Albums | B.Love — Who Says? [Mixtape]

Posted by jeffwbaird on April 28, 2014

One of the great teases in our society of late is the ease with which many assume they’ll attain rap stardom. With the growing diversity of emcees’ backgrounds, and, more importantly, the lowering bar of the skill necessary to receive that long-coveted record deal, we’ve entered a time when many think it’s totally plausible they’ll make it big with their rhymes. And that scares me. I’m all for artistic expression, but when an artist is after fame and not necessarily making music for expression’s sake or as a result of their love for the craft, it’s clear. And because the former happens to be the vast majority of what makes up my inbox, here’s a chance for you to learn what the alternative sounds like.

B.Love (one-third of the FNT favorite Suns of Society), is a Cali-based rapper/songwriter/producer with a tremendous amount of versatility, and a desire to keep his sound authentic and unaffected by the industry’s love to keep artist’s boxed in and conformed to a specific sound. On his latest mixtape, Who Says?, B.Love produced the entire thing (with the help of some close friends and colleagues, including Benny Blanco and One Love) and tried to keep the record hard to describe and as broad in sound as possible. The result is a project that—while less unified by consistency in sound—is certainly consistent in terms of its experimentation and the fact that every track sounds like it was made exactly how B.Love intended. It’s a reminder that music is a passion for all of us, first and foremost, and whether or not you come out at the other end as marketable and easily packaged as would be ideal for making that shot at the big time shouldn’t be why you’re doing it. If you’re making records like this, then I have no reason to be scared at all. You can find Who Says? in full for free right here, or support the movement and make the financial gesture here.