist, regardless of age the same sound becomes redundant. Therefore, I'll be supporting the artists who provide listeners with quality music over the quantity of years they have on earth and I recommend genuine supporters of hip-hop do the same. Name another musical genre where there is an age cap for newcomers!
Feel free to share your thoughts and stream the hell out of 'Surf or Drown vol. 2'.
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