Azrael as it gets...

We at 65 & Hope, well, we love good hip-hop music. But one thing we love most about hip-hop music is the poetry in it. For many years now, hip-hop music have changed so much and there are so many different styles of this genre to date. The beat gets heavier and more complex than the old school music, but one thing that's losing power is the poetry in the lyrics. Now we've decided to start our own 'Greatest Lyrics Of All Time' segment, where we salute the lyricists, who we sometimes fail to notice, in our local hip-hop scene...



Today, we pay tribute to one of realest lyricists in SG, Azrael. Azrael has been in the scene for more than 7 years now, from Decepticon to his current crew Xstatix. He is no doubt the main drive in the crew and even the whole collective of XS.1. He's a beat-maker, sound & video engineer and most importantly, he is a lyricist at heart.

Our favourite track and verse from him would be Teardrop, a poetic love song about Hip-hop. Here are his lyrics...

What happens when the passion that you have for the pen is gone?
What happens when the beats stops and doesnt go on?
Nobody paid attention and you feel torned
When its all fadin away/Is it time to move on?
As long as the mic is on/We keep on keepin on
But when its all for the fun/its really hard to push on
I remember the time when I fell in love with the beats and
the rhymes and the life
Embrace it like a belief/and make it a part of my life
It`s genuine love and I cannot describe/the feeling I had inside
Even if this became a joke/I wont swallow my pride
Coz it`s a part of me/And it will always be
And I will reminisce the days as an emcee
I hope you can see/I set myself free
I`m just fillin up this space that is empty
With rap poetry in low quantity
But high quality that pack potency
80 to 90 beats per minute the rate of my heart beat
Thats why hiphop is what my heart needs
And when hiphop is dead/that is when my heart bleeds
And when hiphop is dead/that is when my heart weeps

If you like to hear the track, you can visit http://www.myspace.com/xstatixhiphop.

If you like to check out Xstatix and the man Azrael himself, they will be performing at DEFINITION, 29th March, 3pm @ Chamber, The Arts House. Ya'll better be there! More information will be up soon! Peace!