It's not often that white boy, Jewish rap hears the light of day, particularly when coming out of Georgia, the land of
Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (OutKast's
debut album for those of you not in the know),
Ludacris, T.I., and Crunk (thank you, Lil' Jon), but Kyle Lucas is proof of a fact that I love about hip hop, music, and America in general: that it doesn't matter what you look like or your background as long as you have the talent to do what you love. The frontman/emcee for hip hop band Vonnegutt (which follows in the line of
The Roots and
Gym Class Heroes), Lucas is one of my three favorite up and coming solo emcees in the game today (the others being J. Cole and Jus Mic).
Lucas is heavily influenced by local legends (Vonnegutt was recently signed to
Purple Ribbon, a label run by OutKast's
Big Boi), but it is easy to see the influence greats such as Nas (Lucas remakes Nas' classic "
If I Ruled the World (
Imagine That)" on his mixtape
Kyle Lucas is Still My Favorite) and pop-punk rock groups such as Say Anything (which he samples in this song)
. At the end of the day, Lucas doesn't try to pretend to rap about things he has no experience with. As he claims on "
Jonny Quest Thinks Ima Sellout," he's "so hip hop in flip flops," and often raps about girls, his love of hip hop, pills, and, in this particular song, phone sex. This song isn't the best example of his gift of gab, but it is seriously hilarious. If you like what you hear, I'd definitely suggest copping his free 2008
2dopeboyz.com co-signed mixtape (link below). You won't be disappointed as nearly every song is good both lyrically and production wise (and even the artwork cracks me up).