Genesis Renji - Back Back
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Genesis Renji is no stranger to the music industry nor the Milwaukee music scene. āGenesis Renji is an Emmy nominated hip-hop artist based out of Milwaukee, WI. Born in Bethesda, MD, Renji started rapping at 12 years old after his cousin Pierre introduced him to rap music.ā Heās more than just music but today, weāll just focus on that.
āIn the middle of a pandemic and being quarantined indoors, a lot has changed for the world, but not so much for Genesis Renji. Being the studio rat he is already, this seems like another day for Gen and he shows it within his new stream of releases.ā
What to add to your playlist this week: Back Back by Genesis Renji
āand itās CW Approved!
āEvery Monday, Gen is set to release new music (the first release was āSuffocateā produced by 46Brock). This new offering comes in collaboration with Milwaukee producer Jxst Jxne. Back Back is the dejaāvu experience in love. An infectious ode to the attraction of another person.ā
This track is very subtle and catchy. It doesnāt have a lot of energy meaning itās a very smooth and chill song. Itās super catchy for one and definitely makes me feel like I need to listen to this if Iām trying to get lit but in the chillest way possible. It honestly is a short and sweet song so you definitely have time to check it out.
With that being said, you know what comes next. This is the part where you do your jobā¦ and what could that possibly be? Let me help you out---stream the damn song, duh!
Also, check him out on the socials too!
Instagram: @genesisrenji
Website: https://www.genesisrenji.com
/Imani for CW
Throw Back Tuesday! #H.E.L.P. (Happy Election Lit Playlist)
/About four years ago we dropped this playlist to set the vibe for election day. Even though today we should be voting for the primaries, we thought it would be fitting to bring this one back into rotation. So take it for a spin as you get your social distancing on.
We are not political. We are social. Drop a comment and let us know your still good CW fam!
/CW
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The Love Project III: Closure - Ortizus
/Here at CopyWrite, we are always working behind the scenes. This week we decided to highlight one of our very own, Imani! While mainly known by her social media tag @ortizus, she is what can again be described as the jack of all trades. This week Imani released her final piece of her trilogy mini-documentary, The Love Project. In her final piece, she focuses on what closure means to Gen Z (people born between now and 1994) but the conversation is open to everyone.
āIn the final part of my love trilogy, we tackle the concept of "closure." What is closure? What does it mean? How we look at things like this is important because what we may feel is a common conception is not defined by one singular definition. Are we bad people for understanding healing differently? Or do we all heal the same?
Sidenote: What makes these responses so unique is that no one was briefed what the project was about nor the questions prior to the interview. These are all honest and unbiased answers--off the dome. Thinking on your feet is a talent and I only let the participants have less than 20ish seconds before I asked them to start speaking. I wanted real authentic answers and here we have it.
Thank you all for your support and please watch this with open hearts and open minds.
You are always welcome to leave comments or thoughts below. Disagree? Have a different viewpoint? Feel moved? Let us know below or join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #Theloveproject!ā
There are three parts to this series: Love, Complications and Closure. All video can be found on her youtube: ortizus
So join the conversation and letās discuss your thoughts on this project!
/CW
Young Deuces - Fly Me ft. Serita Campbell (Video Submission)
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āFly Meā is a cry for clarity. Young Deuces calls about society in every line of the song. He talks about racism, colorism, stereotypes, lack of resources and so much more. Itās a very heavy loaded song. It's a song with a message we all know but most donāt want to admit--especially in a city like Milwaukee where racism thrives and lives freely.
Hereās some more insight, āWith his continued fight to use his words as a message, Young Deuces Releases his first official music video from his latest album, Son of Soldier. One of the stand out tracks from the album, Fly Me, featuring the amazing soulful songstress Serita Campbell gets the Famous Motion Film Treatment for the video. The visuals are a powerful reflection of where we came from and where we are headed and depending on how you view it, you may just want to Fly Away from it all.ā
When I listen to music, I tend to compare underground artists to mainstream artists to give some type of lead way into what youād be remotely listening to but in this case, I canāt. Young Deuces is very unique in that way. I can say, he sounds slightly similar to J. Coleās flow on the Friday Night Lights mixtape but thatās about it.
Check him out, listen to him yourself and let us know what you think. WATCH THE VIDEO, itās that easy. Yāall in quarantine anyways, yāall aināt doing much. Stop playing in people's faces and listen to some new music!
Find him on the socials:
Insta/Twit: @young_deuces / @seritacampbell3g
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/YoungDeucesofSNYD
/Imani for CW
Tye Motives - 24 Blessings [EP]
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I mean, where... the f*ck... should I... really even start? *Drake voice* Tye Motives with the Tupac smile is back again with yet another hit EP. This is showing us a whole new side of Tye Motives and it just got a lot more personal. āComing from Milwaukee, WI artist Tye Motives delivers a tribute EP titled ā24 Blessings.ā In this EP, Tye showcases his elite lyricism mixed with melodic flows for a vibe you wonāt forget.ā
So letās talk about it.
The chill flow rapper starts us off with Windows97. In this song heās talking about a lot of different things. Heās talking about his grind, the type of dude he is, his background, the city, itās essentially an intro-freestyle. Heās setting up what we are to expect with the rest of the EP. If I had to take a wild guess, I would say that the title of the song is making a reference to an old controversial update of the infamous Windows 97 (which some argued never existed) but I could be looking way too deep into this so letās keep it moving.
Get You Right is hilarious but itās not supposed to be. Itās such a great song but what makes it hilarious is the voicemail hater on the intro. We not gonā waste a lot of characters on her but what I will say is that the voicemail here is necessary. Youāre going to have haters. Thereās people who donāt want you to succeed. You have to step on their necks and donāt let up. In her words, āperiod.ā Itās that interpersonal moment on the EP that Tye shares with his audience. Itās like the ābefore I do my thang, listen to what I have to deal withā¦ anyways.ā He wastes no time disregarding whatever she is talking about with the line āI make you nervous how I get you right, huh, aye, shit ain't perfect but itās feeling right. Yeah Iām on my mack who you with tonight, shawty super bad, I can't let her be the kryptonite.ā Thatās super self-explanatory. He goes on to talk about how carefully he maneuvers around people ācause you never really know what people be on. He talks about his trust with other people and how you really have to be careful about who youāre calling your friend because people really donāt have your best interest. All you have at the end of the day is yourself. Yeahā¦ this def gettinā added to the library. Wild Things slows the tempo down. This is more of a dreamy sound but then here comes the bass. Perfect. He starts off with one of the last lines of the previous track. āThings get wild where the wild things are, say you got dreams lil n*gga dream far, yeenā gotta leave the city just to see stars. We aināt tryna be great [like] lil n*gga we are.ā In this song, he talks about looking past the things around you. Just because things arenāt too spiffy around you doesnāt mean you have to give in to it. We all have choices. Heās āseeing fiends out his windowā so his choice happened to be āpen or pistol?ā Nice, niiice. The track āMo Where You Been?ā is very generous with the bass and airy keys. Tye comes out the gate spitting for this interlude and he barely gives us time to catch up--which is good marketing because guess what? You have to restart it. How fast is he going? Find out. Stream the song, goofy. Light in the Dark is nicely produced. Itās two different flows but the second flow really had me nodding. He takes us on a journey through his thinking process but leaves us hanging a little--which is intentional. All she wanna do is smoke Doja. Light one and get high is the message. Itās another soft and dreamy track. Itās definitely what you would call āa smokersā songā but we are not putting him in a box. Heās talking to a girl for most of the song so thatās interesting that the vibe is changing from the previous voicemail. Thereās redemption with someone else and I'm here for it. He defines āRecoupingā within the first couple bars. This is another Wiz Khalifa āRolling Papersā type beat. ā24 Blessings one of them is them knowing my name. 24 Blessings is me seeing my son through these rays. 24 Blessings don't compare me, we never the same.ā Although alliteration and repetitiveness is one of the many themes of the EP, this part is super important. Tye is calling attention to the title and message of the entire project so listen closely here. Finally we have āMind, Spirit & Body.ā The beat is like a churchy trap beat and I'm feeling it. āI took some time to get shit right and concentrated on hobbies. And now my spirit feelinā light. I guess I'm feeling Godly.ā TAKE āEM TO CHURCH TYE. They aināt ready bro! Thereās another switch up in the flow and beat, man. Heās really goinā nuts. Canāt even lie to you. He lets us go with his iconic laugh and one last point: This track was a freestyle.
Tye Motives takes us on a journey inside his life and even in his head. He opens the door and shows us how heās coming this year. This year is you, T. Take it. Keep going. Donāt stop. Weāre listening and we hear you. Make everybody feel you by all means necessary. You even have a tiny human looking up to you now, what more do you need.
As always, itās always love here at CopyWrite Magazine. Check out the artist of the week, Tye Motives! ā24 Blessingsā is streaming on all platforms so yāall knooow what to do. Stream, follow, subscribe--all det. My dawg!
Soundcloud: Tye Motives
Instagram: @tyemotives
/Imani for CW
EBONY GALA - UW-MILWAUKEEāS BLACK STUDENT UNION (2/22/20)
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āLift every voice and sing, til Earth and Heaven ring,ā echoed through the Union Ballroom as around a hundred beautiful people of all parts of the African diaspora sang the Black National Anthem. Greeted warmly by the Black Student Unionās current president, Tanasia Shaw, we were welcomed to the very first Ebony Gala that has ever been on the campus of the predominately white institution of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Throughout the night, we shared laughs, accomplishments and conversations about what blackness and black history is. The lineup of live performances were very diverse. They had rappers, singers, musicians, you name it. Justus was the first performer of the night, followed by Xarion. Xarion surprised me because live performances are scary and nerve-wrackingā¦ but she killed it. She sang so beautifully and lightheartedly, the audience hung onto every-single-note. And boy did she have a vibratoā¦ shesh. Did I mention she also was playing a guitar? Mhm, mh, mh. Next, we had a surprise performance by Cam Will. I know yāall remember him. He performed his single āDownā and of course, I got super excited because Iām like aye, I know this dude. Iām familiar with his music so that was a cool moment for me to see him doing his thing knowing the scrutiny heās faced in the past. Refer to the write-up about him if you want to know more. Shout out to all the performers including Afrika, Lonnie, Scotty and Manny who held down the rest of the Gala. To be in an audience where black performers were being respected and encouraged to express their talents was humbling, to say the least. I say that because whether the performances were good or bad, they had the courage to share that moment with us at a Gala that is glorifying all things Black.
The first speaker of the night was one of UWMās very own Black faculty members and Black student advisor, Ms. Victoria Pryor. Victoria shared with us the importance of Black resilience on the campus of UWM, where the Black population is represented by less than 8% in a city that is almost 40% Black. She went on to honor the Black Cultural Centerās staff and also the former Black Student Union presidents, which included myself. The keynote speaker for this event was no one other than the first Black Lieutenant Governor in Wisconsin, Mandela Barnes. In his inspiring speech, he talked about the importance of Black history in Milwaukee. Next, Dr. Biko Baker spoke about the importance of family and staying humble throughout your journey of success. And lastly, Jacarrie Carr spoke about his non-profit organization, Jacarrie Kicks for Kids. He also stressed an important fact about distancing yourself from people who arenāt on the same path as you. Choose your friends wisely. Everyone can not come with you.
As the night of ball gowns, heels and ties came to an end, the feeling of comfort and progressiveness did not. Surveying a room of collegiate black bodies engaging in a space where we once were not allowed gave me butterflies. BSU President, Tanasia Shaw, and the Vice president, Coretta Dishmon, wished us well for the evening before adjourning the elegant Ebony Gala. With kind words and thoughts, we were dismissed.
A room full of love and Black excellenceā¦ What a way to bring Black History month to an end.
āFacing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on 'til victory is won.ā
/Imani for CW
